Setting up Spring Boot with Maven (Step-by-Step Guide)

🧰 What You’ll Learn

In this guide, we’ll walk through how to:

• Generate a Spring Boot project using Spring Initializr
• Set up and understand the Maven pom.xml
• Write your first simple REST API
• Run the project and test it

🛠️ Prerequisites

Before you start, make sure you have:

• Java 17 or 21 installed (java -version)
• Maven installed (mvn -v)
• An IDE like IntelliJ IDEA, Eclipse, or VS Code

⚡ Step 1: Generate a Spring Boot Project

Go to Spring Initializr:

• Project: Maven
• Language: Java
• Spring Boot: 3.5.x (latest stable)
• Group: com.kscodes.springboot
• Artifact: demo
• Name: demo
• Description: Demo project for Spring Boot with Maven
• Packaging: Jar
• Java Version: 17 or 21
• Dependencies:

Click Generate, and a .zip file will be downloaded. Extract and open it in your IDE.

📦 Step 2: Project Structure Overview

demo/
├── mvnw
├── pom.xml
├── src/
│   ├── main/
│   │   ├── java/
│   │   │   └── com/kscodes/springboot/demo
│   │   │       └── DemoApplication.java
│   │   └── resources/
│   │       ├── application.properties
│   └── test/

🧾 Step 3: Maven pom.xml Essentials

Here’s a simplified version of your Maven config:

	4.0.0
	
		org.springframework.boot
		spring-boot-starter-parent
		3.5.3
		 
	
	com.kscodes.springboot
	demo
	0.0.1-SNAPSHOT
	demo
	Demo project for Spring Boot
	
	
		
	
	
		
	
	
		
		
		
		
	
	
		21
	
	
		
			org.springframework.boot
			spring-boot-starter
		

		
			org.springframework.boot
			spring-boot-starter-test
			test
		
  
      org.springframework.boot
      spring-boot-starter-web
    
  
	

	
		
			
				org.springframework.boot
				spring-boot-maven-plugin
			
		
	

💡 Step 4: Your First Spring Boot Application

File: DemoApplication.java

package com.kscodes.springboot.demo;

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

@SpringBootApplication
public class DemoApplication {

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

}

🔁 Step 5: Add a Simple REST Controller

File: HelloController.java

package com.kscodes.springboot.demo;

import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.GetMapping;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RestController;

@RestController
public class HelloController {

    @GetMapping("/hello")
    public String sayHello() {
        return "Hello, World! 
" +
                "Welcome to KSCodes!  
" +
                "This is our first message — a simple one, but classic:";
    }

}

▶️ Step 6: Run the Application

Run the app using any of the following methods:

Method 1: From IDE

Run DemoApplication.java as a Java application.

Method 2: From Command Line

mvnw spring-boot:run

🌐 Step 7: Test Your REST Endpoint

Open your browser or use a tool like Postman:

🎉 Summary

You’ve just created your first Spring Boot 3.x application using Maven. You:

• Generated a project with Spring Initializr
• Understood the Maven structure
• Built and ran a basic REST API