Building Quarkus apps with Gradle

Creating a new project

To scaffold a Gradle project you can either use the Quarkus CLI or the Quarkus Maven plugin:

CLI

quarkus create app my-groupId:my-artifactId \
    --extension=resteasy,resteasy-jackson \
    --gradle

For more information about how to install the Quarkus CLI and use it, please refer to the Quarkus CLI guide.

Maven

mvn io.quarkus.platform:quarkus-maven-plugin:999-SNAPSHOT:create \
    -DprojectGroupId=my-groupId \
    -DprojectArtifactId=my-artifactId \
    -Dextensions="resteasy,resteasy-jackson" \
    -DbuildTool=gradle

If you just launch mvn io.quarkus.platform:quarkus-maven-plugin:999-SNAPSHOT:create the Maven plugin asks for user inputs. You can disable this interactive mode (and use default values) by passing -B to the Maven command.

If you prefer using the Kotlin DSL, use gradle-kotlin-dsl instead of gradle.

Quarkus project scaffolding automatically installs the Gradle wrapper (./gradlew) in your project.

If you prefer to use a standalone Gradle installation, please use Gradle 7.4.1.

The project is generated in a directory named after the passed artifactId.

A pair of Dockerfiles for native and JVM modes are also generated in src/main/docker. Instructions to build the image and run the container are written in those Dockerfiles.

Custom test configuration profile in JVM mode

By default, Quarkus tests in JVM mode are run using the test configuration profile. If you are not familiar with Quarkus configuration profiles, everything you need to know is explained in the Configuration Profiles Documentation.

It is however possible to use a custom configuration profile for your tests with the Gradle build configuration shown below. This can be useful if you need for example to run some tests using a specific database which is not your default testing database.

Groovy DSL

test {
    systemProperty "quarkus.test.profile", "foo" (1)
}

1	The `foo` configuration profile will be used to run the tests.

Kotlin DSL

tasks.test {
    systemProperty("quarkus.test.profile", "foo") (1)
}

1	The `foo` configuration profile will be used to run the tests.

It is not possible to use a custom test configuration profile in native mode for now. Native tests are always run using the prod profile.

Dealing with extensions

From inside a Quarkus project, you can obtain a list of the available extensions with:

CLI

quarkus extension

Gradle

./gradlew listExtensions

You can enable an extension using:

CLI

quarkus extension add 'hibernate-validator'

Gradle

./gradlew addExtension --extensions="hibernate-validator"

Extensions are passed using a comma-separated list.

The extension name is the GAV name of the extension: e.g. io.quarkus:quarkus-agroal. But you can pass a partial name and Quarkus will do its best to find the right extension. For example, agroal, Agroal or agro will expand to io.quarkus:quarkus-agroal. If no extension is found or if more than one extensions match, you will see a red check mark ❌ in the command result.

$ ./gradlew addExtension --extensions="jdbc,agroal,non-exist-ent"
[...]
❌ Multiple extensions matching 'jdbc'
     * io.quarkus:quarkus-jdbc-h2
     * io.quarkus:quarkus-jdbc-mariadb
     * io.quarkus:quarkus-jdbc-postgresql
     Be more specific e.g using the exact name or the full gav.
✅ Adding extension io.quarkus:quarkus-agroal
❌ Cannot find a dependency matching 'non-exist-ent', maybe a typo?
[...]

You can install all extensions which match a globbing pattern:

CLI

quarkus extension add 'smallrye-*'

Gradle

./gradlew addExtension --extensions="smallrye-*"

Development mode

Quarkus comes with a built-in development mode. You can start it with:

CLI

quarkus dev

Gradle

./gradlew --console=plain quarkusDev

Note that if you run it this way the continuous testing experience will not be as nice, as gradle runs as a daemon Quarkus can’t draw the 'pretty' test output so falls back to just logging the output.

