diff --git a/.github/workflows/publish-and-deploy-to-maven-central.yml b/.github/workflows/publish-and-deploy-to-maven-central.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d978da5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/publish-and-deploy-to-maven-central.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,91 @@
+---
+  name: Publish and deploy package to maven central
+
+  on:
+    push:
+      branches:
+        - main
+        - beta
+        - alpha
+        - dev
+
+  jobs:
+    publish-new-version:
+      name: Publish new version
+      runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+      environment: publisher
+      outputs:
+        new_release_published: ${{ steps.semantic-release.outputs.new_release_published }}
+      steps:
+        - name: Create GitHub app token
+          uses: actions/create-github-app-token@v1
+          id: app-token
+          with:
+            app-id: ${{ secrets.GH_APP_ID }}
+            private-key: ${{ secrets.GH_PRIVATE_KEY }}
+        - name: Checkout repository
+          uses: actions/checkout@v4
+          with:
+            fetch-depth: 0
+            token: ${{ steps.app-token.outputs.token }}
+            persist-credentials: false
+        - name: Import GPG key
+          id: import-gpg
+          uses: crazy-max/ghaction-import-gpg@v6
+          with:
+            gpg_private_key: ${{ secrets.GPG_PRIVATE_KEY }}
+            passphrase: ${{ secrets.GPG_PASSPHRASE }}
+            git_user_signingkey: true
+            git_commit_gpgsign: true
+        - name: Setup JDK 21
+          uses: actions/setup-java@v4
+          with:
+            java-version: "21"
+            distribution: temurin
+            cache: maven
+        - name: Publish version
+          uses: cycjimmy/semantic-release-action@v4
+          id: semantic-release
+          with:
+            extra_plugins: |
+              @semantic-release/exec
+              semantic-release-gitmoji
+          env:
+            GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ steps.app-token.outputs.token }}
+            GIT_AUTHOR_NAME: ${{ steps.import-gpg.outputs.name }}
+            GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL: ${{ steps.import-gpg.outputs.email }}
+            GIT_COMMITTER_NAME: ${{ steps.import-gpg.outputs.name }}
+            GIT_COMMITTER_EMAIL: ${{ steps.import-gpg.outputs.email }}
+
+    deploy-package-to-maven-central:
+      name: Deploy package to Maven Central
+      needs: publish-new-version
+      runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+      environment: deployment
+      if: needs.publish-new-version.outputs.new_release_published == 'true'
+      steps:
+        - name: Checkout repository
+          uses: actions/checkout@v4
+          with:
+            fetch-depth: 0
+            persist-credentials: false
+            ref: ${{ github.ref }}
+        - name: Import GPG key
+          uses: crazy-max/ghaction-import-gpg@v6
+          with:
+            gpg_private_key: ${{ secrets.GPG_PRIVATE_KEY }}
+            passphrase: ${{ secrets.GPG_PASSPHRASE }}
+        - name: Setup JDK 21
+          uses: actions/setup-java@v4
+          with:
+            java-version: "21"
+            distribution: temurin
+            cache: maven
+            gpg-private-key: ${{ secrets.GPG_PRIVATE_KEY }}
+            gpg-passphrase: ${{ secrets.GPG_PASSPHRASE }}
+        - name: Deploy package
+          run: ./mvnw deploy -s ./settings.xml
+          env:
+            MAVEN_GPG_PASSPHRASE: ${{ secrets.GPG_PASSPHRASE }}
+            MAVEN_CENTRAL_USERNAME: ${{ secrets.MAVEN_CENTRAL_USERNAME }}
+            MAVEN_CENTRAL_PASSWORD: ${{ secrets.MAVEN_CENTRAL_PASSWORD }}
