diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index bdf0a9372..c2c078da6 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -10,16 +10,25 @@ on:
 
 jobs:
   main:
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    strategy:
+        matrix:
+          os: [ubuntu-latest]
+          build:
+              - java: 17
+                profile: codequality
+              - java: 8
+                profile: java8
 
+    name: with Java ${{ matrix.build.java }}
+    runs-on: ${{ matrix.os}}
     steps:
       - name: Checkout Repository
         uses: actions/checkout@11bd71901bbe5b1630ceea73d27597364c9af683 # v4
 
-      - name: Set up JDK 8
+      - name: Set up JDK ${{ matrix.build.java }}
         uses: actions/setup-java@3a4f6e1af504cf6a31855fa899c6aa5355ba6c12 # v4
         with:
-          java-version: '8'
+          java-version: ${{ matrix.build.java }}
           distribution: 'temurin'
           cache: maven
 
@@ -27,9 +36,9 @@ jobs:
         uses: actions/cache@0c907a75c2c80ebcb7f088228285e798b750cf8f # v4
         with:
           path: ~/.m2/repository
-          key: ${{ runner.os }}-maven-${{ hashFiles('**/pom.xml') }}
+          key: ${{ runner.os }}${{ matrix.build.java }}-maven-${{ hashFiles('**/pom.xml') }}
           restore-keys: |
-            ${{ runner.os }}-maven-
+            ${{ runner.os }}${{ matrix.build.java }}-maven-
 
       - name: Maven Verify
-        run: mvn --batch-mode --activate-profiles e2e clean verify
+        run: mvn --batch-mode --activate-profiles e2e,${{ matrix.build.profile }} clean verify
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release-please.yml b/.github/workflows/release-please.yml
index b984ea218..4037c2102 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release-please.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release-please.yml
@@ -19,11 +19,11 @@ jobs:
         if: ${{ steps.release.outputs.releases_created }}
         uses: actions/checkout@11bd71901bbe5b1630ceea73d27597364c9af683 # v4
 
-      - name: Set up JDK 8
+      - name: Set up JDK 17
         if: ${{ steps.release.outputs.releases_created }}
         uses: actions/setup-java@3a4f6e1af504cf6a31855fa899c6aa5355ba6c12 # v4
         with:
-          java-version: '8'
+          java-version: '17'
           distribution: 'temurin'
           cache: maven
           server-id: ossrh
diff --git a/checkstyle.xml b/checkstyle.xml
index 0fc751bb0..f8ca27ad6 100644
--- a/checkstyle.xml
+++ b/checkstyle.xml
@@ -28,19 +28,23 @@
     <module name="BeforeExecutionExclusionFileFilter">
         <property name="fileNamePattern" value="module\-info\.java$"/>
     </module>
-    <!-- https://checkstyle.org/config_filters.html#SuppressionFilter -->
+
+    <module name="SuppressWarningsFilter"/>
+
+    <!-- https://checkstyle.org/filters/suppressionfilter.html -->
     <module name="SuppressionFilter">
-        <property name="file" value="checkstyle-suppressions.xml" />
+        <property name="file" value="${org.checkstyle.google.suppressionfilter.config}"
+                  default="checkstyle-suppressions.xml" />
         <property name="optional" value="true"/>
     </module>
 
     <!-- https://checkstyle.org/filters/suppresswithnearbytextfilter.html -->
-    <!--<module name="SuppressWithNearbyTextFilter">
+    <module name="SuppressWithNearbyTextFilter">
         <property name="nearbyTextPattern"
                   value="CHECKSTYLE.SUPPRESS\: (\w+) for ([+-]\d+) lines"/>
         <property name="checkPattern" value="$1"/>
         <property name="lineRange" value="$2"/>
-    </module>-->
+    </module>
 
     <!-- Checks for whitespace                               -->
     <!-- See http://checkstyle.org/checks/whitespace/index.html -->
@@ -51,27 +55,11 @@
     <module name="LineLength">
         <property name="fileExtensions" value="java"/>
         <property name="max" value="120"/>
-        <property name="ignorePattern" value="^package.*|^import.*|a href|href|http://|https://|ftp://"/>
+        <property name="ignorePattern"
+                  value="^package.*|^import.*|href\s*=\s*&quot;[^&quot;]*&quot;|http://|https://|ftp://"/>
     </module>
 
