---
title: Enable Dynamic Instrumentation for Java
description: >-
  Set up Dynamic Instrumentation for Java applications to add probes and capture
  data without code changes.
breadcrumbs: >-
  Docs > APM > Application Instrumentation > Dynamic Instrumentation > Enabling
  Dynamic Instrumentation > Enable Dynamic Instrumentation for Java
---

# Enable Dynamic Instrumentation for Java

{% callout %}
# Important note for users on the following Datadog sites: app.ddog-gov.com, us2.ddog-gov.com

{% alert level="danger" %}
This product is not supported for your selected [Datadog site](https://docs.datadoghq.com/getting_started/site.md). ().
{% /alert %}

{% /callout %}

Dynamic Instrumentation is a feature of the Datadog SDK that lets you add instrumentation to your application at runtime without code changes or redeployments. Follow these instructions to set up Dynamic Instrumentation for Java.

## Prerequisites{% #prerequisites %}

Before you begin, review the [Dynamic Instrumentation prerequisites](https://docs.datadoghq.com/dynamic_instrumentation.md#prerequisites). Java applications also require:

- JDK version 8 or higher.
- Tracing library [`dd-java-agent.jar`](https://github.com/DataDog/dd-trace-java) version 1.34.0 or higher. See the [installation instructions](https://docs.datadoghq.com/tracing/trace_collection/dd_libraries/java.md) for setup details.

## Installation{% #installation %}

1. If you don't already have APM enabled, in your Agent configuration, set the `DD_APM_ENABLED` environment variable to `true` and listening to the port `8126/TCP`.

1. Download `dd-java-agent.jar`:

   {% tab title="Wget" %}

   ```shell
   wget -O dd-java-agent.jar 'https://dtdg.co/latest-java-tracer'
   ```

   {% /tab %}

   {% tab title="cURL" %}

   ```shell
   curl -Lo dd-java-agent.jar 'https://dtdg.co/latest-java-tracer'
   ```

   {% /tab %}

   {% tab title="Dockerfile" %}

   ```dockerfile
   ADD 'https://dtdg.co/latest-java-tracer' dd-java-agent.jar
   ```

   {% /tab %}



1. Run your service with Dynamic Instrumentation enabled by setting `-Ddd.dynamic.instrumentation.enabled` flag or `DD_DYNAMIC_INSTRUMENTATION_ENABLED` environment variable to `true`. Specify `dd.service`, `dd.env`, and `dd.version` Unified Service Tags so you can filter and group your instrumentations and target active clients across these dimensions.

   {% tab title="Command arguments" %}
Example service startup command:

   ```shell
   java \
       -javaagent:dd-java-agent.jar \
       -Ddd.service=<YOUR_SERVICE> \
       -Ddd.env=<YOUR_ENVIRONMENT> \
       -Ddd.version=<YOUR_VERSION> \
       -Ddd.dynamic.instrumentation.enabled=true \
       -jar <YOUR_SERVICE>.jar <YOUR_SERVICE_FLAGS>
   ```

      {% /tab %}

   {% tab title="Environment variables" %}

   ```shell
   export DD_SERVICE=<YOUR_SERVICE>
   export DD_ENV=<YOUR_ENV>
   export DD_VERSION=<YOUR_VERSION>
   export DD_DYNAMIC_INSTRUMENTATION_ENABLED=true
   java \
       -javaagent:dd-java-agent.jar \
       -jar <YOUR_SERVICE>.jar <YOUR_SERVICE_FLAGS>
   ```

   {% /tab %}



**Note**: The `-javaagent` argument needs to be before `-jar`, adding it as a JVM option rather than an application argument. For more information, see the [Oracle documentation](https://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/technotes/tools/solaris/java.html):

   ```shell
   # Good:
   java -javaagent:dd-java-agent.jar ... -jar my-service.jar -more-flags
   # Bad:
   java -jar my-service.jar -javaagent:dd-java-agent.jar ...
   ```

1. After starting your service with Dynamic Instrumentation enabled, you can start using Dynamic Instrumentation on the [APM > Dynamic Instrumentation page](https://app.datadoghq.com/dynamic-instrumentation).

## Configuration{% #configuration %}

Configure Dynamic Instrumentation using the following environment variables:

| Environment variable                 | Type    | Description                                                                                                                       |
| ------------------------------------ | ------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `DD_DYNAMIC_INSTRUMENTATION_ENABLED` | Boolean | Alternate for `-Ddd.dynamic.instrumentation.enabled` argument. Set to `true` to enable Dynamic Instrumentation.                   |
| `DD_SERVICE`                         | String  | The [service](https://docs.datadoghq.com/getting_started/tagging/unified_service_tagging.md) name, for example, `web-backend`.    |
| `DD_ENV`                             | String  | The [environment](https://docs.datadoghq.com/getting_started/tagging/unified_service_tagging.md) name, for example, `production`. |
| `DD_VERSION`                         | String  | The [version](https://docs.datadoghq.com/getting_started/tagging/unified_service_tagging.md) of your service.                     |
| `DD_TAGS`                            | String  | Tags to apply to produced data. Must be a list of `<key>:<value>` separated by commas such as: `layer:api,team:intake`.           |

## What to do next{% #what-to-do-next %}

See [Dynamic Instrumentation](https://docs.datadoghq.com/tracing/dynamic_instrumentation.md) for information about adding instrumentations and browsing and indexing the data.

## Limitations{% #limitations %}

- On JDK 18 and below, classes compiled with the `-parameters` flag may fail to instrument with the error message "Method Parameters detected". Spring 6+, Spring Boot 3+, and Scala use this flag by default.

## Further reading{% #further-reading %}

- [Getting Started with Datadog Agent](https://docs.datadoghq.com/agent.md)