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Non-serializable field in a 'Serializable' class

Reports non-serializable fields in classes that implement java.io.Serializable. Such fields will result in runtime exceptions if the object is serialized.

Fields declared transient or static are not reported, nor are fields of classes that have a writeObject method defined.

This inspection assumes fields of the types java.util.Collection and java.util.Map to be Serializable, unless the types they are declared in are non-Serializable.

Example:

class NonSerializableClass {} public class SerializableClass implements Serializable { NonSerializableClass clazz; // warning: Non-serializable field 'clazz' in a Serializable class static NonSerializableClass staticClazz; // no warnings }

Locating this inspection

By ID

Can be used to locate inspection in e.g. Qodana configuration files, where you can quickly enable or disable it, or adjust its settings.

-serial
Via Settings dialog

Path to the inspection settings via IntelliJ Platform IDE Settings dialog, when you need to adjust inspection settings directly from your IDE.

Settings or Preferences | Editor | Inspections | Java | Serialization issues

Use the following options to configure the inspection:

  • List classes whose inheritors should not be reported by this inspection. This is meant for classes that inherit Serializable from a superclass but are not intended for serialization.

  • List annotations that will make the inspection ignore the annotated fields.

  • Whether to ignore fields initialized with an anonymous class.

Inspection options

Here you can find the description of settings available for the Non-serializable field in a 'Serializable' class inspection, and the reference of their default values.

Ignore subclasses of

Default value:

[java.awt.Component]
Ignore if annotated by

Default value:

Empty
Ignore anonymous classes

Default value:

Not selected

Suppressing Inspection

You can suppress this inspection by placing the following comment marker before the code fragment where you no longer want messages from this inspection to appear:

//noinspection -serial

More detailed instructions as well as other ways and options that you have can be found in the product documentation:

Inspection Details

By default bundled with:

IntelliJ IDEA 2025.2, Qodana for JVM 2025.2,

Last modified: 18 September 2025