-    <module name="SuppressWarningsFilter" />
-
     <module name="TreeWalker">
-        <!-- needed for SuppressWarningsFilter -->
-        <module name="SuppressWarningsHolder" />
-
-        <module name="SuppressWarnings">
-            <property name="id" value="checkstyle:suppresswarnings"/>
-        </module>
-
-        <!-- https://checkstyle.org/config_filters.html#SuppressionXpathFilter -->
-        <module name="SuppressionXpathFilter">
-            <property name="file" value="${org.checkstyle.google.suppressionxpathfilter.config}"
-                      default="checkstyle-xpath-suppressions.xml" />
-            <property name="optional" value="true"/>
-        </module>
-
-        <module name="UnusedImports"/>
         <module name="OuterTypeFilename"/>
         <module name="IllegalTokenText">
             <property name="tokens" value="STRING_LITERAL, CHAR_LITERAL"/>
@@ -98,26 +86,26 @@
             <property name="id" value="LeftCurlyEol"/>
             <property name="tokens"
                       value="ANNOTATION_DEF, CLASS_DEF, CTOR_DEF, ENUM_CONSTANT_DEF, ENUM_DEF,
-                    INTERFACE_DEF,  LITERAL_CATCH,
-                    LITERAL_DO, LITERAL_ELSE,  LITERAL_FOR, LITERAL_IF,
-                     LITERAL_WHILE, METHOD_DEF,
+                    INTERFACE_DEF, LAMBDA, LITERAL_CATCH,
+                    LITERAL_DO, LITERAL_ELSE, LITERAL_FINALLY, LITERAL_FOR, LITERAL_IF,
+                    LITERAL_SWITCH, LITERAL_SYNCHRONIZED, LITERAL_TRY, LITERAL_WHILE, METHOD_DEF,
                     OBJBLOCK, STATIC_INIT, RECORD_DEF, COMPACT_CTOR_DEF"/>
         </module>
         <module name="LeftCurly">
             <property name="id" value="LeftCurlyNl"/>
             <property name="option" value="nl"/>
             <property name="tokens"
-                      value=" LITERAL_DEFAULT"/>
+                      value="LITERAL_CASE, LITERAL_DEFAULT"/>
         </module>
         <module name="SuppressionXpathSingleFilter">
-            <!--  LITERAL_DEFAULT are reused in SWITCH_RULE  -->
+            <!-- LITERAL_CASE, LITERAL_DEFAULT are reused in SWITCH_RULE  -->
             <property name="id" value="LeftCurlyNl"/>
             <property name="query" value="//SWITCH_RULE/SLIST"/>
         </module>
         <module name="RightCurly">
             <property name="id" value="RightCurlySame"/>
             <property name="tokens"
-                      value="LITERAL_IF, LITERAL_ELSE,
+                      value="LITERAL_TRY, LITERAL_CATCH, LITERAL_IF, LITERAL_ELSE,
                     LITERAL_DO"/>
         </module>
         <module name="RightCurly">
@@ -126,7 +114,7 @@
             <property name="tokens"
                       value="CLASS_DEF, METHOD_DEF, CTOR_DEF, LITERAL_FOR, LITERAL_WHILE, STATIC_INIT,
                     INSTANCE_INIT, ANNOTATION_DEF, ENUM_DEF, INTERFACE_DEF, RECORD_DEF,
-                    COMPACT_CTOR_DEF"/>
+                    COMPACT_CTOR_DEF, LITERAL_SWITCH, LITERAL_CASE, LITERAL_FINALLY"/>
         </module>
         <module name="SuppressionXpathSingleFilter">
             <!-- suppression is required till https://github.com/checkstyle/checkstyle/issues/7541 -->
@@ -136,8 +124,10 @@
         </module>
         <module name="WhitespaceAfter">
             <property name="tokens"
-                      value="COMMA, SEMI, TYPECAST, LITERAL_IF, LITERAL_ELSE,
-                    LITERAL_WHILE, LITERAL_DO, LITERAL_FOR,  DO_WHILE"/>
+                      value="COMMA, SEMI, TYPECAST, LITERAL_IF, LITERAL_ELSE, LITERAL_RETURN,
+                    LITERAL_WHILE, LITERAL_DO, LITERAL_FOR, LITERAL_FINALLY, DO_WHILE, ELLIPSIS,
+                    LITERAL_SWITCH, LITERAL_SYNCHRONIZED, LITERAL_TRY, LITERAL_CATCH, LAMBDA,
+                    LITERAL_YIELD, LITERAL_CASE, LITERAL_WHEN"/>
         </module>
         <module name="WhitespaceAround">
             <property name="allowEmptyConstructors" value="true"/>
@@ -145,17 +135,17 @@
             <property name="allowEmptyMethods" value="true"/>
             <property name="allowEmptyTypes" value="true"/>
