Spoof maven repository backed by minecraft.net's launcher version manifest data. Reverse engineers release (and snapshot) client, server, and their respective libraries into a maven POM for easy acquisition in IDE.
Note that piston-maven is most useful for version 26.1 and onward, where the game is no longer obfuscated.
In your build.gradle.kts:
repositories {
maven("https://piston-maven.hugeblank.dev")
mavenCentral()
}
dependencies {
// All versions of the game are supported
implementation("net.minecraft:client:1.8")
// Obtaining the server is also supported. (Note: Versions prior to 1.2.5 do not have a server version.)
implementation("net.minecraft:server:1.8")
}