What are Starters?
Starters are dependency descriptors that bundle common dependencies with compatible versions.
Instead of manually adding 10+ dependencies for web development, just add spring-boot-starter-web!
Common Starters
| Starter | What It Includes |
|---|---|
| spring-boot-starter-web | Spring MVC, embedded Tomcat, Jackson JSON |
| spring-boot-starter-data-jpa | Spring Data JPA, Hibernate, JDBC |
| spring-boot-starter-security | Spring Security, authentication filters |
| spring-boot-starter-validation | Bean Validation (Hibernate Validator) |
| spring-boot-starter-test | JUnit 5, Mockito, AssertJ, Spring Test |
| spring-boot-starter-actuator | Health checks, metrics, monitoring |
| spring-boot-starter-mail | Java Mail API, Spring mail support |
| spring-boot-starter-cache | Spring Cache abstraction |
| spring-boot-starter-webflux | Reactive web with Spring WebFlux |
Usage Example
<!-- pom.xml -->
<dependencies>
<!-- Web application -->
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-boot-starter-web</artifactId>
</dependency>
<!-- Database access -->
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-boot-starter-data-jpa</artifactId>
</dependency>
<!-- Security -->
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-boot-starter-security</artifactId>
</dependency>
<!-- Testing -->
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-boot-starter-test</artifactId>
<scope>test</scope>
</dependency>
</dependencies>How Starters Work
// When you add spring-boot-starter-web:
// 1. Dependencies included:
// - spring-web
// - spring-webmvc
// - spring-boot-starter-tomcat
// - jackson-databind
// - spring-boot-starter (logging, etc.)
// 2. Auto-configuration enabled:
// - DispatcherServlet configured
// - Embedded Tomcat started
// - JSON serialization configured
// - Error handling configuredSummary
- Starters: Curated dependency bundles
- Version management: Compatible versions guaranteed
- Auto-configuration: Enabled by starter dependencies
- No version needed: Parent POM manages versions
- Convention: spring-boot-starter-{feature}