Spring Boot

Spring Boot
Original author(s)	Rod Johnson
Developer(s)	VMware
Initial release	April 2014; 11 years ago
Stable release	3.4.5 / 24 April 2025; 34 days ago
Repository	github.com/spring-projects/spring-boot ;
Written in	Java
Platform	Java EE
Type	Application framework
License	Apache License 2.0
Website	spring.io/projects/spring-boot

Spring Boot Extension is Spring's convention-over-configuration solution for creating production-grade^[2] Spring applications with minimal amounts of configuration.^[3] Most of the application can be preconfigured using Spring team's "opinionated view"^[4]^[5] of the best configuration and use of the Spring platform and third-party libraries. A Spring Boot application can be written using several programming languages, including Java and Kotlin.^[6]

Features

Embedded Tomcat, Jetty or UnderTow web application server ^[7]
Provide opinionated 'starter' Project Object Models (POMs) for the build tool. The only build tools supported are Maven and Gradle.^[8]^[9]
Automatic configuration of the Spring Application ^[10]
Provide production-ready^[2] functionality such as metrics,^[11] health checks ^[11] and externalized configuration^[12]
No code generation is required.^[7]
No XML configuration is required.^[8]

Bootstrapping DispatcherServlet

Spring Boot does not require manual configuration of the DispatcherServlet, since it automatically configures the application based on the configuration it detects.^[13]

Spring Boot has a class SpringBootServletInitializer, which is a specialization of the WebApplicationInitializer.^[13] This SpringBootServletInitializer is an out-of-the-box implementation of WebApplicationInitializer, which eliminates the need for the developer to construct their own implementation of the WebApplicationInitializer class.^[13]

Configuration properties

The configuration properties for the Spring Boot application can be specified in the application.properties or application.yml file.^[13] Examples of properties that can be included in this file include the server.port and spring.application.name properties.^[13]

Autoconfiguration

Spring boot has an annotation, @SpringBootApplication, which allows the Spring Boot application to autoconfigure third-party libraries and detected features found on the classpath.^[13] As an example, the class that has the @SpringBootApplication annotation can extend the SpringBootServerInitializer class if the application is packaged and deployed as a WAR file.^[13]

Actuator

The Spring Boot Actuator allows for monitoring and management capabilities for the Spring Boot Application.^[14] A major advantage of using the Spring Boot Actuator is it implements a number of production-ready features without requiring the developer to construct their own implementations.^[14]

If Maven used as the build tool, then the spring-boot-starter-actuator dependency can be specified in the pom.xml configuration file.^[15]

Application Servers

By default, Spring boot provides embedded web servers (such as TomCat) out-of-the-box.^[16] However, Spring Boot can also be deployed as a WAR file on a standalone WildFly application server.^[17]

If Maven is used as the build tool, there is a wildfly-maven-plugin Maven plugin that allows for automatic deployment of the generated WAR file.^[17]

Citations

^ "Release 3.4.5". 24 April 2025. Retrieved 1 May 2025.
^ ^a ^b Walls 2016, p. vii, §foreword.
^ Walls 2016, pp. 37–48, §2.3.
^ Walls 2016, p. 48, §2.4.
^ Deinum & Cosmina 2021, pp. 21–22, §2 Spring Framework Fundamentals.
^ Musib 2022, p. 9, §1.2.2 Java vs Kotlin.
^ ^a ^b Walls 2016, p. 7, §1.1.3.
^ ^a ^b Walls 2016, p. x, §Preface.
^ Musib 2022, p. 9, §1.2.1 Maven vs Gradle.
^ Walls 2016, pp. 4–5, §1.1.2.
^ ^a ^b Walls 2016, pp. 124–139, §7.
^ Walls 2016, pp. 49–69, §3.1-§3.2.3.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Deinum & Cosmina 2021, pp. 52–54, §2 Spring Framework Fundamentals - Spring Boot.
^ ^a ^b Musib 2022, pp. 144–145, §4.4 Spring Boot Actuator.
^ Musib 2022, pp. 145–146, §4.4.1 Configuring Spring Boot Actuator in a Spring Boot application.
^ Musib 2022, pp. 7–8, §1.1.4 Spring Boot components.
^ ^a ^b Musib 2022, pp. 406–417, §9.2 Deploying Spring Boot application as WAR in the wildfly application server.

References

Deinum, Marten; Cosmina, Iuliana (2021). Pro Spring MVC with WebFlux. Berkeley, CA: Apress. doi:10.1007/978-1-4842-5666-4. ISBN 978-1-4842-5665-7.
Musib, Somnath (July 12, 2022). Spring Boot in Practice. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-61729-881-3.
Walls, Craig (Jan 3, 2016). Spring Boot in Action. Manning. ISBN 978-1-61729-254-5.

External links

Official website

[wikidata-dcb6f98ca1630df32df38fc311a14439a37664e2-v18-1] "Release 3.4.5". 24 April 2025. Retrieved 1 May 2025.

[FOOTNOTEWalls2016vii§foreword-2] Walls 2016, p. vii, §foreword.

[FOOTNOTEWalls201637–48§2.3-3] Walls 2016, pp. 37–48, §2.3.

[FOOTNOTEWalls201648§2.4-4] Walls 2016, p. 48, §2.4.

[FOOTNOTEDeinumCosmina202121–22§2_Spring_Framework_Fundamentals-5] Deinum & Cosmina 2021, pp. 21–22, §2 Spring Framework Fundamentals.

[FOOTNOTEMusib20229§1.2.2_Java_vs_Kotlin-6] Musib 2022, p. 9, §1.2.2 Java vs Kotlin.

[FOOTNOTEWalls20167§1.1.3-7] Walls 2016, p. 7, §1.1.3.

[FOOTNOTEWalls2016x§Preface-8] Walls 2016, p. x, §Preface.

[FOOTNOTEMusib20229§1.2.1_Maven_vs_Gradle-9] Musib 2022, p. 9, §1.2.1 Maven vs Gradle.

[FOOTNOTEWalls20164–5§1.1.2-10] Walls 2016, pp. 4–5, §1.1.2.

[FOOTNOTEWalls2016124–139§7-11] Walls 2016, pp. 124–139, §7.

[FOOTNOTEWalls201649–69§3.1-§3.2.3-12] Walls 2016, pp. 49–69, §3.1-§3.2.3.

[FOOTNOTEDeinumCosmina202152–54§2_Spring_Framework_Fundamentals_-_Spring_Boot-13] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Deinum & Cosmina 2021, pp. 52–54, §2 Spring Framework Fundamentals - Spring Boot.

[FOOTNOTEMusib2022144–145§4.4_Spring_Boot_Actuator-14] Musib 2022, pp. 144–145, §4.4 Spring Boot Actuator.

[FOOTNOTEMusib2022145–146§4.4.1_Configuring_Spring_Boot_Actuator_in_a_Spring_Boot_application-15] Musib 2022, pp. 145–146, §4.4.1 Configuring Spring Boot Actuator in a Spring Boot application.

[FOOTNOTEMusib20227–8§1.1.4_Spring_Boot_components-16] Musib 2022, pp. 7–8, §1.1.4 Spring Boot components.

[FOOTNOTEMusib2022406–417§9.2_Deploying_Spring_Boot_application_as_WAR_in_the_wildfly_application_server-17] Musib 2022, pp. 406–417, §9.2 Deploying Spring Boot application as WAR in the wildfly application server.

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