You can then update the application sources, resources and configurations. The changes are automatically reflected in your running application. This is great to do development spanning UI and database as you see changes reflected immediately.

quarkusDev enables hot deployment with background compilation, which means that when you modify your Java files or your resource files and refresh your browser these changes will automatically take effect. This works too for resource files like the configuration property file. The act of refreshing the browser triggers a scan of the workspace, and if any changes are detected the Java files are compiled, and the application is redeployed, then your request is serviced by the redeployed application. If there are any issues with compilation or deployment an error page will let you know.

Hit CTRL+C to stop the application.

You can change the working directory the development environment runs on:

Groovy DSL

quarkusDev {
    workingDir = rootProject.projectDir
}

Kotlin DSL

tasks.quarkusDev {
    workingDir = rootProject.projectDir.toString()
}

By default, the quarkusDev task uses compileJava compiler options. These can be overridden by setting the compilerArgs property in the task.

By default, quarkusDev sets the debug host to localhost (for security reasons). If you need to change this, for example to enable debugging on all hosts, you can use the -DdebugHost option like so:

CLI

quarkus dev -DdebugHost=0.0.0.0

Gradle

./gradlew --console=plain quarkusDev -DdebugHost=0.0.0.0

The plugin also exposes a quarkusDev configuration. Using this configuration to declare a dependency will restrict the usage of that dependency to development mode. The quarkusDev configuration can be used as following:

Groovy DSL

dependencies {
    quarkusDev 'io.quarkus:quarkus-jdbc-h2'
}

Kotlin DSL

dependencies {
    quarkusDev("io.quarkus:quarkus-jdbc-h2")
}

Remote Development Mode

It is possible to use development mode remotely, so that you can run Quarkus in a container environment (such as OpenShift) and have changes made to your local files become immediately visible.

This allows you to develop in the same environment you will actually run your app in, and with access to the same services.

Do not use this in production. This should only be used in a development environment. You should not run production applications in dev mode.

To do this you must build a mutable application, using the mutable-jar format. Set the following properties in application.properties:

quarkus.package.type=mutable-jar (1)
quarkus.live-reload.password=changeit (2)
quarkus.live-reload.url=http://my.cluster.host.com:8080 (3)

1	This tells Quarkus to use the mutable-jar format. Mutable applications also include the deployment time parts of Quarkus, so they take up a bit more disk space. If run normally they start just as fast and use the same memory as an immutable application, however they can also be started in dev mode.
2	The password that is used to secure communication between the remote side and the local side.
3	The URL that your app is going to be running in dev mode at. This is only needed on the local side, so you may want to leave it out of the properties file and specify it as a system property on the command line.

The mutable-jar is then built in the same way that a regular Quarkus jar is built, i.e. by issuing:

CLI

quarkus build

Gradle

./gradlew build

Before you start Quarkus on the remote host set the environment variable QUARKUS_LAUNCH_DEVMODE=true. If you are on bare metal you can set it via the export QUARKUS_LAUNCH_DEVMODE=true command and then run the application with the proper java -jar … command to run the application.

If you plan on running the application via Docker, then you’ll need to add -e QUARKUS_LAUNCH_DEVMODE=true to the docker run command. When the application starts you should now see the following line in the logs: Profile dev activated. Live Coding activated.

The remote side does not need to include Maven or any other development tools. The normal fast-jar Dockerfile that is generated with a new Quarkus application is all you need. If you are using bare metal launch the Quarkus runner jar, do not attempt to run normal devmode.

Now you need to connect your local agent to the remote host, using the remote-dev command:

./gradlew quarkusRemoteDev -Dquarkus.live-reload.url=http://my-remote-host:8080

Now every time you refresh the browser you should see any changes you have made locally immediately visible in the remote app.

All the config options are shown below:

Debugging

In development mode, Quarkus starts by default with debug mode enabled, listening to port 5005 without suspending the JVM.