             <property name="allowEmptyLoops" value="true"/>
-            <!--<property name="allowEmptySwitchBlockStatements" value="true"/>-->
+            <property name="allowEmptySwitchBlockStatements" value="true"/>
             <property name="ignoreEnhancedForColon" value="false"/>
             <property name="tokens"
                       value="ASSIGN, BAND, BAND_ASSIGN, BOR, BOR_ASSIGN, BSR, BSR_ASSIGN, BXOR,
-                    BXOR_ASSIGN, COLON, DIV, DIV_ASSIGN, DO_WHILE, EQUAL, GE, GT,  LAND,
-                    LCURLY, LE, LITERAL_DO, LITERAL_ELSE,
-                    LITERAL_FOR, LITERAL_IF,
-                    LITERAL_WHILE, LOR, LT, MINUS, MINUS_ASSIGN, MOD, MOD_ASSIGN,
+                    BXOR_ASSIGN, COLON, DIV, DIV_ASSIGN, DO_WHILE, EQUAL, GE, GT, LAMBDA, LAND,
+                    LCURLY, LE, LITERAL_CATCH, LITERAL_DO, LITERAL_ELSE, LITERAL_FINALLY,
+                    LITERAL_FOR, LITERAL_IF, LITERAL_RETURN, LITERAL_SWITCH, LITERAL_SYNCHRONIZED,
+                    LITERAL_TRY, LITERAL_WHILE, LOR, LT, MINUS, MINUS_ASSIGN, MOD, MOD_ASSIGN,
                     NOT_EQUAL, PLUS, PLUS_ASSIGN, QUESTION, RCURLY, SL, SLIST, SL_ASSIGN, SR,
                     SR_ASSIGN, STAR, STAR_ASSIGN, LITERAL_ASSERT,
-                    TYPE_EXTENSION_AND"/>
+                    TYPE_EXTENSION_AND, LITERAL_WHEN"/>
             <message key="ws.notFollowed"
                      value="WhitespaceAround: ''{0}'' is not followed by whitespace. Empty blocks
                may only be represented as '{}' when not part of a multi-block statement (4.1.3)"/>
@@ -319,7 +309,7 @@
         </module>
         <module name="NoWhitespaceBeforeCaseDefaultColon"/>
         <module name="OverloadMethodsDeclarationOrder"/>
-        <!--<module name="ConstructorsDeclarationGrouping"/>-->
+        <module name="ConstructorsDeclarationGrouping"/>
         <module name="VariableDeclarationUsageDistance"/>
         <module name="CustomImportOrder">
             <property name="sortImportsInGroupAlphabetically" value="true"/>
@@ -329,8 +319,8 @@
         </module>
         <module name="MethodParamPad">
             <property name="tokens"
-                      value="CTOR_DEF, LITERAL_NEW, METHOD_CALL, METHOD_DEF,
-                    SUPER_CTOR_CALL, ENUM_CONSTANT_DEF"/>
+                      value="CTOR_DEF, LITERAL_NEW, METHOD_CALL, METHOD_DEF, CTOR_CALL,
+                    SUPER_CTOR_CALL, ENUM_CONSTANT_DEF, RECORD_DEF, RECORD_PATTERN_DEF"/>
         </module>
         <module name="NoWhitespaceBefore">
             <property name="tokens"
@@ -340,10 +330,11 @@
         </module>
         <module name="ParenPad">
             <property name="tokens"
-                      value="ANNOTATION, ANNOTATION_FIELD_DEF,  CTOR_DEF, DOT, ENUM_CONSTANT_DEF,
-                    EXPR, LITERAL_DO, LITERAL_FOR, LITERAL_IF, LITERAL_NEW,
-                     LITERAL_WHILE, METHOD_CALL,
-                    METHOD_DEF, QUESTION, RESOURCE_SPECIFICATION, SUPER_CTOR_CALL"/>
+                      value="ANNOTATION, ANNOTATION_FIELD_DEF, CTOR_CALL, CTOR_DEF, DOT, ENUM_CONSTANT_DEF,
+                    EXPR, LITERAL_CATCH, LITERAL_DO, LITERAL_FOR, LITERAL_IF, LITERAL_NEW,
+                    LITERAL_SWITCH, LITERAL_SYNCHRONIZED, LITERAL_WHILE, METHOD_CALL,
+                    METHOD_DEF, QUESTION, RESOURCE_SPECIFICATION, SUPER_CTOR_CALL, LAMBDA,
+                    RECORD_DEF, RECORD_PATTERN_DEF"/>
         </module>
         <module name="OperatorWrap">
             <property name="option" value="NL"/>
@@ -371,6 +362,7 @@
                       value="^@return the *|^This method returns |^A [{]@code [a-zA-Z0-9]+[}]( is a )"/>
         </module>
         <module name="JavadocParagraph">
+            <property name="allowNewlineParagraph" value="false"/>
         </module>
         <module name="RequireEmptyLineBeforeBlockTagGroup"/>
         <module name="AtclauseOrder">
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 7020aa318..90cefcd08 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -49,17 +49,23 @@
     </scm>
 
