An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that provides access to Spring Initializr functionality, allowing AI assistants to generate and download Spring Boot projects programmatically.
This project implements an MCP server that wraps the Spring Initializr API, enabling AI assistants (like Claude) to create Spring Boot projects with custom configurations. Instead of manually visiting start.spring.io, you can now ask your AI assistant to generate projects with specific dependencies, Java versions, and project structures.
- Generate Spring Boot Projects: Create new Spring Boot projects with custom configurations
- Flexible Configuration: Support for different project types (Maven/Gradle), languages (Java/Kotlin/Groovy), and Java versions
- Dependency Management: Add popular Spring Boot dependencies automatically
- Native Compilation: Fast startup times with GraalVM native compilation
- Cross-Platform: Native binaries available for Linux, Windows, and macOS (x64 and ARM64)
- Automatic Extraction: Optional extraction of downloaded ZIP files
- Dynamic Metadata: Automatically fetches latest Spring Boot versions and dependencies
When generating a project, you can specify:
- Project Type:
maven-project
,gradle-project
,gradle-project-kotlin
- Language:
java
,kotlin
,groovy
- Java Version:
17
,21
,24
(defaults to17
) - Packaging:
jar
,war
(defaults tojar
) - Dependencies: Hundreds of Spring Boot starters and dependencies
- Project Metadata: Group ID, Artifact ID, name, description, package name
- Download Options: Custom download location and automatic ZIP extraction
Download the appropriate binary for your platform from the Releases page:
- Linux x64:
springinitializr-mcp-linux-x64
- Windows x64:
springinitializr-mcp-windows-x64.exe
- macOS x64:
springinitializr-mcp-macos-x64
- macOS ARM64:
springinitializr-mcp-macos-arm64
Requirements:
- Java 24
- GraalVM (for native compilation)
git clone https://github.com/hpalma/springinitializr-mcp.git
cd springinitializr-mcp
./gradlew build
./gradlew nativeCompile
Add the MCP server to your Claude Desktop configuration:
Edit ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
:
{
"mcpServers": {
"springinitializr": {
"command": "/path/to/springinitializr-mcp-binary"
}
}
}
Edit %APPDATA%/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
:
{
"mcpServers": {
"springinitializr": {
"command": "C:\\path\\to\\springinitializr-mcp-windows-x64.exe"
}
}
}
Once configured, you can ask Claude to generate Spring Boot projects:
"Create a Spring Boot web application with Spring Data JPA, PostgreSQL, and Spring Security dependencies"
"Generate a Kotlin Spring Boot project using Gradle with WebFlux and MongoDB"
"Create a Maven-based Spring Boot project with Thymeleaf, Validation, and Actuator"
The tool will generate and download the project as a ZIP file to your specified location, with optional automatic extraction.
The server supports all Spring Initializr dependencies, including:
- Web: Spring Web, WebFlux, GraphQL, REST repositories
- Security: Spring Security, OAuth2, LDAP
- Data: JPA, JDBC, MongoDB, Redis, Elasticsearch, R2DBC
- Messaging: RabbitMQ, Apache Kafka, WebSocket
- Cloud: Spring Cloud Gateway, Config, Eureka, Feign
- Ops: Actuator, Micrometer, Distributed Tracing
- AI: Spring AI with various model providers
- Testing: TestContainers, Contract testing
The dependency list is automatically updated by fetching the latest metadata from Spring Initializr.
# Run with dev profile for more logging
./gradlew bootRun --args='--spring.profiles.active=dev'
# Generate updated constants from Spring Initializr
./gradlew generateToolDescriptions
# Run tests
./gradlew test
# Run native tests
./gradlew nativeTest
The project uses a Gradle task to fetch the latest Spring Initializr metadata and generate constants for supported dependencies and Java versions:
./gradlew generateToolDescriptions
This ensures the tool always supports the latest Spring Boot versions and dependencies by:
- Fetching metadata from
https://start.spring.io/metadata/client
- Generating
SpringInitializrConstants.java
with current dependencies - Updating supported Java versions and default values
The project includes comprehensive tests:
- Unit Tests: Standard JUnit tests for core functionality
- Integration Tests: Tests for the MCP protocol implementation
- Native Tests: Validation that native compilation works correctly
- URL Builder Tests: Validation of Spring Initializr URL construction
# Run all tests
./gradlew test nativeTest nativeIntegrationTest
# Run only unit tests
./gradlew test
# Run only native integration tests
./gradlew nativeIntegrationTest
The integration tests include startup time validation to ensure native compilation provides expected performance benefits:
- Native executable startup under 1 second
- Full MCP protocol handshake validation
- Tool discovery and invocation testing
The project uses GitHub Actions for:
- Continuous Integration: Build and test on every push/PR
- Release Automation: Create native binaries for all platforms
- Multi-platform Support: Linux, Windows, macOS (x64 and ARM64)
- Automated Testing: Unit, integration, and native tests
- Create a new release on GitHub or trigger workflow manually
- Native binaries are automatically built for all platforms
- Binaries are attached to the release for download
The server uses Spring Boot configuration with the following key properties:
spring:
application:
name: springinitializr-mcp
ai:
mcp:
server:
name: springinitializr
version: 1.0.0
- Default: Minimal logging for production use
- Dev: Enhanced logging for development and debugging
Generates and downloads a Spring Boot project with the specified configuration.
Parameters:
downloadFolderPath
(optional): Target download directoryshouldExtract
(optional): Whether to extract the ZIP fileprojectType
(optional): Project build system typelanguage
(optional): Programming languagegroupId
(optional): Maven/Gradle group identifierartifactId
(optional): Project artifact identifierspringBootVersion
(optional): Spring Boot version to usename
(optional): Project display namedescription
(optional): Project descriptionpackageName
(optional): Base Java package namepackaging
(optional): Packaging type (JAR/WAR)javaVersion
(optional): Target Java versiondependencies
(optional): Comma-separated dependency list
Returns: Absolute path to the downloaded file or extracted directory
- Fork the repository
- Create a feature branch (
git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature
) - Make your changes
- Add tests for new functionality
- Ensure all tests pass (
./gradlew test nativeTest
) - Update generated constants if needed (
./gradlew generateToolDescriptions
) - Commit your changes (
git commit -m 'Add amazing feature'
) - Push to the branch (
git push origin feature/amazing-feature
) - Open a Pull Request
Native executable fails to start:
- Ensure you have the correct binary for your platform
- Check that the binary has execute permissions on Unix systems
- Verify no antivirus software is blocking execution
Project generation fails:
- Check internet connectivity to Spring Initializr
- Verify the specified dependencies are valid
- Ensure the download directory exists and is writable
MCP connection issues:
- Verify the Claude Desktop configuration is correct
- Check that the binary path is absolute and valid
- Restart Claude Desktop after configuration changes
Run with the dev profile for enhanced logging:
./gradlew bootRun --args='--spring.profiles.active=dev'
This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.
- Spring Initializr - The underlying service for generating Spring Boot projects
- Model Context Protocol - The protocol specification
- Spring AI - MCP server framework support
- GraalVM - Native compilation capabilities