OpenJDK Proposes First Built-In JSON API After 15 Years

OpenJDK published JEP 540 on 2026-07-23, proposing the first native JSON parsing and generation API for the Java platform. JSON has been the dominant interchange format for over fifteen years, yet the JDK never shipped a built-in API for it. The incubating module targets strict RFC 8259 conformance with deliberately minimal scope — no data binding, no streaming, no syntax extensions.