This is an annotation on a class, currently just ASTTransformation. This provides information about how and when to apply the transformation, such as what phase it should be applied in. The allowed phase is a function of how the transformation is introduced into the compile process. If the transform is automatically added via a marker annotation only the SEMANTIC_ANALYSIS and latter phases are legal for the phase(). This is because the annotations are not inspected until after the classes are all resolved. Also, only annotation types present during the SEMANTIC_ANALYSIS phase will be handled. Transformations adding other annotations that are transformable will have those new annotations only considered in latter phases, and only if the type was present in the source unit during SEMANTIC_ANALYSIS.