Spring Petclinic is a Spring Boot application built using Maven or Gradle. You can build a jar file and run it from the command line (it should work just as well with Java 17 or newer):
git clone https://github.com/spring-projects/spring-petclinic.git
cd spring-petclinic
./mvnw package
java -jar target/*.jar(On Windows, or if your shell doesn't expand the glob, you might need to specify the JAR file name explicitly on the command line at the end there.)
You can then access the Petclinic at http://localhost:8080/.
Or you can run it from Maven directly using the Spring Boot Maven plugin. If you do this, it will pick up changes that you make in the project immediately (changes to Java source files require a compile as well - most people use an IDE for this):
./mvnw spring-boot:runNOTE: If you prefer to use Gradle, you can build the app using
./gradlew buildand look for the jar file inbuild/libs.
There is no Dockerfile in this project. You can build a container image (if you have a docker daemon) using the Spring Boot build plugin:
./mvnw spring-boot:build-imageOur issue tracker is available here.
In its default configuration, Petclinic uses an in-memory database (H2) which
gets populated at startup with data. The h2 console is exposed at http://localhost:8080/h2-console,
and it is possible to inspect the content of the database using the jdbc:h2:mem:<uuid> URL. The UUID is printed at startup to the console.
A similar setup is provided for MySQL and PostgreSQL if a persistent database configuration is needed. Note that whenever the database type changes, the app needs to run with a different profile: spring.profiles.active=mysql for MySQL or spring.profiles.active=postgres for PostgreSQL. See the Spring Boot documentation for more detail on how to set the active profile.
You can start MySQL or PostgreSQL locally with whatever installer works for your OS or use docker:
docker run -e MYSQL_USER=petclinic -e MYSQL_PASSWORD=petclinic -e MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=root -e MYSQL_DATABASE=petclinic -p 3306:3306 mysql:9.2or
docker run -e POSTGRES_USER=petclinic -e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=petclinic -e POSTGRES_DB=petclinic -p 5432:5432 postgres:18.0Further documentation is provided for MySQL and PostgreSQL.
Instead of vanilla docker you can also use the provided docker-compose.yml file to start the database containers. Each one has a service named after the Spring profile:
docker compose up mysqlor
docker compose up postgresAt development time we recommend you use the test applications set up as main() methods in PetClinicIntegrationTests (using the default H2 database and also adding Spring Boot Devtools), MySqlTestApplication and PostgresIntegrationTests. These are set up so that you can run the apps in your IDE to get fast feedback and also run the same classes as integration tests against the respective database. The MySql integration tests use Testcontainers to start the database in a Docker container, and the Postgres tests use Docker Compose to do the same thing.
There is a petclinic.css in src/main/resources/static/resources/css. It was generated from the petclinic.scss source, combined with the Bootstrap library. If you make changes to the scss, or upgrade Bootstrap, you will need to re-compile the CSS resources using the Maven profile "css", i.e. ./mvnw package -P css. There is no build profile for Gradle to compile the CSS.
The following items should be installed in your system:
- Java 17 or newer (full JDK, not a JRE)
- Git command line tool
- Your preferred IDE
- Eclipse with the m2e plugin. Note: when m2e is available, there is an m2 icon in
Help -> Aboutdialog. If m2e is not there, follow the install process here - Spring Tools Suite (STS)
- IntelliJ IDEA
- VS Code
- Eclipse with the m2e plugin. Note: when m2e is available, there is an m2 icon in
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On the command line run:
git clone https://github.com/spring-projects/spring-petclinic.git
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Inside Eclipse or STS:
Open the project via
File -> Import -> Maven -> Existing Maven project, then select the root directory of the cloned repo.Then either build on the command line
./mvnw generate-resourcesor use the Eclipse launcher (right-click on project andRun As -> Maven install) to generate the CSS. Run the application's main method by right-clicking on it and choosingRun As -> Java Application. -
Inside IntelliJ IDEA:
In the main menu, choose
File -> Openand select the Petclinic pom.xml. Click on theOpenbutton.-
CSS files are generated from the Maven build. You can build them on the command line
./mvnw generate-resourcesor right-click on thespring-petclinicproject thenMaven -> Generates sources and Update Folders. -
A run configuration named
PetClinicApplicationshould have been created for you if you're using a recent Ultimate version. Otherwise, run the application by right-clicking on thePetClinicApplicationmain class and choosingRun 'PetClinicApplication'.
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Navigate to the Petclinic
Visit http://localhost:8080 in your browser.
| Spring Boot Configuration | Class or Java property files |
|---|---|
| The Main Class | PetClinicApplication |
| Properties Files | application.properties |
| Caching | CacheConfiguration |
The Spring Petclinic "main" branch in the spring-projects GitHub org is the "canonical" implementation based on Spring Boot and Thymeleaf. There are quite a few forks in the GitHub org spring-petclinic. If you are interested in using a different technology stack to implement the Pet Clinic, please join the community there.
One of the best parts about working on the Spring Petclinic application is that we have the opportunity to work in direct contact with many Open Source projects. We found bugs/suggested improvements on various topics such as Spring, Spring Data, Bean Validation and even Eclipse! In many cases, they've been fixed/implemented in just a few days. Here is a list of them:
| Name | Issue |
|---|---|
| Spring JDBC: simplify usage of NamedParameterJdbcTemplate | SPR-10256 and SPR-10257 |
| Bean Validation / Hibernate Validator: simplify Maven dependencies and backward compatibility | HV-790 and HV-792 |
| Spring Data: provide more flexibility when working with JPQL queries | DATAJPA-292 |
The issue tracker is the preferred channel for bug reports, feature requests and submitting pull requests.
For pull requests, editor preferences are available in the editor config for easy use in common text editors. Read more and download plugins at https://editorconfig.org. All commits must include a Signed-off-by trailer at the end of each commit message to indicate that the contributor agrees to the Developer Certificate of Origin. For additional details, please refer to the blog post Hello DCO, Goodbye CLA: Simplifying Contributions to Spring.
The Spring PetClinic sample application is released under version 2.0 of the Apache License.