This behavior can be changed by giving the debug system property one of the following values:

false - the JVM will start with debug mode disabled
true - The JVM is started in debug mode and will be listening on port 5005
client - the JVM will start in client mode and attempt to connect to localhost:5005
{port} - The JVM is started in debug mode and will be listening on {port}

An additional system property suspend can be used to suspend the JVM, when launched in debug mode. suspend supports the following values:

y or true - The debug mode JVM launch is suspended
n or false - The debug mode JVM is started without suspending

You can also run a Quarkus application in debug mode with a suspended JVM using:

CLI

quarkus dev -Dsuspend -Ddebug

Gradle

./gradlew --console=plain quarkusDev -Dsuspend -Ddebug

Then, attach your debugger to localhost:5005.

Import in your IDE

Once you have a project generated, you can import it in your favorite IDE. The only requirement is the ability to import a Gradle project.

Eclipse

In Eclipse, click on: File → Import. In the wizard, select: Gradle → Existing Gradle Project. On the next screen, select the root location of the project. The next screen list the found modules; select the generated project and click on Finish. Done!

In a separated terminal, run:

CLI

quarkus dev

Gradle

./gradlew --console=plain quarkusDev

and enjoy a highly productive environment.

IntelliJ

In IntelliJ:

From inside IntelliJ select File → New → Project From Existing Sources… or, if you are on the welcome dialog, select Import project.
Select the project root
Select Import project from external model and Gradle
Next a few times (review the different options if needed)
On the last screen click on Finish

In a separated terminal or in the embedded terminal, run:

CLI

quarkus dev

Gradle

./gradlew --console=plain quarkusDev

Enjoy!

Apache NetBeans

In NetBeans:

Select File → Open Project
Select the project root
Click on Open Project

In a separated terminal or the embedded terminal, go to the project root and run:

CLI

quarkus dev

Gradle

./gradlew --console=plain quarkusDev

Enjoy!

Visual Studio Code

Open the project directory in VS Code. If you have installed the Java Extension Pack (grouping a set of Java extensions), the project is loaded as a Gradle project.

Downloading dependencies for offline development and testing

Quarkus extension dependencies are divided into the runtime extension dependencies that end up on the application runtime classpath and the deployment (or build time) extension dependencies that are resolved by Quarkus only at application build time to create the build classpath. Application developers are expected to express dependencies only on the runtime artifacts of Quarkus extensions.

To enable the use-case of building and testing a Quarkus application offline, the plugin includes the quarkusGoOffline task that could be called from the command line like this:

./gradlew quarkusGoOffline

This task will resolve all the runtime, build time, test and dev mode dependencies of the application to the Gradle cache. Once executed, you will be able to safely run quarkus task with --offline flag.

Building a native executable

Native executables make Quarkus applications ideal for containers and serverless workloads.

Make sure to have GRAALVM_HOME configured and pointing to GraalVM version 22.0.0.2 (Make sure to use a Java 11 version of GraalVM).

Create a native executable using:

CLI

quarkus build --native

Gradle

./gradlew build -Dquarkus.package.type=native

A native executable will be present in build/.

Native related properties can either be added in application.properties file, as command line arguments or in the quarkusBuild task. Configuring the quarkusBuild task can be done as following:

Groovy DSL

quarkusBuild {
    nativeArgs {
        containerBuild = true (1)
        builderImage = "quay.io/quarkus/ubi-quarkus-native-image:22.0.0.2-java11" (2)
    }
}

1	Set `quarkus.native.container-build` property to `true`
2	Set `quarkus.native.builder-image` property to `quay.io/quarkus/ubi-quarkus-native-image:22.0.0.2-java11`

Kotlin DSL

tasks.quarkusBuild {
    nativeArgs {
        "container-build" to true (1)
        "builder-image" to "quay.io/quarkus/ubi-quarkus-native-image:22.0.0.2-java11" (2)
    }
}

1	Set `quarkus.native.container-build` property to `true`
2	Set `quarkus.native.builder-image` property to `quay.io/quarkus/ubi-quarkus-native-image:22.0.0.2-java11`

When using the Gradle Groovy DSL, property keys must follow lower camel case notation. e.g. container-build is not valid, and should be replaced by containerBuild. This limitation does not apply to the Gradle Kotlin DSL.

