Build and Deploy a Spring Boot App Using Alibaba Cloud Development Platform

Basic Configuration

The first step is to create a new application, choose the "Microservice" solution, and select either the "Spring Boot Migration (SAE)" or "Spring Boot Migration (ASK)" option.

After completing the creation, the hello‑world app appears in the application list, indicating that the platform has allocated an environment and created a Git repository.

Application Development

The platform supports two development modes: online (browser‑based) and offline (traditional IDE).

Online Development

Click "Develop & Deploy" on the app card to open the cloud IDE, where existing files such as build configurations and scripts are displayed.

Drag a previously prepared Spring Boot project into the workspace, then adjust the pom.xml as follows:

Add an applicationName property (required).

Add a finalName configuration matching the applicationName.

Configure the spring-boot-maven-plugin to package as ZIP and update the main class path.

Online Testing

Open the terminal tab and run mvn spring-boot:run. The application starts on the cloud platform, and you can preview it by exposing a port (e.g., 8080) and clicking the generated URL.

Code Commit

After development, commit changes via the branch icon and push the code to the repository.

Local Development

If the online editor lacks features (e.g., XML highlighting), you can clone the Git repository locally by providing an SSH key, then develop with your preferred IDE.

Application Deployment

Before deploying, ensure required cloud services are enabled in "Environment Management" and configure any environment variables in "Application Configuration".

Select a target environment (e.g., daily, pre‑release, production) and click Deploy. The CI/CD pipeline builds the container, and logs provide real‑time status.

After a successful deployment, the platform displays an accessible domain for testing the service.

Continuous Deployment

You can promote the daily environment to pre‑release without rebuilding, or trigger a full CI+CD cycle for a fresh build.

Application Offline

To take an app offline, click the offline button on the environment card; the status changes to Offline, though the process may sometimes be slow.

Tips

Align environment descriptions with definitions for consistency.

XML files lack syntax highlighting in the online editor.

There is currently no manual termination option for a running deployment.

Conclusion

The Alibaba Cloud Development Platform offers a lightweight, browser‑based workflow that covers development, testing, and deployment of Spring Boot applications, improving efficiency for solo developers despite some missing IDE features.