Spring Initializr - Bootstrap Your Spring Boot Applications at F1 speed!

Spring Initializr is a great tool to quickly bootstrap your Spring Boot projects.

It enables you to construct a wide range of Spring Boot-based applications using a simple user interface.
With Spring Initializr, you can bootstrap applications such as:

Web Applications
RESTful Applications
Batch Applications

Spring Boot provides a diverse set of starter projects, and Spring Initializr is compatible with all of them (and more).
Some commonly used starters include:

spring-boot-starter-web-services – Build applications exposing SOAP Web Services
spring-boot-starter-web – Build Web applications & RESTful services
spring-boot-starter-test – Write Unit and Integration Tests
spring-boot-starter-jdbc – Build traditional JDBC applications
spring-boot-starter-hateoas – Add HATEOAS features to make your services more RESTful
spring-boot-starter-security – Implement authentication and authorization using Spring Security
spring-boot-starter-data-jpa – Use Spring Data JPA with Hibernate
spring-boot-starter-cache – Enable caching support in your applications
spring-boot-starter-data-rest – Quickly expose simple REST services using Spring Data REST

👉 In this guide, we will focus on creating a simple web application with Spring Initializr.

Bootstrapping a Web Application with Spring Initializr

Creating a web application with Spring Initializr is straightforward and fast.
With just a few clicks, you can generate a fully working Spring Boot project and import it into your IDE.

As shown in the image above, follow these steps:

Launch Spring Initializr http://start.spring.io/ and choose the following:
- Group: com.in28minutes.springboot
- Artifact: student-services
- Dependencies:
  - Spring Web
  - Spring Boot Actuator
  - Spring Boot DevTools
Click the Generate Project button at the bottom of the page.
Import the project into Eclipse or IntelliJ IDEA.

Project Structure Established

After importing the Maven project, the following project structure is created (as shown in the screenshot).

Key Project Files

StudentServicesApplication.java – The main launcher class for Spring Boot. It initializes Auto Configuration and the Spring Application Context.
application.properties – Central configuration file for the application.
StudentServicesApplicationTests.java – Basic test launcher for running unit tests.
pom.xml – Declares project dependencies such as Spring Boot Starter Web, Actuator, and DevTools. It also uses the Spring Boot Starter Parent as the parent POM.

Completely Created Code

When the project is generated, the following key files are included.

/pom.xml

The pom.xml is the backbone of the project, managing dependencies and build configuration. Three important configurations are included:

Spring Boot Parent POM – Provides default configuration for dependency versions and plugins.
👉 Learn more
Spring Boot Starter Web – Adds support for building web applications and RESTful services.
👉 Learn more
Spring Boot Maven Plugin – Simplifies building and running Spring Boot applications directly from Maven.

<?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 https://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
    <parent>
        <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-parent</artifactId>
        <version>4.0.0-M2</version>
        <relativePath/> <!-- lookup parent from repository -->
    </parent>
    <groupId>com.in28minutes.springboot</groupId>
    <artifactId>student-services</artifactId>
    <version>0.0.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
    <name>student-services</name>
    <description>Demo project for Spring Boot</description>
    <url/>
    <licenses>
        <license/>
    </licenses>
    <developers>
        <developer/>
    </developers>
    <scm>
        <connection/>
        <developerConnection/>
        <tag/>
        <url/>
    </scm>
    <properties>
        <java.version>21</java.version>
    </properties>
    <dependencies>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-actuator</artifactId>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-web</artifactId>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-boot-devtools</artifactId>
            <scope>runtime</scope>
            <optional>true</optional>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-test</artifactId>
            <scope>test</scope>
        </dependency>
    </dependencies>

    <build>
        <plugins>
            <plugin>
                <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
                <artifactId>spring-boot-maven-plugin</artifactId>
            </plugin>
        </plugins>
    </build>

</project>

/src/main/java/com/in28minutes/springboot/StudentServicesApplication.java

This is the main entry point of the Spring Boot application.

@SpringBootApplication – A convenience annotation that enables:
- Auto Configuration
- Component Scanning
- Configuration support
  👉 Learn more about Auto Configuration
- Signifies that this is a Spring Boot application
- It is a composite annotation that combines the following annotations
  - @SpringBootConfiguration + @EnableAutoConfiguration + @ComponentScanning
SpringApplication.run(...) – A static method to bootstrap and launch the Spring Boot application.

package com.in28minutes.springboot.studentservices;

import org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication;
import org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.SpringBootApplication;

@SpringBootApplication
public class StudentServicesApplication {

  public static void main(String[] args) {
    SpringApplication.run(StudentServicesApplication.class, args);
  }
}

/src/main/resources/application.properties

/src/test/java/com/in28minutes/springboot/StudentServicesApplicationTests.java

This is the default test class generated by Spring Initializr.