     <properties>
-        <maven.compiler.source>1.8</maven.compiler.source>
-        <maven.compiler.target>${maven.compiler.source}</maven.compiler.target>
+        <toolchain.jdk.version>[17,)</toolchain.jdk.version>
         <junit.jupiter.version>5.11.4</junit.jupiter.version>
         <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
         <project.reporting.outputEncoding>UTF-8</project.reporting.outputEncoding>
         <module-name>${groupId}.${artifactId}</module-name>
         <io.cucumber.version>7.21.1</io.cucumber.version>
+        <org.mockito.version>5.2.0</org.mockito.version>
         <javadoc.failOnWarnings>true</javadoc.failOnWarnings>
         <!--  This is required for later correct replacement of surefireArgLine -->
         <!-- see surefire-java8 and surefire-java9+ profiles -->
-        <surefireArgLine/>
+        <surefireArgLine>
+            --add-opens java.base/java.util=ALL-UNNAMED
+            --add-opens java.base/java.lang=ALL-UNNAMED
+        </surefireArgLine>
+        <skip.tests>false</skip.tests>
+        <!-- this will throw an error if we use APIs not available in the specified version -->
+       <maven.compiler.release>8</maven.compiler.release>
     </properties>
 
     <dependencies>
@@ -95,7 +101,7 @@
         <dependency>
             <groupId>org.mockito</groupId>
             <artifactId>mockito-core</artifactId>
-            <version>4.11.0</version>
+            <version>${org.mockito.version}</version>
             <scope>test</scope>
         </dependency>
 
@@ -169,21 +175,21 @@
         <dependency>
             <groupId>org.junit-pioneer</groupId>
             <artifactId>junit-pioneer</artifactId>
-            <version>1.9.1</version>
+            <version>2.3.0</version>
             <scope>test</scope>
         </dependency>
 
         <dependency>
             <groupId>org.mockito</groupId>
             <artifactId>mockito-junit-jupiter</artifactId>
-            <version>4.11.0</version>
+            <version>5.15.2</version>
             <scope>test</scope>
         </dependency>
 
