Three Maven Ways to Turn Your Spring Boot App into a Docker Image

This article introduces three techniques to build a Docker image for a Spring Boot application using Maven.

#1 Spring Boot Maven Plugin build-image

The Spring Boot Maven plugin provides a built‑in build-image goal that creates a Docker image without requiring a Dockerfile. Simply run: mvn spring-boot:build-image After the build succeeds, run the container to verify:

docker run -p 9090:8080 -t demo-application:0.0.1-SNAPSHOT

Note that the host port mapped is 9090.

#2 jib-maven-plugin

Jib is a Maven (and Gradle) plugin that builds Docker images without needing a local Docker installation, making it ideal for CI pipelines. Execute:

mvn compile com.google.cloud.tools:jib-maven-plugin:2.3.0:dockerBuild

Then test the image with:

docker run -p 9091:8080 -t demo-application:0.0.1-SNAPSHOT

The host port mapped here is 9091.

#3 dockerfile-maven-plugin

This plugin requires a Dockerfile placed in the project root alongside pom.xml. The Dockerfile references the built JAR via the JAR_FILE property, which must be configured in pom.xml.

Running the standard Maven package command builds the image automatically: mvn package Test the resulting container with:

docker run -p 9092:8080 -t demo-application:0.0.1-SNAPSHOT

The host port mapped is 9092.

Conclusion

Among the three methods, the native Spring Boot approach is the simplest, requiring no extra configuration. Jib stands out for its ability to build images without a local Docker daemon, while the dockerfile‑maven‑plugin, although more involved, offers the most control and reliability.

References

jib-maven-plugin

dockerfile-maven-plugin