diff --git a/docs/pages/7_0_0_release_notes.md b/docs/pages/7_0_0_release_notes.md
index de38d0b896..7893a725fa 100644
--- a/docs/pages/7_0_0_release_notes.md
+++ b/docs/pages/7_0_0_release_notes.md
@@ -46,6 +46,25 @@ Support for XPath versions 1.0, 1.0-compatibility was removed, support for XPath
  * The deprecated support for sequence-valued attributes is removed. Sequence-valued properties are still supported.
  * Refer to [the Saxonica documentation](https://www.saxonica.com/html/documentation/expressions/xpath31new.html) for an introduction to new features in XPath 3.1.
 
+
+#### Node stream API
+
+This version includes a powerful API to navigate trees, similar in usage to the Java 8 Stream API:
+```java
+node.descendants(ASTMethodCall.class)
+    .filter(m -> "toString".equals(m.getMethodName()))
+    .map(m -> m.getQualifier())
+    .filter(q -> TypeTestUtil.isA(String.class, q))
+    .foreach(System.out::println);
+```
+
+A pipeline like shown here traverses the tree lazily, which is more efficient than traversing eagerly to put all descendants in a list. It is also much easier to change than the old imperative way.
+
+To make this API as accessible as possible, the {% jdoc core::lang.ast.Node %} interface has been fitted with new methods producing node streams. Those methods replace previous tree traversal methods like `Node#findDescendantsOfType`. In all cases, they should be more efficient and more convenient.
+
+See {% jdoc core::lang.ast.NodeStream %} for more details.
+
+
 #### JavaScript support
 
 The JS specific parser options have been removed. The parser now always retains comments and uses version ES6.
diff --git a/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/ast/Node.java b/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/ast/Node.java
index d3ab5b8066..d5e6ed3be6 100644
--- a/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/ast/Node.java
+++ b/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/ast/Node.java
@@ -13,10 +13,11 @@ import java.util.Objects;
 import org.checkerframework.checker.nullness.qual.NonNull;
 import org.checkerframework.checker.nullness.qual.Nullable;
 
