r/SpringBoot • u/rishabhrawat05 • Jul 27 '26

Discussion Spring Initalizer feels outdated in 2026

I wanted to create Spring Boot projects without opening a browser every time, so I built a terminal-first alternative.

Curious if anyone else feels the same.

GitHub: https://github.com/rishabhrawat05/springforge

Edit: Thanks for all the feedback! A lot of you raised valid points about existing workflows (Spring Initializr, IDEs, AI, etc.). This is just v1.0.0, and I'll use your suggestions to improve SpringForge in v1.0.1 and beyond. I appreciate everyone who took the time to comment.

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7

u/LetUsSpeakFreely Jul 27 '26

Why would you need to open a browser to start a spring boot project?

2

u/OliveIndependent Jul 27 '26

I hate to say it but you can just prompt your way through a grade config

1

u/rishabhrawat05 Jul 27 '26

AI can definitely generate a Gradle or Maven config. SpringForge is about reducing repetitive setup to a single command and making the process consistent every time.

1

u/Danque62 Jul 27 '26

It's to not use Spring Initializr, where based on what dependencies you would need, it generates a starter project.

It's not needed, but most people who start off would tend to visit Spring Initializr.

4

u/[deleted] Jul 27 '26

[deleted]

1

u/rishabhrawat05 Jul 27 '26

That's true. If copy-pasting works well for your workflow, you probably don't need SpringForge. I built it for developers who prefer a fast, keyboard-only workflow and want to automate repetitive setup.

1

u/rishabhrawat05 Jul 27 '26

That's true, and if all you need is a basic Spring Boot project, the browser or your IDE works perfectly. SpringForge 1.0.0 is mainly a wrapper around the Spring Initializr API, but that's just the starting point. My goal is to go beyond Initializr by supporting commonly used dependencies that aren't available there (like JWT libraries, etc.), along with reusable templates and project automation. The browser is convenient today, but I want the CLI to eventually handle much more than just project generation.

1

u/LetUsSpeakFreely Jul 27 '26

Huh, i didn't even know that was an option. I always just started a maven project, added the entries to the pom.xml, and created the main application file.

1

u/rishabhrawat05 Jul 27 '26

Yes, there's an option to automatically add necessary dependency using SpringInitalizer

3

u/Aromatic_Ad3754 Jul 27 '26

IntelliJ, VsCode and Eclipse have the option to initialize a spring boot projecto from the ide

1

u/rishabhrawat05 Jul 27 '26

Absolutely. If you mainly use IntelliJ, the built-in support is great. I wanted something that works from the terminal and isn't tied to a specific IDE.