This version is still in development and is not considered stable yet. For the latest stable version, please use Spring Boot 3.3.2! |
Using the CLI
Once you have installed the CLI, you can run it by typing spring
and pressing Enter at the command line.
If you run spring
without any arguments, a help screen is displayed, as follows:
$ spring
usage: spring [--help] [--version]
<command> [<args>]
Available commands are:
init [options] [location]
Initialize a new project using Spring Initializr (start.spring.io)
encodepassword [options] <password to encode>
Encode a password for use with Spring Security
shell
Start a nested shell
Common options:
--debug Verbose mode
Print additional status information for the command you are running
See 'spring help <command>' for more information on a specific command.
You can type spring help
to get more details about any of the supported commands, as shown in the following example:
$ spring help init
spring init - Initialize a new project using Spring Initializr (start.spring.io)
usage: spring init [options] [location]
Option Description
------ -----------
-a, --artifact-id <String> Project coordinates; infer archive name (for
example 'test')
-b, --boot-version <String> Spring Boot version (for example '1.2.0.RELEASE')
--build <String> Build system to use (for example 'maven' or
'gradle') (default: maven)
-d, --dependencies <String> Comma-separated list of dependency identifiers to
include in the generated project
--description <String> Project description
-f, --force Force overwrite of existing files
--format <String> Format of the generated content (for example
'build' for a build file, 'project' for a
project archive) (default: project)
-g, --group-id <String> Project coordinates (for example 'org.test')
-j, --java-version <String> Language level (for example '1.8')
-l, --language <String> Programming language (for example 'java')
--list List the capabilities of the service. Use it to
discover the dependencies and the types that are
available
-n, --name <String> Project name; infer application name
-p, --packaging <String> Project packaging (for example 'jar')
--package-name <String> Package name
-t, --type <String> Project type. Not normally needed if you use --
build and/or --format. Check the capabilities of
the service (--list) for more details
--target <String> URL of the service to use (default: https://start.
spring.io)
-v, --version <String> Project version (for example '0.0.1-SNAPSHOT')
-x, --extract Extract the project archive. Inferred if a
location is specified without an extension
examples:
To list all the capabilities of the service:
$ spring init --list
To creates a default project:
$ spring init
To create a web my-app.zip:
$ spring init -d=web my-app.zip
To create a web/data-jpa gradle project unpacked:
$ spring init -d=web,jpa --build=gradle my-dir
The version
command provides a quick way to check which version of Spring Boot you are using, as follows:
$ spring version
Spring CLI v3.4.0-M1
Initialize a New Project
The init
command lets you create a new project by using start.spring.io without leaving the shell, as shown in the following example:
$ spring init --dependencies=web,data-jpa my-project
Using service at https://start.spring.io
Project extracted to '/Users/developer/example/my-project'
The preceding example creates a my-project
directory with a Maven-based project that uses spring-boot-starter-web
and spring-boot-starter-data-jpa
.
You can list the capabilities of the service by using the --list
flag, as shown in the following example:
$ spring init --list
=======================================
Capabilities of https://start.spring.io
=======================================
Available dependencies:
-----------------------
actuator - Actuator: Production ready features to help you monitor and manage your application
...
web - Web: Support for full-stack web development, including Tomcat and spring-webmvc
websocket - Websocket: Support for WebSocket development
ws - WS: Support for Spring Web Services
Available project types:
------------------------
gradle-build - Gradle Config [format:build, build:gradle]
gradle-project - Gradle Project [format:project, build:gradle]
maven-build - Maven POM [format:build, build:maven]
maven-project - Maven Project [format:project, build:maven] (default)
...
The init
command supports many options.
See the help
output for more details.
For instance, the following command creates a Gradle project that uses Java 17 and war
packaging:
$ spring init --build=gradle --java-version=17 --dependencies=websocket --packaging=war sample-app.zip
Using service at https://start.spring.io
Content saved to 'sample-app.zip'
Using the Embedded Shell
Spring Boot includes command-line completion scripts for the BASH and zsh shells.
If you do not use either of these shells (perhaps you are a Windows user), you can use the shell
command to launch an integrated shell, as shown in the following example:
$ spring shell
Spring Boot (v3.4.0-M1)
Hit TAB to complete. Type \'help' and hit RETURN for help, and \'exit' to quit.
From inside the embedded shell, you can run other commands directly:
$ version
Spring CLI v3.4.0-M1
The embedded shell supports ANSI color output as well as tab
completion.
If you need to run a native command, you can use the !
prefix.
To exit the embedded shell, press ctrl-c
.