ElementType.LOCAL_VARIABLE annotation type

As of Java 8, local variable annotations are retained in class files. As noted by Erick Hagstrom, this long-standing bug was fixed by JSR 308, which also added type annotations to the Java language.

However, Java's reflection API has not been updated to give access within method bodies. You will need to parse the classfile yourself. You can use a tool such as ASM. EDIT: I don't recommend JavaParser, because it has not been updated beyond Java 1.5. JavaParser has been updated.

With reflection you can't retrieve a local variable. So you can't retrieve an annotation on a local variable via reflection. I think that this kind of annotation is only used for compiler warnings.

You can look http://www.eclipse.org/aspectj/doc/released/adk15notebook/annotations.html

Local variable annotations are not retained in class files (or at runtime) regardless of the retention policy set on the annotation type. See JLS 9.6.1.2.

If you wan't to retrieve method code, you can use JavaParser (http://javaparser.org/).

JLS 9.6.1.2 does indeed state that local variable annotations are not retained. However, JSR 308 is working its way through the community process. It should give you the capability you need.

If you want an interim solution, here is an implementation of JSR 308.