It uses Spring Boot Test support to start the entire application context.
Provides a simple way to verify that the Spring Boot application loads successfully.
Serves as a good starting point to add integration tests for your services and controllers.

👉 Learn more about Integration Testing in Spring Boot

package com.in28minutes.springboot.student_services;

import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
import org.springframework.boot.test.context.SpringBootTest;

@SpringBootTest
class StudentServicesApplicationTests {

    @Test
    void contextLoads() {
    }

}

Running the application

When you execute StudentServicesApplication.java as a Java application, the following log is generated.

 /Users/puneethsai/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/corretto-21.0.7/Contents/Home/bin/java -XX:TieredStopAtLevel=1 -Dspring.output.ansi.enabled=always -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote -Dspring.jmx.enabled=true -Dspring.liveBeansView.mbeanDomain -Dspring.application.admin.enabled=true -Dmanagement.endpoints.jmx.exposure.include=* -javaagent:/Users/puneethsai/Applications/IntelliJ IDEA Ultimate.app/Contents/lib/idea_rt.jar=58604 -Dfile.encoding=UTF-8 -Dsun.stdout.encoding=UTF-8 -Dsun.stderr.encoding=UTF-8 -classpath /Users/puneethsai/Downloads/student-services/target/classes:/Users/puneethsai/.m2/repository/org/springframework/boot/spring-boot-starter-actuator/4.0.0-M2/spring-boot-starter-actuator-4.0.0-M2.jar:/Users/puneethsai/.m2/repository/org/springframework/boot/spring-boot-starter/4.0.0-M2/spring-boot-starter-4.0.0-M2.jar:/Users/puneethsai/.m2/repository/org/springframework/boot/spring-boot-starter-logging/4.0.0-M2/spring-boot-starter-logging-4.0.0-M2.jar:/Users/puneethsai/.m2/repository/ch/qos/logback/logback-classic/1.5.18/logback-classic-1.5.18.jar:/Users/puneethsai/.m2/repository/ch/qos/logback/logback-core/1.5.18/logback-core-1.5.18.jar:/Users/puneethsai/.m2/repository/org/apache/logging/log4j/log4j-to-slf4j/2.24.3/log4j-to-slf4j-2.24.3.jar:/Users/puneethsai/.m2/repository/org/apache/logging/log4j/log4j-api/2.24.3/log4j-api-2.24.3.jar:/Users/puneethsai/.m2/repository/org/slf4j/jul-to-slf4j/2.0.17/jul-to-slf4j-2.0.17.jar:/Users/puneethsai/.m2/repository/jakarta/annotation/jakarta.annotation-api/3.0.0/jakarta.annotation-api-3.0.0.jar:/Users/puneethsai/.m2/repository/org/yaml/snakeyaml/2.4/snakeyaml-2.4.jar:/Users/puneethsai/.m2/repository/org/springframework/boot/spring-boot-actuator-autoconfigure/4.0.0-M2/spring-boot-actuator-autoconfigure-4.0.0-M2.jar:/Users/puneethsai/.m2/repository/org/springframework/boot/spring-boot-actuator/4.0.0-M2/spring-boot-actuator-4.0.0-M2.jar:/Users/puneethsai/.m2/repository/com/fasterxml/jackson/core/jackson-databind/2.20.0-rc1/jackson-databind-2.20.0-rc1.jar:/Users/puneethsai/.m2/repository/com/fasterxml/jackson/core/jackson-annotations/2.20-rc1/jackson-annotations-2.20-rc1.jar:/Users/puneethsai/.m2/repository/com/fasterxml/jackson/core/jackson-core/2.20.0-rc1/jackson-core-2.20.0-rc1.jar:/Users/puneethsai/.m2/repository/com/fasterxml/jackson/datatype/jackson-datatype-jsr310/2.20.0-rc1/jackson-datatype-jsr310-2.20.0-rc1.jar:/Users/puneethsai/.m2/repository/org/springframework/boot/spring-boot-health/4.0.0-M2/spring-boot-health-4.0.0-M2.jar:/Users/puneethsai/.m2/repository/org/springframework/boot/spring-boot-micrometer-metrics/4.0.0-M2/spring-boot-micrometer-metrics-4.0.0-M2.jar:/Users/puneethsai/.m2/repository/org/springframework/boot/spring-boot-micrometer-observation/4.0.0-M2/spring-boot-micrometer-observation-4.0.0-M2.jar:/Users/puneethsai/.m2/repository/io/micrometer/micrometer-core/1.16.0-M2/micrometer-core-1.16.0-M2.jar:/Users/puneethsai/.m2/repository/org/hdrhistogram/HdrHistogram/2.2.2/HdrHistogram-2.2.2.jar:/Users/puneethsai/.m2/repository/org/latencyutils/LatencyUtils/2.0.3/LatencyUtils-2.0.3.jar