What is the difference between @Getter(lazy = true) and a normal @Getter?

A normal @Getter just returns the field's current value directly. @Getter(lazy = true) is meant for a field whose value is expensive to compute: it generates a getter that computes the value only the first time it's called, caches the result, and returns the cached value on every subsequent call.

public class Config {
    @Getter(lazy = true)
    private final List<String> expensiveData = computeExpensiveData();
}
//  computeExpensiveData() only actually runs the first time getExpensiveData() is called

This requires the field to be final and assigned via an initializer expression, since Lombok implements the caching using a specific double-checked-locking pattern under the hood, generating thread-safe lazy initialization without you having to hand-write that pattern yourself — a genuinely tricky pattern to get right manually.

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