+import net.sourceforge.pmd.annotation.DeprecatedUntil700;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.ast.NodeStream.DescendantNodeStream;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.ast.internal.StreamImpl;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.rule.xpath.Attribute;
-import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.rule.xpath.DeprecatedAttribute;
+import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.rule.xpath.NoAttribute;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.rule.xpath.XPathVersion;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.rule.xpath.impl.AttributeAxisIterator;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.rule.xpath.impl.XPathHandler;
@@ -30,10 +31,14 @@ import net.sourceforge.pmd.util.DataMap.DataKey;
  * Root interface for all AST nodes. This interface provides only the API
  * shared by all AST implementations in PMD language modules. This includes for now:
  * <ul>
- * <li>Tree traversal methods, like {@link #getParent()} and {@link #getFirstChildOfType(Class)}
+ * <li>Tree traversal methods: {@link #getParent()}, {@link #getIndexInParent()},
+ * {@link #getChild(int)}, and {@link #getNumChildren()}. These four basic
+ * operations are used to implement more specific traversal operations,
+ * like {@link #firstChild(Class)}, and {@link NodeStream}s.
  * <li>The API used to describe nodes in a form understandable by XPath expressions:
  * {@link #getXPathNodeName()},  {@link #getXPathAttributesIterator()}
  * <li>Location metadata: eg {@link #getBeginLine()}, {@link #getBeginColumn()}
+ * <li>An extensible metadata store: {@link #getUserMap()}
  * </ul>
  *
  * <p>Every language implementation must publish a sub-interface of Node
@@ -59,7 +64,12 @@ public interface Node {
      * Returns a string token, usually filled-in by the parser, which describes some textual characteristic of this
      * node. This is usually an identifier, but you should check that using the Designer. On most nodes though, this
      * method returns {@code null}.
+     *
+     * @deprecated Should be replaced with methods that have more specific
+     *     names in node classes.
      */
+    @Deprecated
+    @DeprecatedUntil700
     default String getImage() {
         return null;
     }
@@ -69,7 +79,11 @@ public interface Node {
      * Returns true if this node's image is equal to the given string.
      *
      * @param image The image to check
+     *
+     * @deprecated See {@link #getImage()}
      */
+    @Deprecated
+    @DeprecatedUntil700
     default boolean hasImageEqualTo(String image) {
         return Objects.equals(getImage(), image);
     }
@@ -116,7 +130,7 @@ public interface Node {
      *
      * @see DescendantNodeStream#crossFindBoundaries(boolean)
      */
-    @DeprecatedAttribute
+    @NoAttribute
     default boolean isFindBoundary() {
         return false;
     }
@@ -131,7 +145,11 @@ public interface Node {
      * @param n how many ancestors to iterate over.
      * @return the n-th parent or null.
      * @throws IllegalArgumentException if {@code n} is negative or zero.
+     *
+     * @deprecated Use node stream methods: {@code node.ancestors().get(n-1)}
      */
+    @Deprecated
+    @DeprecatedUntil700
     default Node getNthParent(int n) {
         return ancestors().get(n - 1);
     }
@@ -142,7 +160,11 @@ public interface Node {
      * @param parentType Class literal of the type you want to find
      * @param <T> The type you want to find
      * @return Node of type parentType. Returns null if none found.
+     *
+     * @deprecated Use node stream methods: {@code node.ancestors(parentType).first()}
      */
+    @Deprecated
+    @DeprecatedUntil700
     default <T extends Node> T getFirstParentOfType(Class<? extends T> parentType) {
         return this.<T>ancestors(parentType).first();
     }
@@ -154,7 +176,12 @@ public interface Node {
      * @param parentType Class literal of the type you want to find
      * @param <T> The type you want to find
      * @return List of parentType instances found.
+     *
+     * @deprecated Use node stream methods: {@code node.ancestors(parentType).toList()}.
+     *     Most usages don't really need a list though, eg you can iterate the node stream instead
      */
+    @Deprecated
+    @DeprecatedUntil700
     default <T extends Node> List<T> getParentsOfType(Class<? extends T> parentType) {
         return this.<T>ancestors(parentType).toList();
     }
@@ -166,7 +193,12 @@ public interface Node {
      * @param childType class which you want to find.
      * @return List of all children of type childType. Returns an empty list if none found.
      * @see #findDescendantsOfType(Class) if traversal of the entire tree is needed.
+     *
+     * @deprecated Use node stream methods: {@code node.children(childType).toList()}.
+     *     Most usages don't really need a list though, eg you can iterate the node stream instead
      */
+    @Deprecated
+    @DeprecatedUntil700
     default <T extends Node> List<T> findChildrenOfType(Class<? extends T> childType) {
         return this.<T>children(childType).toList();
     }
@@ -178,7 +210,12 @@ public interface Node {
      *
      * @param targetType class which you want to find.
      * @return List of all children of type targetType. Returns an empty list if none found.
+     *
+     * @deprecated Use node stream methods: {@code node.descendants(targetType).toList()}.
+     *     Most usages don't really need a list though, eg you can iterate the node stream instead
      */
+    @Deprecated
+    @DeprecatedUntil700
     default <T extends Node> List<T> findDescendantsOfType(Class<? extends T> targetType) {
         return this.<T>descendants(targetType).toList();
     }
@@ -194,7 +231,12 @@ public interface Node {
      *            if <code>false</code>, recursion stops for nodes for which
      *            {@link #isFindBoundary()} is <code>true</code>
      * @return List of all matching descendants
+     *
+     * @deprecated Use node stream methods: {@code node.descendants(targetType).crossFindBoundaries(b).toList()}.
+     *     Most usages don't really need a list though, eg you can iterate the node stream instead
      */
+    @Deprecated
+    @DeprecatedUntil700
     default <T extends Node> List<T> findDescendantsOfType(Class<? extends T> targetType, boolean crossFindBoundaries) {
         return this.<T>descendants(targetType).crossFindBoundaries(crossFindBoundaries).toList();
     }
@@ -205,9 +247,13 @@ public interface Node {
      * @param childType class which you want to find.
      * @return Node of type childType. Returns <code>null</code> if none found.
      * @see #getFirstDescendantOfType(Class) if traversal of the entire tree is needed.
+     *
+     * @deprecated Use {@link #firstChild(Class)}
      */
+    @Deprecated
+    @DeprecatedUntil700
     default <T extends Node> T getFirstChildOfType(Class<? extends T> childType) {
-        return children(childType).first();
+        return firstChild(childType);
     }
 
 
@@ -217,7 +263,11 @@ public interface Node {
      *
      * @param descendantType class which you want to find.
      * @return Node of type descendantType. Returns <code>null</code> if none found.
+     *
+     * @deprecated Use node stream methods: {@code node.descendants(targetType).first()}.
      */
+    @Deprecated
+    @DeprecatedUntil700
     default <T extends Node> T getFirstDescendantOfType(Class<? extends T> descendantType) {
         return descendants(descendantType).first();
     }
@@ -227,7 +277,11 @@ public interface Node {
      *
      * @param type the node type to search
      * @return <code>true</code> if there is at least one descendant of the given type
+     *
+     * @deprecated Use node stream methods: {@code node.descendants(targetType).nonEmpty()}.
      */
+    @Deprecated
+    @DeprecatedUntil700
     default <T extends Node> boolean hasDescendantOfType(Class<? extends T> type) {
         return descendants(type).nonEmpty();
     }
@@ -258,6 +312,8 @@ public interface Node {
      * Returns a data map used to store additional information on this node.
      *
      * @return The user data map of this node
+     *
+     * @since 6.22.0
      */
     DataMap<DataKey<?, ?>> getUserMap();
 