diff --git a/.github/workflows/publish-to-maven-central.yml b/.github/workflows/publish-to-maven-central.yml
deleted file mode 100644
index 7c512a0..0000000
--- a/.github/workflows/publish-to-maven-central.yml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,61 +0,0 @@
----
-name: Publish package to maven central
-
-on:
-  push:
-    branches:
-      - main
-      - beta
-      - alpha
-      - dev
-
-jobs:
-  deploy-and-publish:
-    name: Deploy and publish package
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    environment: deployment
-    steps:
-      - name: Create GitHub app token
-        uses: actions/create-github-app-token@v1
-        id: app-token
-        with:
-          app-id: ${{ secrets.GH_APP_ID }}
-          private-key: ${{ secrets.GH_PRIVATE_KEY }}
-      - name: Checkout repository
-        uses: actions/checkout@v4
-        with:
-          fetch-depth: 0
-          token: ${{ steps.app-token.outputs.token }}
-          persist-credentials: false
-      - name: Import GPG key
-        id: import-gpg
-        uses: crazy-max/ghaction-import-gpg@v6
-        with:
-          gpg_private_key: ${{ secrets.GPG_PRIVATE_KEY }}
-          passphrase: ${{ secrets.GPG_PASSPHRASE }}
-          git_user_signingkey: true
-          git_commit_gpgsign: true
-      - name: Setup JDK 21
-        uses: actions/setup-java@v4
-        with:
-          java-version: "21"
-          distribution: temurin
-          cache: maven
-          gpg-private-key: ${{ secrets.GPG_PRIVATE_KEY }}
-          gpg-passphrase: ${{ secrets.GPG_PASSPHRASE }}
-      - name: Publish package
-        id: semantic
-        uses: cycjimmy/semantic-release-action@v4
-        with:
-          extra_plugins: |
-            @semantic-release/exec
-            semantic-release-gitmoji
-        env:
-          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ steps.app-token.outputs.token }}
-          GIT_AUTHOR_NAME: ${{ steps.import-gpg.outputs.name }}
-          GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL: ${{ steps.import-gpg.outputs.email }}
-          GIT_COMMITTER_NAME: ${{ steps.import-gpg.outputs.name }}
-          GIT_COMMITTER_EMAIL: ${{ steps.import-gpg.outputs.email }}
-          MAVEN_GPG_PASSPHRASE: ${{ secrets.GPG_PASSPHRASE }}
-          MAVEN_CENTRAL_USERNAME: ${{ secrets.MAVEN_CENTRAL_USERNAME }}
-          MAVEN_CENTRAL_PASSWORD: ${{ secrets.MAVEN_CENTRAL_PASSWORD }}
diff --git a/.releaserc.yml b/.releaserc.yml
index 23d6418..d01e172 100644
--- a/.releaserc.yml
+++ b/.releaserc.yml
@@ -13,10 +13,9 @@ plugins:
     - changelogFile: CHANGELOG.md
   - - "@semantic-release/exec"
     - prepareCmd: "./mvnw versions:set -DnewVersion=${nextRelease.version}"
-      publishCmd: "./mvnw deploy -s ./settings.xml"
   - "@semantic-release/github"
   - - "@semantic-release/git"
     - assets:
       - CHANGELOG.md
       - pom.xml
-      message: "🔖 Update `package.json` to `${nextRelease.version}` [skip release]\n\n${nextRelease.notes}"
\ No newline at end of file
+      message: "🔖 Update `package.json` to `${nextRelease.version}` [skip release]\n\n${nextRelease.notes}"
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 2bb62bc..3fc2ef7 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ Welcome to **maven-java-template**, a flexible starting point for creating Maven
 
 ## Features
 
-- **Dependencies**: Preconfigured with Lombok, Checker Framework, Mockito, and JUnit.
+- **Dependencies**: Preconfigured with Checker Framework, Mockito, and JUnit.
 - **Plugins**: Includes Checkstyle, Source, Javadoc, GPG, Central Publishing, JaCoCo, Checker Framework, Jar, and Assembly.
 - **Branching Strategy**: Four branches (`main`, `beta`, `alpha`, and `dev`) to manage different stages of development and release.