         <dependency>
             <groupId>org.mockito</groupId>
             <artifactId>mockito-inline</artifactId>
-            <version>4.11.0</version>
+            <version>${org.mockito.version}</version>
             <scope>test</scope>
         </dependency>
 
@@ -219,90 +225,21 @@
 
     <build>
         <plugins>
-            <plugin>
-                <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
-                <version>3.13.0</version>
-            </plugin>
-
             <plugin>
                 <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
-                <artifactId>maven-checkstyle-plugin</artifactId>
-                <version>3.6.0</version>
-                <configuration>
-                    <configLocation>checkstyle.xml</configLocation>
-                    <encoding>UTF-8</encoding>
-                    <consoleOutput>true</consoleOutput>
-                    <failsOnError>true</failsOnError>
-                    <linkXRef>false</linkXRef>
-                    <excludeGeneratedSources>true</excludeGeneratedSources>
-                </configuration>
-                <dependencies>
-                    <dependency>
-                        <groupId>com.puppycrawl.tools</groupId>
-                        <artifactId>checkstyle</artifactId>
-                        <version>9.3</version>
-                    </dependency>
-                </dependencies>
-                <executions>
-                    <execution>
-                        <id>validate</id>
-                        <phase>verify</phase>
-                        <goals>
-                            <goal>check</goal>
-                        </goals>
-                    </execution>
-                </executions>
-            </plugin>
-
-            <plugin>
-                <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
-                <artifactId>maven-pmd-plugin</artifactId>
-                <version>3.26.0</version>
-                <configuration>
-                    <excludeRoots>${basedir}/target/generated-sources/</excludeRoots>
-                </configuration>
+                <artifactId>maven-toolchains-plugin</artifactId>
+                <version>3.2.0</version>
                 <executions>
                     <execution>
-                        <id>run-pmd</id>
-                        <phase>verify</phase>
                         <goals>
-                            <goal>check</goal>
+                            <goal>select-jdk-toolchain</goal>
                         </goals>
                     </execution>
                 </executions>
             </plugin>
-
             <plugin>
-                <groupId>com.github.spotbugs</groupId>
-                <artifactId>spotbugs-maven-plugin</artifactId>
-                <version>4.8.6.6</version>
-                <configuration>
-                    <excludeFilterFile>spotbugs-exclusions.xml</excludeFilterFile>
-                    <plugins>
-                        <plugin>
-                            <groupId>com.h3xstream.findsecbugs</groupId>
-                            <artifactId>findsecbugs-plugin</artifactId>
-                            <version>1.13.0</version>
-                        </plugin>
-                    </plugins>
-                </configuration>
-                <dependencies>
-                    <!-- overwrite dependency on spotbugs if you want to specify the version of spotbugs -->
-                    <dependency>
-                        <groupId>com.github.spotbugs</groupId>
-                        <artifactId>spotbugs</artifactId>
-                        <version>4.8.6</version>
-                    </dependency>
-                </dependencies>
-                <executions>
-                    <execution>
-                        <id>run-spotbugs</id>
-                        <phase>verify</phase>
-                        <goals>
-                            <goal>check</goal>
-                        </goals>
-                    </execution>
-                </executions>
+                <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
+                <version>3.13.0</version>
             </plugin>
 