:/Users/puneethsai/.m2/repository/org/springframework/boot/spring-boot-micrometer-tracing/4.0.0-M2/spring-boot-micrometer-tracing-4.0.0-M2.jar:/Users/puneethsai/.m2/repository/io/micrometer/micrometer-tracing/1.6.0-M2/micrometer-tracing-1.6.0-M2.jar:/Users/puneethsai/.m2/repository/io/micrometer/context-propagation/1.2.0-M1/context-propagation-1.2.0-M1.jar:/Users/puneethsai/.m2/repository/io/micrometer/micrometer-observation/1.16.0-M2/micrometer-observation-1.16.0-M2.jar:/Users/puneethsai/.m2/repository/org/jspecify/jspecify/1.0.0/jspecify-1.0.0.jar:/Users/puneethsai/.m2/repository/io/micrometer/micrometer-commons/1.16.0-M2/micrometer-commons-1.16.0-M2.jar:/Users/puneethsai/.m2/repository/io/micrometer/micrometer-jakarta9/1.16.0-M2/micrometer-jakarta9-1.16.0-M2.jar:/Users/puneethsai/.m2/repository/org/springframework/boot/spring-boot-starter-web/4.0.0-M2/spring-boot-starter-web-4.0.0-M2.jar:/Users/puneethsai/.m2/repository/org/springframework/boot/spring-boot-starter-jackson/4.0.0-M2/spring-boot-starter-jackson-4.0.0-M2.jar:/Users/puneethsai/.m2/repository/org/springframework/boot/spring-boot-jackson/4.0.0-M2/spring-boot-jackson-4.0.0-M2.jar:/Users/puneethsai/.m2/repository/com/fasterxml/jackson/datatype/jackson-datatype-jdk8/2.20.0-rc1/jackson-datatype-jdk8-2.20.0-rc1.jar:/Users/puneethsai/.m2/repository/com/fasterxml/jackson/module/jackson-module-parameter-names/2.20.0-rc1/jackson-module-parameter-names-2.20.0-rc1.jar:/Users/puneethsai/.m2/repository/org/springframework/boot/spring-boot-starter-tomcat/4.0.0-M2/spring-boot-starter-tomcat-4.0.0-M2.jar:/Users/puneethsai/.m2/repository/org/springframework/boot/spring-boot-tomcat/4.0.0-M2/spring-boot-tomcat-4.0.0-M2.jar:/Users/puneethsai/.m2/repository/org/springframework/boot/spring-boot-web-server/4.0.0-M2/spring-boot-web-server-4.0.0-M2.jar:/Users/puneethsai/.m2/repository/org/apache/tomcat/embed/tomcat-embed-core/11.0.10/tomcat-embed-core-11.0.10.jar:/Users/puneethsai/.m2/repository/org/apache/tomcat/embed/tomcat-embed-el/11.0.10/tomcat-embed-el-11.0.10.jar:/Users/puneethsai/.m2/repository/org/apache/tomcat/embed/tomcat-embed-websocket/11.0.10/tomcat-embed-websocket-11.0.10.jar:/Users/puneethsai/.m2/repository/org/springframework/boot/spring-boot-http-converter/4.0.0-M2/spring-boot-http-converter-4.0.0-M2.jar:/Users/puneethsai/.m2/repository/org/springframework/spring-web/7.0.0-M8/spring-web-7.0.0-M8.jar:/Users/puneethsai/.m2/repository/org/springframework/spring-beans/7.0.0-M8/spring-beans-7.0.0-M8.jar:/Users/puneethsai/.m2/repository/org/springframework/boot/spring-boot-webmvc/4.0.0-M2/spring-boot-webmvc-4.0.0-M2.jar:/Users/puneethsai/.m2/repository/org/springframework/boot/spring-boot-servlet/4.0.0-M2/spring-boot-servlet-4.0.0-M2.jar:/Users/puneethsai/.m2/repository/org/springframework/spring-webmvc/7.0.0-M8/spring-webmvc-7.0.0-M8.jar:/Users/puneethsai/.m2/repository/org/springframework/spring-aop/7.0.0-M8/spring-aop-7.0.0-M8.jar:/Users/puneethsai/.m2/repository/org/springframework/spring-expression/7.0.0-M8/spring-expression-7.0.0-M8.jar:/Users/puneethsai/.m2/repository/org/springframework/boot/spring-boot-devtools/4.0.0-M2/spring-boot-devtools-4.0.0-M2.jar:/Users/puneethsai/.m2/repository/org/springframework/boot/spring-boot/4.0.0-M2/spring-boot-4.0.0-M2.jar:/Users/puneethsai/.m2/repository/org/springframework/spring-context/7.0.0-M8/spring-context-7.0.0-M8.jar:/Users/puneethsai/.m2/repository/org/springframework/boot/spring-boot-autoconfigure/4.0.0-M2/spring-boot-autoconfigure-4.0.0-M2.jar:/Users/puneethsai/.m2/repository/org/slf4j/slf4j-api/2.0.17/slf4j-api-2.0.17.jar:/Users/puneethsai/.m2/repository/org/springframework/spring-core/7.0.0-M8/spring-core-7.0.0-M8.jar:/Users/puneethsai/.m2/repository/commons-logging/commons-logging/1.3.5/commons-logging-1.3.5.jar com.in28minutes.springboot.student_services.StudentServicesApplication

