Spring Boot CLI

The Spring Boot Command Line Interface (CLI) is a powerful tool that allows you to quickly create, develop, and manage Spring Boot applications from the command line. It provides a convenient way to prototype and develop Spring Boot projects without the need for a fully-fledged Integrated Development Environment (IDE). You can use the Spring Boot CLI for various tasks, such as generating projects, running Groovy scripts, and more.

Here are some common tasks you can perform with the Spring Boot CLI:

1. Create a Spring Boot Project:

You can use the Spring Boot CLI to create a new Spring Boot project by running the spring init command followed by project options. For example, to create a new Spring Boot project named “my-spring-boot-app,” you can run:

spring init --dependencies=web my-spring-boot-app

This command generates a basic Spring Boot project with the “web” dependency (Spring Web) and a project structure suitable for your application.

2. Run Groovy Scripts:

Spring Boot CLI supports Groovy scripting, which allows you to write and execute scripts that take advantage of Spring Boot features. For example, you can create a Groovy script that defines Spring beans, configures data sources, or runs tasks. You can execute these scripts using the spring run command:

spring run my-script.groovy

3. Package and Run Applications:

Once you have a Spring Boot project, you can build and run it from the command line. Use the spring boot run command to build and start your Spring Boot application:

cd my-spring-boot-app
spring boot run

4. Inspect Application Properties:

The Spring Boot CLI provides a spring boot view command that allows you to view and inspect the properties defined in your application.properties or application.yml files. For example:

spring boot view application.properties

5. Package Applications:

You can use the CLI to package your Spring Boot application as an executable JAR or WAR file. For instance:

spring jar my-application.jar my-spring-boot-app/

6. Run Spring Boot Features:

The Spring Boot CLI includes various built-in features and commands for tasks such as managing dependencies, generating code, and running tests. You can explore these features by running spring help to see a list of available commands.

7. Access Online Resources:

The Spring Boot CLI can fetch dependencies, plugins, and templates from the Spring Initializr web service, allowing you to create projects with specific configurations and dependencies directly from the command line.

Keep in mind that the Spring Boot CLI uses Groovy as its scripting language, so you should have Groovy installed on your system to use the CLI effectively.

The Spring Boot CLI is a versatile tool for quickly getting started with Spring Boot and streamlining various development tasks. It’s particularly useful for developers who prefer command-line interfaces or need to perform quick prototyping and scripting tasks without setting up a full development environment.