             <!-- automatically derive a module name from the groupId and artifactId -->
@@ -367,6 +304,8 @@
                     </excludePackageNames>
                     <doclint>all,-missing
                     </doclint>  <!-- ignore missing javadoc, these are enforced with more customizability in the checkstyle plugin -->
+
+                    <source>8</source>
                 </configuration>
                 <executions>
                     <execution>
@@ -438,109 +377,217 @@
                     <skipNexusStagingDeployMojo>${maven.deploy.skip}</skipNexusStagingDeployMojo>
                 </configuration>
             </plugin>
-            <!-- End publish to maven central -->
             <plugin>
-                <groupId>com.diffplug.spotless</groupId>
-                <artifactId>spotless-maven-plugin</artifactId>
-                <version>2.30.0</version>
+                <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
+                <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
+                <version>3.5.2</version>
                 <configuration>
-                    <!-- optional: limit format enforcement to just the files changed by this feature branch -->
-                    <!--                <ratchetFrom>origin/main</ratchetFrom>-->
-                    <formats>
-                        <!-- you can define as many formats as you want, each is independent -->
-                        <format>
-                            <!-- define the files to apply to -->
-                            <includes>
-                                <include>.gitattributes</include>
-                                <include>.gitignore</include>
-                            </includes>
-                            <!-- define the steps to apply to those files -->
-                            <trimTrailingWhitespace/>
-                            <endWithNewline/>
-                            <indent>
-                                <spaces>true</spaces>
-                                <spacesPerTab>4</spacesPerTab>
-                            </indent>
-                        </format>
-                    </formats>
-                    <!-- define a language-specific format -->
-                    <java>
-                        <palantirJavaFormat />
-
-                        <indent>
-                            <spaces>true</spaces>
-                            <spacesPerTab>4</spacesPerTab>
-                        </indent>
-                        <importOrder/>
-
-                        <removeUnusedImports/>
-                        <formatAnnotations/>
-
-                    </java>
+                    <excludes>
+                        <!-- tests to exclude -->
+                        <exclude>${testExclusions}</exclude>
+                    </excludes>
+                    <argLine>
+                        @{surefireArgLine}
+                    </argLine>
                 </configuration>
-                <executions>
-                    <execution>
-                        <goals>
-                            <goal>check</goal>
-                        </goals>
-                    </execution>
-                </executions>
             </plugin>
+            <!-- End publish to maven central -->
         </plugins>
-
     </build>
 
     <profiles>
-        <!-- profile for running tests under java 8 (used mostly in CI) -->
-        <!-- selected automatically by JDK activeation (see https://maven.apache.org/guides/introduction/introduction-to-profiles.html#implicit-profile-activation) -->
         <profile>
-            <id>surefire-java8</id>
+            <id>codequality</id>
             <activation>
-                <!-- JDK 1.8 -->
-                <jdk>1.8</jdk>
+                <activeByDefault>true</activeByDefault>
             </activation>
             <build>
                 <plugins>
+                    <!-- CODE QUALITY TOOLS -->
                     <plugin>
                         <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
-                        <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
-                        <version>3.5.2</version>
+                        <artifactId>maven-checkstyle-plugin</artifactId>
+                        <version>3.6.0</version>
+                        <configuration>
+                            <configLocation>checkstyle.xml</configLocation>
+                            <encoding>UTF-8</encoding>
+                            <consoleOutput>true</consoleOutput>
+                            <failsOnError>true</failsOnError>
+                            <linkXRef>false</linkXRef>
+                            <excludeGeneratedSources>true</excludeGeneratedSources>
+                        </configuration>
+                        <dependencies>
+                            <dependency>
+                                <groupId>com.puppycrawl.tools</groupId>
+                                <artifactId>checkstyle</artifactId>
+                                <version>10.21.2</version>
+                            </dependency>
+                        </dependencies>
+                        <executions>
+                            <execution>
+                                <id>validate</id>
+                                <phase>verify</phase>
+                                <goals>
+                                    <goal>check</goal>
+                                </goals>
+                            </execution>
+                        </executions>
+                    </plugin>
+
+                    <plugin>
+                        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
+                        <artifactId>maven-pmd-plugin</artifactId>
+                        <version>3.26.0</version>
+                        <configuration>
+                            <excludeRoots>${basedir}/target/generated-sources/</excludeRoots>
+                        </configuration>
+                        <executions>
+                            <execution>
+                                <id>run-pmd</id>
+                                <phase>verify</phase>
+                                <goals>
+                                    <goal>check</goal>
+                                </goals>
+                            </execution>
+                        </executions>
+                    </plugin>
+
+                    <!-- SpotBugs -->
+                    <plugin>
+                        <groupId>com.github.spotbugs</groupId>
+                        <artifactId>spotbugs-maven-plugin</artifactId>
+                        <version>4.8.6.6</version>
+                        <configuration>
+                            <excludeFilterFile>spotbugs-exclusions.xml</excludeFilterFile>
+                            <plugins>
+                                <plugin>
+                                    <groupId>com.h3xstream.findsecbugs</groupId>
+                                    <artifactId>findsecbugs-plugin</artifactId>
+                                    <version>1.13.0</version>
+                                </plugin>
+                            </plugins>
+                        </configuration>
+                        <dependencies>
+                            <!-- overwrite dependency on spotbugs if you want to specify the version of spotbugs -->
+                            <dependency>
+                                <groupId>com.github.spotbugs</groupId>
+                                <artifactId>spotbugs</artifactId>
+                                <version>4.9.0</version>
+                            </dependency>
+                        </dependencies>
+                        <executions>
+                            <execution>
+                                <id>run-spotbugs</id>
+                                <phase>verify</phase>
+                                <goals>
+                                    <goal>check</goal>
+                                </goals>
+                            </execution>
+                        </executions>
+                    </plugin>
+
+                    <!-- Spotless -->
+                    <plugin>
+                        <groupId>com.diffplug.spotless</groupId>
+                        <artifactId>spotless-maven-plugin</artifactId>
+                        <version>2.43.0</version>
                         <configuration>
-                            <excludes>
-                                <!-- tests to exclude -->
-                                <exclude>${testExclusions}</exclude>
-                            </excludes>
-                            <argLine>@{surefireArgLine}</argLine>
+                            <!-- optional: limit format enforcement to just the files changed by this feature branch -->
+                            <!--                <ratchetFrom>origin/main</ratchetFrom>-->
+                            <formats>
+                                <!-- you can define as many formats as you want, each is independent -->
+                                <format>
+                                    <!-- define the files to apply to -->
+                                    <includes>
+                                        <include>.gitattributes</include>
+                                        <include>.gitignore</include>
+                                    </includes>
+                                    <!-- define the steps to apply to those files -->
+                                    <trimTrailingWhitespace/>
+                                    <endWithNewline/>
+                                    <indent>
+                                        <spaces>true</spaces>
+                                        <spacesPerTab>4</spacesPerTab>
+                                    </indent>
+                                </format>
+                            </formats>
+                            <!-- define a language-specific format -->
+                            <java>
+                                <palantirJavaFormat/>
+
+                                <indent>
+                                    <spaces>true</spaces>
+                                    <spacesPerTab>4</spacesPerTab>
+                                </indent>
+                                <importOrder/>
+
+                                <removeUnusedImports/>
+                                <formatAnnotations/>
+
+                            </java>
                         </configuration>
+                        <executions>
+                            <execution>
+                                <goals>
+                                    <goal>check</goal>
+                                </goals>
+                            </execution>
+                        </executions>
                     </plugin>
                 </plugins>
             </build>
         </profile>
 
