Cucumber JVM JUnit 4 runner deprecation and JUnit 5 platform engine migration

Direct answer

Replace cucumber-junit with cucumber-junit-platform-engine (groupId io.cucumber), keep cucumber-java or cucumber-java8 for step definitions, and confirm your runtime is Java 11 or higher before upgrading. The JUnit 5 engine does not recognize @RunWith(Cucumber.class); instead you annotate a class with @Cucumber (or @ExtendWith(CucumberExtension.class)) and let the JUnit Platform discover feature files. Tag expressions remain compatible: continue using the same syntax via cucumber.filter.tags in cucumber.properties, @CucumberOptions, or the JUnit Platform launcher.

What changes in the build

Remove the deprecated cucumber-junit artifact and add the platform engine. If you use Maven Surefire or Failsafe, version 2.22.2 or newer is required so the plugin can detect and launch the JUnit Platform engine automatically. If your project runs tests through a custom launcher or an older plugin, add junit-platform-suite-engine and create a @Suite class annotated with @SelectPackages to bootstrap discovery.

Runner class migration

JUnit 4 runner classes annotated with @RunWith(Cucumber.class) should be replaced. The platform engine does not support that annotation. A minimal replacement looks like this:

import io.cucumber.junit.platform.engine.Cucumber;

@Cucumber
public class CucumberTest {
}

Assuming a standard classpath layout, feature files are discovered from the classpath root by default. If your features live in a non-standard location, configure the glue or feature path through cucumber.properties or the @CucumberOptions annotation on the suite class.

Tag expressions

Tag expression behavior is preserved. The same expressions that worked with the JUnit 4 runner continue to work. You can set them in cucumber.properties with cucumber.filter.tags=@smoke and not @wip, pass them through the existing @CucumberOptions tags attribute, or use the JUnit Platform console launcher option --select-tag. No syntax changes are required.

Verification steps

1. Run java -version and confirm the output reports 11 or higher.
2. Remove cucumber-junit from your dependency declarations and ensure it is not pulled in transitively.
3. Add cucumber-junit-platform-engine and verify your build plugin supports JUnit 5.
4. Execute mvn test or gradle test and check the output for JUnit Platform engine discovery.
5. Run a tag-filtered build (for example, -Dcucumber.filter.tags=@smoke) and confirm only matching scenarios execute.

One diagnostic detail would change the recommendation: if your CI or IDE still launches tests through the old JUnit 4 @RunWith mechanism, you must update the test runner configuration before removing the old artifact, otherwise discovery will fail.