diff --git a/build.gradle b/build.gradle
index cfde2a0204b..a71f8ab90a6 100644
--- a/build.gradle
+++ b/build.gradle
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ plugins {
   id 'de.thetaphi.forbiddenapis' version '3.3' apply false
   id "de.undercouch.download" version "4.1.1" apply false
   id "net.ltgt.errorprone" version "2.0.2" apply false
-  id 'com.diffplug.spotless' version "5.14.3" apply false
+  id 'com.diffplug.spotless' version "6.5.0" apply false
 }
 
 apply from: file('gradle/globals.gradle')
diff --git a/gradle/validation/spotless.gradle b/gradle/validation/spotless.gradle
index 860c0ca9b43..4c0257be10d 100644
--- a/gradle/validation/spotless.gradle
+++ b/gradle/validation/spotless.gradle
@@ -94,6 +94,11 @@ configure(project(":lucene").subprojects) { prj ->
     }
   }
 
+  // Emit a custom message about how to fix formatting errors.
+  tasks.matching { task -> task.name == "spotlessJavaCheck" }.configureEach {
+    runToFixMessage.set("\nIMPORTANT: run the top-level './gradlew tidy' to format code automatically (see help/formatting.txt for more info).")
+  }
+
   // Add an alias to 'spotlessApply' simply called 'tidy' and wire up
   // spotlessCheck to convention's check.
   task tidy() {
@@ -111,9 +116,3 @@ configure(project(":lucene").subprojects) { prj ->
     v.dependsOn ":checkJdkInternalsExportedToGradle"
   }
 }
-
-gradle.taskGraph.afterTask { Task task, TaskState state ->
-  if (task.name == 'spotlessJavaCheck' && state.failure) {
-    throw new GradleException("\n****************************\n*PLEASE RUN ./gradlew tidy!*\n****************************");
-  }
-}