 - **CI/CD Pipelines**: Automated checks for code style, build, testing, static code analysis, and publishing to Maven Central.
diff --git a/checkstyle.xml b/checkstyle.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0cd4424
--- /dev/null
+++ b/checkstyle.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,203 @@
+<?xml version="1.0"?>
+<!DOCTYPE module PUBLIC "-//Checkstyle//DTD Checkstyle Configuration 1.3//EN" "https://checkstyle.org/dtds/configuration_1_3.dtd">
+
+<!--
+
+  Checkstyle configuration that checks the sun coding conventions from:
+
+    - the Java Language Specification at
+      https://docs.oracle.com/javase/specs/jls/se11/html/index.html
+
+    - the Sun Code Conventions at
+https://www.oracle.com/java/technologies/javase/codeconventions-contents.html
+
+    - the Javadoc guidelines at
+      https://www.oracle.com/technical-resources/articles/java/javadoc-tool.html
+
+    - the JDK Api documentation https://docs.oracle.com/en/java/javase/11/
+
+    - some best practices
+
+  Checkstyle is very configurable. Be sure to read the documentation at
+  https://checkstyle.org (or in your downloaded distribution).
+
+  Most Checks are configurable, be sure to consult the documentation.
+
+  To completely disable a check, just comment it out or delete it from the file.
+  To suppress certain violations please review suppression filters.
+
+  Finally, it is worth reading the documentation.
+
+-->
+
+<module name="Checker">
+  <!--
+      If you set the basedir property below, then all reported file
+      names will be relative to the specified directory. See
+      https://checkstyle.org/config.html#Checker
+
+      <property name="basedir" value="${basedir}"/>
+  -->
+  <property name="severity" value="error" />
+
+  <property name="fileExtensions" value="java, properties, xml" />
+
+  <!-- Excludes all 'module-info.java' files              -->
+  <!-- See https://checkstyle.org/filefilters/index.html -->
+  <module name="BeforeExecutionExclusionFileFilter">
+    <property name="fileNamePattern" value="module\-info\.java$" />
+  </module>
+
+  <!-- https://checkstyle.org/filters/suppressionfilter.html -->
+  <module name="SuppressionFilter">
+    <property name="file" value="${org.checkstyle.sun.suppressionfilter.config}"
+      default="checkstyle-suppressions.xml" />
+    <property name="optional" value="true" />
+  </module>
+
+  <!-- Checks that a package-info.java file exists for each package.     -->
+  <!-- See https://checkstyle.org/checks/javadoc/javadocpackage.html#JavadocPackage -->
+  <module name="JavadocPackage" />
+
+  <!-- Checks whether files end with a new line.                        -->
+  <!-- See https://checkstyle.org/checks/misc/newlineatendoffile.html -->
+  <module name="NewlineAtEndOfFile" />
+
+  <!-- Checks that property files contain the same keys.         -->
+  <!-- See https://checkstyle.org/checks/misc/translation.html -->
+  <module name="Translation" />
+
+  <!-- Checks for Size Violations.                    -->
+  <!-- See https://checkstyle.org/checks/sizes/index.html -->
+  <module name="FileLength" />
+  <module name="LineLength">
+    <property name="max" value="120" />
+    <property name="fileExtensions" value="java" />
+  </module>
+
+  <!-- Checks for whitespace                               -->
+  <!-- See https://checkstyle.org/checks/whitespace/index.html -->
+  <module name="FileTabCharacter" />
+
+  <!-- Miscellaneous other checks.                   -->
+  <!-- See https://checkstyle.org/checks/misc/index.html -->
+  <module name="RegexpSingleline">
+    <property name="format" value="\s+$" />
+    <property name="minimum" value="0" />
+    <property name="maximum" value="0" />
+    <property name="message" value="Line has trailing spaces." />
+  </module>
+
+  <!-- Checks for Headers                                -->
+  <!-- See https://checkstyle.org/checks/header/index.html   -->
