Springlite

A native-first Spring Boot template for small, production-oriented Java microservices.

Springlite applies to Spring Boot the same principles of simplicity, clarity, and architectural discipline found in javelite. Javelite keeps wiring explicit without Spring; Springlite uses Spring Boot deliberately, with an explicit object graph and continuous AOT/Native Image support. This repository is a GitHub template, not a Spring Framework fork, library, or distribution.

Suggested GitHub description:

Native-first Spring Boot microservice template with Java 25, GraalVM, jOOQ, PostgreSQL, Testcontainers, Google Java Style, and reproducible JVM/native benchmarks.

Suggested topics: java, spring-boot, spring-template, microservice-template, graalvm, native-image, aot, virtual-threads, jooq, postgresql, flyway, testcontainers, google-java-format, checkstyle, error-prone.

Quick start

After clicking Use this template:

scripts/init-template.sh \
  --service-name orders-service \
  --package com.acme.orders \
  --group-id com.acme

make format
make verify
make dev

The initializer also accepts custom root/app artifact IDs and database name. Use --dry-run to review its complete plan.

What is included

• Java 25, Spring Boot 4.1, Spring MVC, virtual threads, Actuator, and Micrometer
• explicit constructor wiring; framework-free domain; ArchUnit dependency rules
• jOOQ with explicit SQL mapping, PostgreSQL, HikariCP, and Flyway (no JPA/Hibernate)
• JVM, Java 25 AOT Cache, and GraalVM Native Image runtime modes
• JUnit 5, AssertJ, Testcontainers, Error Prone, Spotless, Google Java Format and Checkstyle
• non-root JVM/native images, local Compose, CI, native smoke testing, and benchmarks

The removable Widget example exposes:

POST /v1/widgets
GET  /v1/widgets/{id}
GET  /v1/widgets
GET  /v1/system/ping
GET  /actuator/health/liveness
GET  /actuator/health/readiness
GET  /actuator/prometheus

Commands and runtime modes

make help
make run                 # normal HotSpot JVM
make package-aot-cache   # Java 25 AOT Cache training
make run-aot-cache
make native-build
make native-smoke
make run-native
make image-jvm           # springlite:jvm
make image-native        # springlite:native
make compare-runtimes

The JVM remains a first-class choice for long-running and CPU-heavy services. Native Image targets startup, readiness, memory footprint, and no-warm-up predictability; it does not promise better peak throughput than HotSpot. See runtime modes and performance.

Repository map

app/            single deployable Maven module
benchmarks/     transparent CPU and PostgreSQL workloads
docs/           architecture, native, runtime, performance, and usage guides
scripts/        initialization, smoke tests, AOT Cache, and measurement
.github/        CI, native validation, benchmarks, and Dependabot

Start with template usage, architecture, Native Image, and agent guidance. The base intentionally omits authentication, messaging, caches, Spring Cloud, WebFlux, Kubernetes manifests and vendor tracing; add only what a concrete service requires.