How to Create a Spring Boot Project?

Last Updated : 17 Mar, 2025

Spring Boot is built on top of the spring and contains all the features of spring. It is one of the most popular frameworks for building Java-based web applications and microservices. It is a favorite among developers due to its rapid, production-ready environment, which allows developers to focus on business logic rather than struggling with complex configuration and setup. Spring Boot is a microservice-based framework, and making a production-ready application in it takes very little time.

The key features of the Spring Boot framework are listed below:

Eliminates the need for heavy XML configuration found in traditional Spring projects.
Simplifies the creation and maintenance of RESTful endpoints.
Includes an embedded Tomcat server for easier deployment.
Facilitates the seamless deployment of WAR and JAR files to a Tomcat server.

Generally, to develop a Spring Boot Application, we choose Eclipse, Spring Tool Suite, and IntelliJ IDEA IDE. So in this article, we are going to create our spring boot project in these 3 IDEs.

Create a Spring Boot Project in Eclipse IDE

Eclipse is a widely used IDE for Java development. The steps to create a Spring Boot project in Eclipse are listed below:

Procedure:

Install Eclipse IDE for Enterprise Java and Web Developer
Create a Spring Boot Project in Spring Initializr
Import Spring Boot Project in Eclipse IDE
Search "maven" and choose Existing Maven Project
Choose Next
Click on the Browse button and select the extracted zip
Click on the Finish button and we are done creating the Spring Boot project

Step-by-Step Implementation

Step 1: Install Eclipse IDE for Enterprise Java and Web Developer

Please refer to this article How to Install Eclipse IDE for Enterprise Java and Web Development and install the Eclipse IDE.

Step 2: Create a Spring Boot Project in Spring Initializr

Go to this link and create a Spring Boot project. Please fill in all the details accordingly and at last click on the GENERATE button below. This will download your Spring Boot project in zip format. Now extract the folder into your local machine. For more details in Spring Initializr refer to this article: Spring Initializr

Step 3: Import Spring Boot Project in Eclipse IDE

Go to the Eclipse IDE for Enterprise Java and Web Developer > File > Import as shown in the below image.

Step 4: Search "maven" and choose Existing Maven Project and click on the Next button as shown in the below image.

Step 5: Now click on the Browse button and select the extracted zip file that has been generated.

Step 6. And at last click on the Finish button and we are done creating the Spring Boot project

Note: By now, Spring Boot project has been created as depicted in the below media

Create a Spring Boot Project in STS IDE

Spring Tool Suite (STS) is a java IDE tailored for developing Spring-based enterprise applications. It is easier, faster, and more convenient. And most importantly it is based on Eclipse IDE. STS is free, open-source, and powered by VMware. Spring Tools 4 is the next generation of Spring tooling for the favorite coding environment. Largely rebuilt from scratch, it provides world-class support for developing Spring-based enterprise applications, whether you prefer Eclipse, Visual Studio Code, or Theia IDE.

Procedure:

Install Spring Tool Suite IDE
Create a new Spring project
Fill details in the pop-up window and press Next.
Choose Spring Boot version and select dependencies and press Next.
Click on the 'Finish' button.

Step-by-Step Implementation

Step 1: Install Spring Tool Suite (Spring Tools 4 for Eclipse) IDE

For this user must have pre-requisite knowledge of downloading and installing Spring Tool Suite IDE

Step 2: Go to the File > New > Spring Starter Project as shown in the below image as follows:

Step 3: In this pop-up window fill the detail below as follows and further click on the Next button as shown in the below image.

Service URL: Default
Name: Your Project Name
Type: Maven Project
Java Version: 17 or greater than 17
Packaging: As your need
Language: As your need
Group: A unique base name of the company or group that created the project
Artifact: A unique name of the project
Version: Default
Description: As your need
Package: Your package name

Project Metadata:

Step 4: Choose your required Spring Boot Version and select your dependencies as per your project requirement. And at last click on the Next button.

Step 5: Now simply click on the Finish button.

Again click on "Finish" button.

Here now, please wait for some time to download all the required files such as dependencies that you have selected in Step4 above.

Note: Below is the Welcome screen after you have successfully Created and Setup Spring Boot Project in Spring Tool Suite

Create a Spring Boot Project in IntelliJ IDEA

IntelliJ is an integrated development environment(IDE) written in Java. It is used for developing computer software. This IDE is developed by Jetbrains and is available as an Apache 2 Licensed community edition and a commercial edition.

Procedure:

Install IntelliJ IDEA on the local machine.
Create a Spring Boot Project in Spring Initializr
Import Spring Boot Project in IntelliJ IDEA
Choose the project that you have created in above step 2.

Step 1: Install IntelliJ IDEA on the local machine for that do go through pre-requisite for installing IntelliJ Idea on the system.

Step 2: Create a Spring Boot Project in Spring Initializr

Create a Spring Boot project and do fill in all the details accordingly and at last click on the GENERATE button below. This will download your Spring Boot project in zip format. Now extract the folder into your local machine and refer to the introduction to Spring Initializr before proceeding further.

Step 3: Import Spring Boot Project in IntelliJ IDEA

Once IntelliJ IDEA is successfully installed, navigate to File > Open as seen in the below image.

After this, a pop-up window will occur like the following.

Step 4: Here you have to choose the project that you have created in step 2. For example, here we have created the spring boot project named "demo" and stored it inside the Downloads folder and you can see we can find the same inside the Downloads folder. At last click on the OK button. And we are done creating the Spring Boot project in IntelliJ IDEA. Please wait for some time to download all the required files.

By now, the Spring Boot project has been created as depicted in the below media. The left side contains the Project file structure while in the middle you can see the Code Editor is present.