@@ -267,6 +323,8 @@ public interface Node {
      * of the tree.
      *
      * @return The parent of this node
+     *
+     * @since 6.21.0
      */
     Node getParent();
 
@@ -275,12 +333,15 @@ public interface Node {
      * Returns the child of this node at the given index.
      *
      * @throws IndexOutOfBoundsException if the index is negative or greater than {@link #getNumChildren()}.
+     * @since 6.21.0
      */
     Node getChild(int index);
 
 
     /**
      * Returns the number of children of this node.
+     *
+     * @since 6.21.0
      */
     int getNumChildren();
 
@@ -289,6 +350,8 @@ public interface Node {
      * node is a {@linkplain RootNode root node}, returns -1.
      *
      * @return The index of this node in its parent's children
+     *
+     * @since 6.21.0
      */
     int getIndexInParent();
 
@@ -313,6 +376,8 @@ public interface Node {
      *     a different override per concrete node class (no shortcuts).
      *
      *     The default implementation calls back {@link AstVisitor#cannotVisit(Node, Object)}.
+     *
+     * @since 7.0.0
      */
     default <P, R> R acceptVisitor(AstVisitor<? super P, ? extends R> visitor, P data) {
         return visitor.cannotVisit(this, data);
@@ -349,6 +414,8 @@ public interface Node {
 
     /**
      * Returns the first child of this node, or null if it doesn't exist.
+     *
+     * @since 7.0.0
      */
     default @Nullable Node getFirstChild() {
         return getNumChildren() > 0 ? getChild(0) : null;
@@ -357,12 +424,42 @@ public interface Node {
 
     /**
      * Returns the first last of this node, or null if it doesn't exist.
+     *
+     * @since 7.0.0
      */
     default @Nullable Node getLastChild() {
         return getNumChildren() > 0 ? getChild(getNumChildren() - 1) : null;
     }
 
 
+    /**
+     * Returns the previous sibling of this node, or null if it does not exist.
+     *
+     * @since 7.0.0
+     */
+    default @Nullable Node getPreviousSibling() {
+        Node parent = getParent();
+        int idx = getIndexInParent();
+        if (parent != null && idx > 0) {
+            return parent.getChild(idx - 1);
+        }
+        return null;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Returns the next sibling of this node, or null if it does not exist.
+     *
+     * @since 7.0.0
+     */
+    default @Nullable Node getNextSibling() {
+        Node parent = getParent();
+        int idx = getIndexInParent();
+        if (parent != null && idx < parent.getNumChildren()) {
+            return parent.getChild(idx + 1);
+        }
+        return null;
+    }
+
     /**
      * Returns a node stream containing only this node.
      * {@link NodeStream#of(Node)} is a null-safe version
@@ -371,6 +468,7 @@ public interface Node {
      * @return A node stream containing only this node
      *
      * @see NodeStream#of(Node)
+     * @since 7.0.0
      */
     default NodeStream<? extends Node> asStream() {
         return StreamImpl.singleton(this);
@@ -383,6 +481,7 @@ public interface Node {
      * you'll probably want to use {@link #children(Class)}.
      *
      * @see NodeStream#children(Class)
+     * @since 7.0.0
      */
     default NodeStream<? extends Node> children() {
         return StreamImpl.children(this);
@@ -396,6 +495,7 @@ public interface Node {
      * @return A node stream of the descendants of this node
      *
      * @see NodeStream#descendants()
+     * @since 7.0.0
      */
     default DescendantNodeStream<? extends Node> descendants() {
         return StreamImpl.descendants(this);
@@ -409,6 +509,7 @@ public interface Node {
      * @return A node stream of the whole subtree topped by this node
      *
      * @see NodeStream#descendantsOrSelf()
+     * @since 7.0.0
      */
     default DescendantNodeStream<? extends Node> descendantsOrSelf() {
         return StreamImpl.descendantsOrSelf(this);
@@ -423,6 +524,7 @@ public interface Node {
      * @return A node stream of the ancestors of this node
      *
      * @see NodeStream#ancestors()
+     * @since 7.0.0
      */
     default NodeStream<? extends Node> ancestors() {
         return StreamImpl.ancestors(this);
@@ -437,6 +539,7 @@ public interface Node {
      * @return A stream of ancestors
      *
      * @see NodeStream#ancestorsOrSelf()
+     * @since 7.0.0
      */
     default NodeStream<? extends Node> ancestorsOrSelf() {
         return StreamImpl.ancestorsOrSelf(this);
@@ -453,11 +556,31 @@ public interface Node {
      * @return A new node stream
      *
      * @see NodeStream#children(Class)
+     * @since 7.0.0
      */
     default <R extends Node> NodeStream<R> children(Class<? extends R> rClass) {
         return StreamImpl.children(this, rClass);
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Returns the first child of this node that has the given type.
+     * Returns null if no such child exists.
+     *
+     * <p>If you want to process this element as a node stream, use
+     * {@code asStream().firstChild(rClass)} instead, which returns
+     * a node stream.
+     *
+     * @param rClass Type of the child to find
+     * @param <R>    Type of the child to find
+     *
+     * @return A child, or null
+     *
+     * @since 7.0.0
+     */
+    default <R extends Node> @Nullable R firstChild(Class<? extends R> rClass) {
+        return children(rClass).first();
+    }
+
 