-        <!-- profile for running tests under java 9+ (used for dev environments where people don't want to be locked to Java 8) -->
+        <!-- profile for running tests under java 8 (used mostly in CI) -->
         <!-- selected automatically by JDK activeation (see https://maven.apache.org/guides/introduction/introduction-to-profiles.html#implicit-profile-activation) -->
         <profile>
-            <id>surefire-java9+</id>
-            <activation>
-                <!-- JDK 1.9+ -->
-                <jdk>[1.9,)</jdk>
-            </activation>
+            <id>java8</id>
+            <!-- with the next block we can define a set of artifacts which still support java 8, if any of the artifacts is not supporting java 8 anymore -->
+            <!--<modules><module></module></modules>-->
+            <properties>
+                <toolchain.jdk.version>(1.8,9)</toolchain.jdk.version>
+                <skip.tests>true</skip.tests>
+            </properties>
+
             <build>
                 <plugins>
+                    <plugin>
+                        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
+                        <artifactId>maven-toolchains-plugin</artifactId>
+                        <version>3.2.0</version>
+                        <executions>
+                            <execution>
+                                <goals>
+                                    <goal>select-jdk-toolchain</goal>
+                                </goals>
+                            </execution>
+                        </executions>
+                    </plugin>
                     <plugin>
                         <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
                         <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
                         <version>3.5.2</version>
                         <configuration>
-                            <excludes>
-                                <!-- tests to exclude -->
-                                <exclude>${testExclusions}</exclude>
-                            </excludes>
-                            <argLine>@{surefireArgLine} --add-opens java.base/java.util=ALL-UNNAMED --add-opens
-                                java.base/java.lang=ALL-UNNAMED
-                            </argLine>
+                            <skipTests>${skip.tests}</skipTests>
                         </configuration>
                     </plugin>
+                    <plugin>
+                        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
+                        <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
+                        <version>3.13.0</version>
+                        <executions>
+                            <execution>
+                                <id>default-testCompile</id>
+                                <phase>test-compile</phase>
+                                <goals>
+                                    <goal>testCompile</goal>
+                                </goals>
+                                <configuration>
+                                    <skip>true</skip>
+                                </configuration>
+                            </execution>
+                        </executions>
+                    </plugin>
                 </plugins>
             </build>
         </profile>
diff --git a/providers/flagd/pom.xml b/providers/flagd/pom.xml
index d84a6ad4c..571b810c0 100644
--- a/providers/flagd/pom.xml
+++ b/providers/flagd/pom.xml
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
 <project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0"
-    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 https://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
+         xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
+         xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 https://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
     <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
     <parent>
         <groupId>dev.openfeature.contrib</groupId>
@@ -162,7 +163,7 @@
             <scope>test</scope>
         </dependency>
         <!-- uncomment for logoutput during test runs -->
-         <dependency>
+        <dependency>
             <groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
             <artifactId>slf4j-simple</artifactId>
             <version>2.0.16</version>
@@ -218,14 +219,6 @@
                     </execution>
                 </executions>
             </plugin>
-            <plugin>
-                <groupId>com.github.spotbugs</groupId>
-                <artifactId>spotbugs-maven-plugin</artifactId>
-                <version>4.8.6.6</version>
-                <configuration>
-                    <onlyAnalyze>dev.openfeature.contrib.-</onlyAnalyze>
-                </configuration>
-            </plugin>
             <plugin>
                 <artifactId>maven-resources-plugin</artifactId>
                 <version>3.3.1</version>
@@ -275,6 +268,24 @@
     </build>
 
