The @ConditionalOnClass and @ConditionalOnMissingClass annotations allows configuration to be included based on the presence or absence of specific classes. Due to the fact that annotation metadata is parsed using ASM you can actually use the value attribute to refer to the real class, even though that class might not actually appear on the running application classpath. You can also use the name attribute if you prefer to specify the class name using a String value.

	Tip
	If you are using @ConditionalOnClass or @ConditionalOnMissingClass as a part of a meta-annotation to compose your own composed annotations you must use name as referring to the class in such a case is not handled.

The @ConditionalOnBean and @ConditionalOnMissingBean annotations allow a bean to be included based on the presence or absence of specific beans. You can use the value attribute to specify beans by type, or name to specify beans by name. The search attribute allows you to limit the ApplicationContext hierarchy that should be considered when searching for beans.

When placed on a @Bean method, the target type defaults to the return type of the method, for instance:

@Configuration
public class MyAutoConfiguration {

    @Bean
    @ConditionalOnMissingBean
    public MyService myService() { ... }

}

In the example above, the myService bean is going to be created if no bean of type MyService is already contained in the ApplicationContext.

	Tip
	You need to be very careful about the order that bean definitions are added as these conditions are evaluated based on what has been processed so far. For this reason, we recommend only using @ConditionalOnBean and @ConditionalOnMissingBean annotations on auto-configuration classes (since these are guaranteed to load after any user-defined beans definitions have been added).

	Note
	@ConditionalOnBean and @ConditionalOnMissingBean do not prevent @Configuration classes from being created. Using these conditions at the class level is equivalent to marking each contained @Bean method with the annotation.

The @ConditionalOnProperty annotation allows configuration to be included based on a Spring Environment property. Use the prefix and name attributes to specify the property that should be checked. By default any property that exists and is not equal to false will be matched. You can also create more advanced checks using the havingValue and matchIfMissing attributes.

The @ConditionalOnResource annotation allows configuration to be included only when a specific resource is present. Resources can be specified using the usual Spring conventions, for example, file:/home/user/test.dat.

The @ConditionalOnWebApplication and @ConditionalOnNotWebApplication annotations allow configuration to be included depending on whether the application is a 'web application'. A web application is any application that is using a Spring WebApplicationContext, defines a session scope or has a StandardServletEnvironment.

The @ConditionalOnExpression annotation allows configuration to be included based on the result of a SpEL expression.

Please make sure to provide a proper namespace for your starter. Do not start your module names with spring-boot, even if you are using a different Maven groupId. We may offer an official support for the thing you’re auto-configuring in the future.

Here is a rule of thumb. Let’s assume that you are creating a starter for "acme", name the auto-configure module acme-spring-boot-autoconfigure and the starter acme-spring-boot-starter. If you only have one module combining the two, use acme-spring-boot-starter.

Besides, if your starter provides configuration keys, use a proper namespace for them. In particular, do not include your keys in the namespaces that Spring Boot uses (e.g. server, management, spring, etc). These are "ours" and we may improve/modify them in the future in such a way it could break your things.

Make sure to trigger meta-data generation so that IDE assistance is available for your keys as well. You may want to review the generated meta-data (META-INF/spring-configuration-metadata.json) to make sure your keys are properly documented.

The autoconfigure module contains everything that is necessary to get started with the library. It may also contain configuration keys definition (@ConfigurationProperties) and any callback interface that can be used to further customize how the components are initialized.

	Tip
	You should mark the dependencies to the library as optional so that you can include the autoconfigure module in your projects more easily. If you do it that way, the library won’t be provided and Spring Boot will back off by default.

The starter is an empty jar, really. Its only purpose is to provide the necessary dependencies to work with the library; see it as an opinionated view of what is required to get started.

Do not make assumptions about the project in which your starter is added. If the library you are auto-configuring typically requires other starters, mention them as well. Providing a proper set of default dependencies may be hard if the number of optional dependencies is high as you should avoid bringing unnecessary dependencies for a typical usage of the library.