+  <!-- <module name="Header"> -->
+  <!--   <property name="headerFile" value="${checkstyle.header.file}"/> -->
+  <!--   <property name="fileExtensions" value="java"/> -->
+  <!-- </module> -->
+
+  <module name="TreeWalker">
+
+    <!-- Checks for Javadoc comments.                     -->
+    <!-- See https://checkstyle.org/checks/javadoc/index.html -->
+    <module name="InvalidJavadocPosition" />
+    <module name="JavadocMethod" />
+    <module name="JavadocType" />
+    <module name="JavadocVariable" />
+    <module name="JavadocStyle" />
+    <module name="MissingJavadocType">
+      <property name="scope" value="protected" />
+    </module>
+    <module name="MissingJavadocMethod">
+      <property name="scope" value="protected" />
+    </module>
+
+    <!-- Checks for Naming Conventions.                  -->
+    <!-- See https://checkstyle.org/checks/naming/index.html -->
+    <module name="ConstantName" />
+    <module name="LocalFinalVariableName" />
+    <module name="LocalVariableName" />
+    <module name="MemberName" />
+    <module name="MethodName" />
+    <module name="PackageName" />
+    <module name="ParameterName" />
+    <module name="StaticVariableName" />
+    <module name="TypeName" />
+
+    <!-- Checks for imports                              -->
+    <!-- See https://checkstyle.org/checks/imports/index.html -->
+    <module name="AvoidStarImport" />
+    <module name="IllegalImport" /> <!-- defaults to sun.* packages -->
+    <module name="RedundantImport" />
+    <module name="UnusedImports">
+      <property name="processJavadoc" value="false" />
+    </module>
+
+    <!-- Checks for Size Violations.                    -->
+    <!-- See https://checkstyle.org/checks/sizes/index.html -->
+    <module name="MethodLength" />
+    <module name="ParameterNumber" />
+
+    <!-- Checks for whitespace                               -->
+    <!-- See https://checkstyle.org/checks/whitespace/index.html -->
+    <module name="EmptyForIteratorPad" />
+    <module name="GenericWhitespace" />
+    <module name="MethodParamPad" />
+    <module name="NoWhitespaceAfter" />
+    <module name="NoWhitespaceBefore" />
+    <module name="OperatorWrap" />
+    <module name="ParenPad" />
+    <module name="TypecastParenPad" />
+    <module name="WhitespaceAfter" />
+    <module name="WhitespaceAround" />
+
+    <!-- Modifier Checks                                    -->
+    <!-- See https://checkstyle.org/checks/modifier/index.html -->
+    <module name="ModifierOrder" />
+    <module name="RedundantModifier" />
+
+    <!-- Checks for blocks. You know, those {}'s         -->
+    <!-- See https://checkstyle.org/checks/blocks/index.html -->
+    <module name="AvoidNestedBlocks" />
+    <module name="EmptyBlock" />
+    <module name="LeftCurly" />
+    <module name="NeedBraces" />
+    <module name="RightCurly" />
+
+    <!-- Checks for common coding problems               -->
+    <!-- See https://checkstyle.org/checks/coding/index.html -->
+    <module name="EmptyStatement" />
+    <module name="EqualsHashCode" />
+    <module name="HiddenField">
+      <property name="ignoreConstructorParameter" value="true" />
+    </module>
+    <module name="IllegalInstantiation" />
+    <module name="InnerAssignment" />
+    <module name="MagicNumber" />
+    <module name="MissingSwitchDefault" />
+    <module name="MultipleVariableDeclarations" />
+    <module name="SimplifyBooleanExpression" />
+    <module name="SimplifyBooleanReturn" />
+
+    <!-- Checks for class design                         -->
+    <!-- See https://checkstyle.org/checks/design/index.html -->
+    <module name="DesignForExtension" />
+    <module name="FinalClass" />
+    <module name="HideUtilityClassConstructor" />
+    <module name="InterfaceIsType" />
+    <module name="VisibilityModifier" />
+
+    <!-- Miscellaneous other checks.                   -->
+    <!-- See https://checkstyle.org/checks/misc/index.html -->
