The plugin offers goals for checking, whether your project is upwards compatible to previous versions and for generating a report.
The clirr:check goal is used to check for compatibility with previous versions. To use this goal, add a section like the following to your POM:
<build>
<plugins>
...
<plugin>
<groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
<artifactId>clirr-maven-plugin</artifactId>
<version>2.2.1</version>
</plugin>
...
</plugins>
</build>
The plugin can also be used to add a report to the generated site. If you'd like to have a Clirr report, add a section like this to your POM:
<reporting>
<plugins>
...
<plugin>
<groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
<artifactId>clirr-maven-plugin</artifactId>
<version>2.2.1</version>
</plugin>
...
</plugins>
</reporting>