🚀 What is a Spring Boot Starter?
A Spring Boot Starter is a pre-configured set of libraries that provides the functionality for a particular use case — like web apps, data access, security, etc.
✅ Starters follow the naming pattern:
spring-boot-starter-*
🔝 Common Spring Boot Starter Dependencies
| Starter Name | Purpose |
|---|---|
spring-boot-starter |
Core starter (includes logging + auto-config) |
spring-boot-starter-web |
For building web apps (Spring MVC + embedded Tomcat + JSON) |
spring-boot-starter-data-jpa |
For JPA and relational database support (Hibernate) |
spring-boot-starter-security |
For adding Spring Security |
spring-boot-starter-test |
For unit and integration testing (JUnit, Mockito) |
spring-boot-starter-thymeleaf |
For Thymeleaf templating engine |
spring-boot-starter-validation |
For Java Bean Validation (JSR-380) |
spring-boot-starter-mail |
For sending emails using JavaMail |
spring-boot-starter-aop |
For aspect-oriented programming |
spring-boot-starter-actuator |
For production-ready monitoring and health checks |
spring-boot-starter-batch |
For batch processing applications |
spring-boot-starter-cache |
For cache abstraction support |
spring-boot-starter-data-mongodb |
For MongoDB integration |
spring-boot-starter-amqp |
For RabbitMQ messaging |
spring-boot-starter-websocket |
For real-time WebSocket support |
📦 Example pom.xml Snippet
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-boot-starter-web</artifactId>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-boot-starter-data-jpa</artifactId>
</dependency>
🎯 Benefits of Starters
| Feature | Benefit |
|---|---|
| Simplicity | Add 1 starter instead of 5+ dependencies |
| Pre-configuration | Sensible defaults via Spring Boot auto-config |
| Version management | All dependencies are compatible by default |
| Productivity | Focus on coding, not setup |
✅ Summary
| Attribute | Description |
|---|---|
| Naming Convention | spring-boot-starter-* |
| Purpose | Group related libraries for common tasks |
| Usage | Add as dependencies in Maven/Gradle |
| Powered by | Spring Boot’s Auto-Configuration |