     <profiles>
+        <profile>
+            <id>codequality</id>
+            <activation>
+                <activeByDefault>true</activeByDefault>
+            </activation>
+            <build>
+                <plugins>
+                    <plugin>
+                        <groupId>com.github.spotbugs</groupId>
+                        <artifactId>spotbugs-maven-plugin</artifactId>
+                        <version>4.8.6.6</version>
+                        <configuration>
+                            <onlyAnalyze>dev.openfeature.contrib.-</onlyAnalyze>
+                        </configuration>
+                    </plugin>
+                </plugins>
+            </build>
+        </profile>
         <profile>
             <!-- this profile handles running the flagd e2e tests -->
             <id>e2e</id>
diff --git a/providers/flagd/spec b/providers/flagd/spec
index a69f748db..54952f3b5 160000
--- a/providers/flagd/spec
+++ b/providers/flagd/spec
@@ -1 +1 @@
-Subproject commit a69f748db2edfec7015ca6bb702ca22fd8c5ef30
+Subproject commit 54952f3b545a09ce966a4dbb86c9490a1ce3333b
diff --git a/providers/go-feature-flag/src/main/java/dev/openfeature/contrib/providers/gofeatureflag/GoFeatureFlagProviderOptions.java b/providers/go-feature-flag/src/main/java/dev/openfeature/contrib/providers/gofeatureflag/GoFeatureFlagProviderOptions.java
index 008c1943c..0eff72ff5 100644
--- a/providers/go-feature-flag/src/main/java/dev/openfeature/contrib/providers/gofeatureflag/GoFeatureFlagProviderOptions.java
+++ b/providers/go-feature-flag/src/main/java/dev/openfeature/contrib/providers/gofeatureflag/GoFeatureFlagProviderOptions.java
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@
 public class GoFeatureFlagProviderOptions {
 
     /**
-     * (mandatory) endpoint contains the DNS of your GO Feature Flag relay proxy example:
+     * (mandatory) endpoint contains the DNS of your GO Feature Flag relay proxy. example:
      * https://mydomain.com/gofeatureflagproxy/
      */
     private String endpoint;