What is Spring Initializr?

Spring Initializr

Spring Initializr is a website or web-based tool used to set up Spring Boot projects in an easier and efficient manner. Spring Boot projects can be set up manually, but the configuration might be time-consuming and confusing. Spring Initializr addresses this problem by laying the groundwork for its users.

We can access Spring Initializr at start.spring.io.

The interface screenshot is shown below:

Generating a project

Spring Initializr has the following options to help users define the structure of their projects:

Project: This allows the users to create either a Maven Project or Gradle Project.

Language: Any of the three languages i.e., Java, Kotlin, and Groovy can be chosen.

Spring Boot: Here, we can select the Spring Boot version.

Project Metadata: This contains information that describes the project. We are provided the following fields to set our project description:

• Group: It sets the name of the package.
• Artifact: It sets the Application name.
• Name: It is the same name as the Application name.
• Description: This field is used to describe the project.
• Package name: It is also similar to the Group name.
• Packaging: We can choose either Jar or War to pack our project.
• Java: We can choose the JVM version here.

Dependencies: Dependencies are the pieces of software that the current project needs to compile, build, and run. We can add the required dependencies here.

Finally, the Generate button starts building the project structure and packs it into a Jar or War file, which is then downloaded with the same click.

Many IDEs support Spring Initializr including:

• Spring Tool Suite (STS)
• IntelliJ IDEA Ultimate
• NetBeans
• VSCode

Let’s go through the process of creating a project using Spring Initializr in VSCode.

Spring Initializr in Visual Studio Code

The Spring Initializr Plugin is used to access the functionality of Spring Initializr in VSCode. Search with the name “Spring Initializr Java Support” in the extensions and click on the install button.

The plugin will look like this:

Now that we have installed it, we can use it to create a project. Press Ctrl+Shift+P to open the Command Pallete. Type “Spring Initializr” in it and specify the project that you want to create.

Next, specify language, Spring Boot version, metadata description, and the dependencies. Save the project in your desired location. Open it by navigating to the location where it is saved, and there you have your project with all the dependencies and project structure.

The screenshot below shows a demo project with default fields.

Summary

We can observe that the Spring Initializr saves us the trouble of managing and configuring dependencies and project structure. Many common IDEs have the support of Spring Initializr within which makes it even more convenient to use.