Spring Boot can be used with “classic” Java development tools or installed as a command line tool. Regardless, you will need Java SDK v1.6 or higher. You should check your current Java installation before you begin:
$ java -version
If you are new to Java development, or if you just want to experiment with Spring Boot you might want to try the Spring Boot CLI first, otherwise, read on for “classic” installation instructions.
Tip | |
---|---|
Although Spring Boot is compatible with Java 1.6, if possible, you should consider using the latest version of Java. |
You can use Spring Boot in the same way as any standard Java library. Simply include the
appropriate spring-boot-*.jar
files on your classpath. Spring Boot does not require
any special tools integration, so you can use any IDE or text editor; and there is
nothing special about a Spring Boot application, so you can run and debug as you would
any other Java program.
Although you could just copy Spring Boot jars, we generally recommend that you use a build tool that supports dependency management (such as Maven or Gradle).
Spring Boot is compatible with Apache Maven 3.2 or above. If you don’t already have Maven installed you can follow the instructions at maven.apache.org.
Tip | |
---|---|
On many operating systems Maven can be installed via a package manager. If you’re an
OSX Homebrew user try |
Spring Boot dependencies use the org.springframework.boot
groupId
. Typically your
Maven POM file will inherit from the spring-boot-starter-parent
project and declare
dependencies to one or more “Starters”. Spring Boot also provides an optional
Maven plugin to create
executable jars.
Here is a typical pom.xml
file:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd"> <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion> <groupId>com.example</groupId> <artifactId>myproject</artifactId> <version>0.0.1-SNAPSHOT</version> <!-- Inherit defaults from Spring Boot --> <parent> <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId> <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-parent</artifactId> <version>1.5.9.RELEASE</version> </parent> <!-- Add typical dependencies for a web application --> <dependencies> <dependency> <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId> <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-web</artifactId> </dependency> </dependencies> <!-- Package as an executable jar --> <build> <plugins> <plugin> <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId> <artifactId>spring-boot-maven-plugin</artifactId> </plugin> </plugins> </build> </project>
Tip | |
---|---|
The |
Spring Boot is compatible with Gradle 2 (2.9 or later) and Gradle 3. If you don’t already have Gradle installed you can follow the instructions at www.gradle.org/.
Spring Boot dependencies can be declared using the org.springframework.boot
group
.
Typically your project will declare dependencies to one or more
“Starters”. Spring Boot
provides a useful Gradle plugin
that can be used to simplify dependency declarations and to create executable jars.
Here is a typical build.gradle
file:
plugins { id 'org.springframework.boot' version '1.5.9.RELEASE' id 'java' } jar { baseName = 'myproject' version = '0.0.1-SNAPSHOT' } repositories { jcenter() } dependencies { compile("org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-web") testCompile("org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-test") }
The Spring Boot CLI is a command line tool that can be used if you want to quickly prototype with Spring. It allows you to run Groovy scripts, which means that you have a familiar Java-like syntax, without so much boilerplate code.
You don’t need to use the CLI to work with Spring Boot but it’s definitely the quickest way to get a Spring application off the ground.
You can download the Spring CLI distribution from the Spring software repository:
Cutting edge snapshot distributions are also available.
Once downloaded, follow the INSTALL.txt
instructions from the unpacked archive. In summary: there is a spring
script
(spring.bat
for Windows) in a bin/
directory in the .zip
file, or alternatively you
can use java -jar
with the .jar
file (the script helps you to be sure that the
classpath is set correctly).
SDKMAN! (The Software Development Kit Manager) can be used for managing multiple versions of various binary SDKs, including Groovy and the Spring Boot CLI. Get SDKMAN! from sdkman.io and install Spring Boot with
$ sdk install springboot $ spring --version Spring Boot v1.5.9.RELEASE
If you are developing features for the CLI and want easy access to the version you just built, follow these extra instructions.
$ sdk install springboot dev /path/to/spring-boot/spring-boot-cli/target/spring-boot-cli-1.5.9.RELEASE-bin/spring-1.5.9.RELEASE/ $ sdk default springboot dev $ spring --version Spring CLI v1.5.9.RELEASE
This will install a local instance of spring
called the dev
instance.
It points at your target build location, so every time you rebuild Spring
Boot, spring
will be up-to-date.
You can see it by doing this:
$ sdk ls springboot ================================================================================ Available Springboot Versions ================================================================================ > + dev * 1.5.9.RELEASE ================================================================================ + - local version * - installed > - currently in use ================================================================================
If you are on a Mac and using Homebrew, all you need to do to install the Spring Boot CLI is:
$ brew tap pivotal/tap $ brew install springboot
Homebrew will install spring
to /usr/local/bin
.
Note | |
---|---|
If you don’t see the formula, your installation of brew might be out-of-date.
Just execute |
If you are on a Mac and using MacPorts, all you need to do to install the Spring Boot CLI is:
$ sudo port install spring-boot-cli
Spring Boot CLI ships with scripts that provide command completion for
BASH and
zsh shells. You can source
the script (also named
spring
) in any shell, or put it in your personal or system-wide bash completion
initialization. On a Debian system the system-wide scripts are in /shell-completion/bash
and all scripts in that directory are executed when a new shell starts. To run the script
manually, e.g. if you have installed using SDKMAN!
$ . ~/.sdkman/candidates/springboot/current/shell-completion/bash/spring $ spring <HIT TAB HERE> grab help jar run test version
Note | |
---|---|
If you install Spring Boot CLI using Homebrew or MacPorts, the command-line completion scripts are automatically registered with your shell. |
Here’s a really simple web application that you can use to test your installation. Create
a file called app.groovy
:
@RestController class ThisWillActuallyRun { @RequestMapping("/") String home() { "Hello World!" } }
Then simply run it from a shell:
$ spring run app.groovy
Note | |
---|---|
It will take some time when you first run the application as dependencies are downloaded. Subsequent runs will be much quicker. |
Open localhost:8080 in your favorite web browser and you should see the following output:
Hello World!
If you are upgrading from an earlier release of Spring Boot check the “release notes” hosted on the project wiki. You’ll find upgrade instructions along with a list of “new and noteworthy” features for each release.
To upgrade an existing CLI installation use the appropriate package manager command
(for example brew upgrade
) or, if you manually installed the CLI, follow the
standard instructions remembering to
update your PATH
environment variable to remove any older references.