Build a container friendly executable

The native executable will be specific to your operating system. To create an executable that will run in a container, use the following:

CLI

quarkus build --native -Dquarkus.native.container-build=true

Gradle

./gradlew build -Dquarkus.package.type=native -Dquarkus.native.container-build=true

The produced executable will be a 64 bit Linux executable, so depending on your operating system it may no longer be runnable. However, it’s not an issue as we are going to copy it to a Docker container. Note that in this case the build itself runs in a Docker container too, so you don’t need to have GraalVM installed locally.

By default, the native executable will be generated using the quay.io/quarkus/ubi-quarkus-native-image:22.0.0.2-java11 Docker image.

If you want to build a native executable with a different Docker image (for instance to use a different GraalVM version), use the -Dquarkus.native.builder-image=<image name> build argument.

The list of the available Docker images can be found on quay.io. Be aware that a given Quarkus version might not be compatible with all the images available.

Running native tests

Run the native tests using:

./gradlew testNative

This task depends on quarkusBuild, so it will generate the native image before running the tests.

By default, the native-test source set is based on main and test source sets. It is possible to add an extra source set. For example, if your integration tests are located in an integrationTest source set, you can specify it as:

Groovy DSL

quarkus {
    sourceSets {
        extraNativeTest = sourceSets.integrationTest
    }
}

Kotlin DSL

quarkus {
    sourceSets {
        setExtraNativeTest(sourceSets["integrationTest"])
    }
}

Running integration tests

Quarkus integration tests (annotated with @QuarkusIntegrationTest) will run on the artifact produced by Quarkus. Those tests can be placed in a src/integrationTest/java directory and executed using:

./gradlew quarkusIntTest

This task depends on both check and quarkusBuild tasks. The final artifact will be produced before running tests.

Using fast-jar

fast-jar is now the default quarkus package type. The result of ./gradlew build command is a new directory under build named quarkus-app.

You can run the application using: java -jar target/quarkus-app/quarkus-run.jar.

In order to successfully run the produced jar, you need to have the entire contents of the quarkus-app directory. If any of the files are missing, the application will not start or might not function correctly.

The fast-jar packaging results in creating an artifact that starts a little faster and consumes slightly less memory than a legacy Quarkus jar because it has indexed information about which dependency jar contains classes and resources. It can thus avoid the lookup into potentially every jar on the classpath that the legacy jar necessitates, when loading a class or resource.

Building Uber-Jars

Quarkus Gradle plugin supports the generation of Uber-Jars by specifying a quarkus.package.type argument as follows:

CLI

quarkus build -Dquarkus.package.type=uber-jar

Gradle

./gradlew build -Dquarkus.package.type=uber-jar

When building an Uber-Jar you can specify entries that you want to exclude from the generated jar by using the --ignored-entry argument:

./gradlew quarkusBuild -Dquarkus.package.type=uber-jar --ignored-entry=META-INF/file1.txt

The entries are relative to the root of the generated Uber-Jar. You can specify multiple entries by adding extra --ignored-entry arguments.

Working with multi-module projects

By default, Quarkus will not discover CDI beans inside another module.

The best way to enable CDI bean discovery for a module in a multi-module project would be to include a META-INF/beans.xml file, unless it is the main application module already configured with the quarkus-maven-plugin, in which case it will indexed automatically.

Alternatively, there is some unofficial Gradle Jandex plugins that can be used instead of the META-INF/beans.xml file.

More information on this topic can be found on the Bean Discovery section of the CDI guide.

Publishing your application

In order to make sure the right dependency versions are being used by Gradle, the BOM is declared as an enforcedPlatform in your build file. By default, the maven-publish plugin will prevent you from publishing your application due to this enforcedPlatform. This validation can be skipped by adding the following configuration in your build file:

Groovy DSL

tasks.withType(GenerateModuleMetadata).configureEach {
    suppressedValidationErrors.add('enforced-platform')
}

Kotlin DSL

tasks.withType<GenerateModuleMetadata>().configureEach {
    suppressedValidationErrors.add("enforced-platform")
}