  .   ____          _            __ _ _
 /\\ / ___'_ __ _ _(_)_ __  __ _ \ \ \ \
( ( )\___ | '_ | '_| | '_ \/ _` | \ \ \ \
 \\/  ___)| |_)| | | | | || (_| |  ) ) ) )
  '  |____| .__|_| |_|_| |_\__, | / / / /
 =========|_|==============|___/=/_/_/_/

 :: Spring Boot ::             (v4.0.0-M2)

2025-09-06T16:17:54.722+05:30  INFO 13610 --- [student-services] [  restartedMain] [                                                 ] c.i.s.s.StudentServicesApplication       : Starting StudentServicesApplication using Java 21.0.7 with PID 13610 (/Users/puneethsai/Downloads/student-services/target/classes started by puneethsai in /Users/puneethsai/Downloads/student-services)
2025-09-06T16:17:54.728+05:30  INFO 13610 --- [student-services] [  restartedMain] [                                                 ] c.i.s.s.StudentServicesApplication       : No active profile set, falling back to 1 default profile: "default"
2025-09-06T16:17:54.792+05:30  INFO 13610 --- [student-services] [  restartedMain] [                                                 ] .e.DevToolsPropertyDefaultsPostProcessor : Devtools property defaults active! Set 'spring.devtools.add-properties' to 'false' to disable
2025-09-06T16:17:54.793+05:30  INFO 13610 --- [student-services] [  restartedMain] [                                                 ] .e.DevToolsPropertyDefaultsPostProcessor : For additional web related logging consider setting the 'logging.level.web' property to 'DEBUG'
2025-09-06T16:17:55.942+05:30  INFO 13610 --- [student-services] [  restartedMain] [                                                 ] o.s.boot.tomcat.TomcatWebServer          : Tomcat initialized with port 8080 (http)
2025-09-06T16:17:55.958+05:30  INFO 13610 --- [student-services] [  restartedMain] [                                                 ] o.apache.catalina.core.StandardService   : Starting service [Tomcat]
2025-09-06T16:17:55.959+05:30  INFO 13610 --- [student-services] [  restartedMain] [                                                 ] o.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngine    : Starting Servlet engine: [Apache Tomcat/11.0.10]
2025-09-06T16:17:55.993+05:30  INFO 13610 --- [student-services] [  restartedMain] [                                                 ] b.w.c.s.WebApplicationContextInitializer : Root WebApplicationContext: initialization completed in 1200 ms
2025-09-06T16:17:56.617+05:30  INFO 13610 --- [student-services] [  restartedMain] [                                                 ] o.s.b.d.a.OptionalLiveReloadServer       : LiveReload server is running on port 35729
2025-09-06T16:17:56.658+05:30  INFO 13610 --- [student-services] [  restartedMain] [                                                 ] o.s.b.a.e.web.EndpointLinksResolver      : Exposing 1 endpoint beneath base path '/actuator'
2025-09-06T16:17:56.720+05:30  INFO 13610 --- [student-services] [  restartedMain] [                                                 ] o.s.boot.tomcat.TomcatWebServer          : Tomcat started on port 8080 (http) with context path '/'
2025-09-06T16:17:56.729+05:30  INFO 13610 --- [student-services] [  restartedMain] [                                                 ] c.i.s.s.StudentServicesApplication       : Started StudentServicesApplication in 2.524 seconds (process running for 3.535)
2025-09-06T16:17:58.404+05:30  INFO 13610 --- [student-services] [on(3)-127.0.0.1] [                                                 ] o.a.c.c.C.[Tomcat].[localhost].[/]       : Initializing Spring DispatcherServlet 'dispatcherServlet'
2025-09-06T16:17:58.405+05:30  INFO 13610 --- [student-services] [on(3)-127.0.0.1] [                                                 ] o.s.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet        : Initializing Servlet 'dispatcherServlet'
2025-09-06T16:17:58.407+05:30  INFO 13610 --- [student-services] [on(3)-127.0.0.1] [                                                 ] o.s.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet        : Completed initialization in 2 ms