1# Ahead Of Time (AOT) compilation for the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) 2 3Ahead Of Time (AOT) compilation build tools such as those provided by [GraalVM's `native-image`](https://www.graalvm.org/reference-manual/native-image/) can require some configuration when using protobuf. 4Protobuf for the JVM uses reflection, and some of its target classes are not possible to determine in advance. 5This situation is unlikely to change. 6 7[The Lite version of protobuf for the JVM](https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf/blob/main/java/lite.md) 8avoids reflection and may be better suited for use with AOT compilation tooling. This Lite version was originally targeted for use on Android which has similar AOT compilation 9goals as GraalVM's native-image tool. 10 11## GraalVM native-image 12 13The GraalVM `native-image` tool can be configured with options for the 14[Java Native Interface](https://www.graalvm.org/22.0/reference-manual/native-image/JNI/) (JNI), 15http proxying, reflection, and other resources. While these 16configuration options can be manually specified in JSON files, we recommend 17that you exercise the application with 18[the assisted configuration agent](https://www.graalvm.org/reference-manual/native-image/BuildConfiguration/#assisted-configuration-of-native-image-builds). The agent 19will generate native-image.properties files that you add to the project's 20META-INF/native-image/ directory. The Native Image builder uses configuration options provided in META-INF/native-image/ to construct native-image command line arguments. 21