     /**
      * Returns a {@linkplain NodeStream node stream} of the {@linkplain #descendants() descendants}
@@ -470,6 +593,7 @@ public interface Node {
      * @return A new node stream
      *
      * @see NodeStream#descendants(Class)
+     * @since 7.0.0
      */
     default <R extends Node> DescendantNodeStream<R> descendants(Class<? extends R> rClass) {
         return StreamImpl.descendants(this, rClass);
@@ -477,8 +601,8 @@ public interface Node {
 
 
     /**
-     * Returns the {@linkplain #ancestors() ancestor stream} of each node
-     * in this stream, filtered by the given node type.
+     * Returns the {@linkplain #ancestors() ancestor stream} of this node
+     * filtered by the given node type.
      *
      * @param rClass Type of node the returned stream should contain
      * @param <R>    Type of node the returned stream should contain
@@ -486,6 +610,7 @@ public interface Node {
      * @return A new node stream
      *
      * @see NodeStream#ancestors(Class)
+     * @since 7.0.0
      */
     default <R extends Node> NodeStream<R> ancestors(Class<? extends R> rClass) {
         return StreamImpl.ancestors(this, rClass);
@@ -493,9 +618,10 @@ public interface Node {
 
     /**
      * Returns the root of the tree this node is declared in.
+     *
+     * @since 7.0.0
      */
-    @NonNull
-    default RootNode getRoot() {
+    default @NonNull RootNode getRoot() {
         Node r = this;
         while (r.getParent() != null) {
             r = r.getParent();
diff --git a/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/ast/impl/AbstractNode.java b/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/ast/impl/AbstractNode.java
index d65d4dd231..9d3839d411 100644
--- a/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/ast/impl/AbstractNode.java
+++ b/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/ast/impl/AbstractNode.java
@@ -183,4 +183,20 @@ public abstract class AbstractNode<B extends AbstractNode<B, N>, N extends Gener
         return getXPathNodeName();
     }
 
+    @Override
+    @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
+    public final <R extends Node> @Nullable R firstChild(Class<? extends R> rClass) {
+        // This operation is extremely common so we give it an optimal
+        // implementation, based directly on the array. This will never
+        // create a node stream object, and array bounds are not checked.
+        // It's final so it can be inlined.
+        for (Node child : children) {
+            if (rClass.isInstance(child)) {
+                // rClass.cast(child) is more expensive than this
+                // unchecked cast, which we know is safe.
+                return (R) child;
+            }
+        }
+        return null;
+    }
 }
diff --git a/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/ast/impl/GenericNode.java b/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/ast/impl/GenericNode.java
index 9e277b59b0..347d835f5a 100644
--- a/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/ast/impl/GenericNode.java
+++ b/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/ast/impl/GenericNode.java
@@ -83,4 +83,14 @@ public interface GenericNode<N extends GenericNode<N>> extends Node {
     default NodeStream<N> ancestors() {
         return (NodeStream<N>) Node.super.ancestors();
     }
+
+    @Override
+    default @Nullable N getPreviousSibling() {
+        return (N) Node.super.getPreviousSibling();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    default @Nullable N getNextSibling() {
+        return (N) Node.super.getNextSibling();
+    }
 }
diff --git a/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/ast/internal/SingletonNodeStream.java b/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/ast/internal/SingletonNodeStream.java
index 038a44e6b0..269574254e 100644
--- a/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/ast/internal/SingletonNodeStream.java
+++ b/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/ast/internal/SingletonNodeStream.java
@@ -162,7 +162,7 @@ final class SingletonNodeStream<T extends Node> extends IteratorBasedNStream<T>
 
     @Override
     public <R extends Node> NodeStream<R> firstChild(Class<? extends R> rClass) {
-        return NodeStream.of(TraversalUtils.getFirstChildMatching(node, Filtermap.isInstance(rClass), 0, node.getNumChildren()));
+        return NodeStream.of(node.firstChild(rClass));
     }
 
     @Override