How to Skip Tests When Packaging a Maven Project

When building a Java project with Maven, the default lifecycle runs unit tests before the package phase, which can fail if the production database is inaccessible. Skipping these tests allows the project to be packaged into a JAR file and run with java -jar xx.jar .

1. Command‑line way to skip tests

Use one of the following commands:

mvn package -DskipTests=true

-DskipTests=true : skips test execution but still compiles test classes.

mvn package -Dmaven.test.skip=true

-Dmaven.test.skip=true : skips both test execution and test compilation.

2. Configure pom.xml to skip tests

<build>
    <plugins>
        <!-- Maven skip tests during packaging -->
        <plugin>
            <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
            <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
            <configuration>
                <skip>true</skip>
            </configuration>
        </plugin>
    </plugins>
</build>

3. IDE button to skip tests

In IntelliJ IDEA, click the Skip Tests icon in the Maven tool window and then run the LifeStyle packaging goal; the build will skip tests.

4. Add Maven runner VM options

Open Build, Execution, Deployment → Maven → Runner and add either -Dmaven.test.skip=true or -DskipTests=true to the VM options.

5. Enable "Skip Test" property

In the same Maven Runner settings, check the Skip Test property to bypass tests during packaging.

These five approaches allow you to package a Maven project without running unit tests, which is useful when test execution is blocked by unavailable resources.