+    <module name="ArrayTypeStyle" />
+    <module name="FinalParameters" />
+    <module name="TodoComment" />
+    <module name="UpperEll" />
+
+    <!-- https://checkstyle.org/filters/suppressionxpathfilter.html -->
+    <module name="SuppressionXpathFilter">
+      <property name="file" value="${org.checkstyle.sun.suppressionxpathfilter.config}"
+        default="checkstyle-xpath-suppressions.xml" />
+      <property name="optional" value="true" />
+    </module>
+  </module>
+</module>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index c75d594..6f18c0b 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -46,7 +46,6 @@
     <maven.assembly.version>3.7.1</maven.assembly.version>
     <maven.mockito.version>5.12.0</maven.mockito.version>
     <maven.javadoc.version>3.8.0</maven.javadoc.version>
-    <maven.lombok.version>1.18.34</maven.lombok.version>
     <maven.jacoco.version>0.8.12</maven.jacoco.version>
     <maven.source.version>3.3.1</maven.source.version>
     <maven.junit.version>5.10.3</maven.junit.version>
@@ -79,13 +78,6 @@
       <version>${maven.checkerframework.version}</version>
     </dependency>
 
-    <dependency>
-      <groupId>org.projectlombok</groupId>
-      <artifactId>lombok</artifactId>
-      <version>${maven.lombok.version}</version>
-      <scope>provided</scope>
-    </dependency>
-
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.junit.jupiter</groupId>
       <artifactId>junit-jupiter</artifactId>
@@ -115,6 +107,7 @@
         <version>${maven.checkstyle.version}</version>
         <configuration>
           <includeTestSourceDirectory>true</includeTestSourceDirectory>
+          <configLocation>checkstyle.xml</configLocation>
         </configuration>
       </plugin>
 
@@ -137,6 +130,16 @@
         <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
         <artifactId>maven-javadoc-plugin</artifactId>
         <version>${maven.javadoc.version}</version>
+        <configuration>
+          <detectLinks>true</detectLinks>
+          <dependencyLinks>
+            <dependencyLink>
+              <groupId>org.checkerframework</groupId>
+              <artifactId>checker-qual</artifactId>
+              <url>https://checkerframework.org/api</url>
+            </dependencyLink>
+          </dependencyLinks>
+        </configuration>
         <executions>
           <execution>
             <id>attach-javadocs</id>
@@ -222,12 +225,6 @@
             <configuration>
               <fork>true</fork> <!-- Must fork or else JVM arguments are ignored. -->
               <annotationProcessorPaths>
-                <path>
-                  <groupId>org.projectlombok</groupId>
-                  <artifactId>lombok</artifactId>
-                  <version>${maven.lombok.version}</version>
-                </path>
-                
                 <path>
                   <groupId>org.checkerframework</groupId>
                   <artifactId>checker</artifactId>
@@ -238,14 +235,6 @@
                 <!-- Add all the checkers you want to enable here -->
                 <annotationProcessor>org.checkerframework.checker.nullness.NullnessChecker</annotationProcessor>
                 <annotationProcessor>org.checkerframework.checker.resourceleak.ResourceLeakChecker</annotationProcessor>
-
-                <!--
-                  NOTE: Lombok's annotation processors have to appear AFTER the Checker
-                  Framework processors.  This is extremely confusing, because Lombok's
-                  modifications have to happen FIRST.
-                -->
-                <annotationProcessor>lombok.launch.AnnotationProcessorHider$AnnotationProcessor</annotationProcessor>
-                <annotationProcessor>lombok.launch.AnnotationProcessorHider$ClaimingProcessor</annotationProcessor>
               </annotationProcessors>
               <compilerArgs>
                 <arg>-Xmaxerrs</arg>