Install and Run Spring Boot CLI with Groovy Scripts in Minutes

Installing Spring Boot CLI

Spring Boot CLI is a command‑line tool that lets you create and run Spring Boot applications using Groovy scripts. You can install it on any platform.

Universal installation

Download one of the binary packages:

spring-boot-cli-2.0.1.RELEASE-bin.zip

spring-boot-cli-2.0.1.RELEASE-bin.tar.gz

Extract the archive; the bin directory contains executables for Windows and Linux. Add the appropriate executable to your system PATH to use the spring command globally.

macOS (Homebrew) installation

$ brew tap pivotal/tap
$ brew install springboot

Verify the installation

$ spring --version
Spring CLI v2.0.0.RELEASE

Running a Groovy script

After installing the CLI, create a Groovy file hello.groovy with the following content:

@RestController
class ThisWillActuallyRun {
    @RequestMapping("/")
    String home() {
        "Hello World!"
    }
}

Execute the script with the CLI: $ spring run hello.groovy The application starts on port 8080. Verify it works by sending an HTTP request:

$ curl localhost:8080
Hello World!

This demonstrates how quickly you can prototype a Spring Boot web service using only a Groovy script and the Spring Boot CLI.