Reshma Bidikar

In this article, we will learn how to create a JAR file from a Spring Boot application using Maven.

Introduction

The spring-boot-maven-plugin allows packaging a Spring Boot application as a JAR/WAR file. It needs to be specified in the project pom.xml along with the type of packaging (jar/war).

Project Creation and Setup

Step 1 - Let us use an existing project as a starting point. Clone the code from this Spring Boot Thymeleaf project.

Step 2 - Update the pom.xml to specify the packaging and the spring-boot-maven-plugin configuration. So the pom file should look as follows:

<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 https://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
  <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
  <groupId>com.learnjava</groupId>
  <artifactId>learnjava-springbootthymeleaf-demo</artifactId>
  <version>0.0.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
  <packaging>jar</packaging>
  <parent>
    <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
    <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-parent</artifactId>
    <version>2.1.2.RELEASE</version>
  </parent>
  <dependencies>
    <dependency>
      <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
      <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-web</artifactId>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
      <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
      <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-thymeleaf</artifactId>
    </dependency>
  </dependencies>
  <build>
    <plugins>
      <plugin>
        <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-boot-maven-plugin</artifactId>
      </plugin>
    </plugins>
  </build>

</project>

Creating the JAR File

Execute the following Maven command:

mvn clean package

This creates the JAR file in the target directory of your project.

Further Reading

Conclusion

So to summarize, the spring-boot-maven-plugin can be used to create a Jar file from a Spring Boot Application using Maven.