Table of Contents

Creating your first Micronaut application

Learn how to create a Hello World Micronaut application with a controller and a functional test.

Authors: Iván López, Sergio del Amo

Micronaut Version: 4.6.3

1. Getting Started

In this guide, we will create a Micronaut application written in Kotlin.

2. What you will need

To complete this guide, you will need the following:

3. Solution

We recommend that you follow the instructions in the next sections and create the application step by step. However, you can go right to the completed example.

4. Writing the Application

Create an application using the Micronaut Command Line Interface or with Micronaut Launch.

mn create-app example.micronaut.micronautguide --build=maven --lang=kotlin
If you don’t specify the --build argument, Gradle with the Kotlin DSL is used as the build tool.
If you don’t specify the --lang argument, Java is used as the language.
If you don’t specify the --test argument, JUnit is used for Java and Kotlin, and Spock is used for Groovy.

The previous command creates a Micronaut application with the default package example.micronaut in a directory named micronautguide.

Setup IntelliJ IDEA to develop Micronaut Applications.

4.1. Application

Application.kt is used when running the application via Gradle or via deployment. You can also run the main class directly within your IDE if it is configured correctly.

src/main/kotlin/example/micronaut/Application.kt
package example.micronaut

import io.micronaut.runtime.Micronaut.run
fun main(args: Array<String>) {
        run(*args)
}

4.2. Controller

In order to create a microservice that responds with "Hello World" you first need a controller.

Create a Controller:

src/main/kotlin/example/micronaut/HelloController.kt
package example.micronaut

import io.micronaut.http.MediaType
import io.micronaut.http.annotation.Controller
import io.micronaut.http.annotation.Get
import io.micronaut.http.annotation.Produces

@Controller("/hello") (1)
class HelloController {

    @Get(2)
    @Produces(MediaType.TEXT_PLAIN) (3)
    fun index() = "Hello World"
}
1 The class is defined as a controller with the @Controller annotation mapped to the path /hello.
2 The @Get annotation maps the index method to an HTTP GET request on /hello.
3 By default, a Micronaut response uses application/json as Content-Type. We are returning a String, not a JSON object, so we set it to text/plain with the @Produces annotation.
4 A String "Hello World" is returned as the result

4.3. Test

Create a test to verify that when you make a GET request to /hello you get Hello World as a response:

src/test/kotlin/example/micronaut/HelloControllerTest.kt
package example.micronaut

import io.micronaut.http.HttpRequest
import io.micronaut.http.client.HttpClient
import io.micronaut.http.client.annotation.Client
import io.micronaut.test.extensions.junit5.annotation.MicronautTest
import org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertEquals
import org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertNotNull
import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test
import jakarta.inject.Inject

@MicronautTest (1)
class HelloControllerTest(@Client("/") val client: HttpClient) { (2)

    @Test
    fun testHello() {
        val request: HttpRequest<Any> = HttpRequest.GET("/hello")  (3)
        val body = client.toBlocking().retrieve(request)
        assertNotNull(body)
        assertEquals("Hello World", body)
    }
}
1 Annotate the class with @MicronautTest so the Micronaut framework will initialize the application context and the embedded server. More info.
2 Inject the HttpClient bean and point it to the embedded server.
3 Creating HTTP Requests is easy thanks to the Micronaut framework fluid API.

5. Testing the Application

To run the tests:

./mvnw test

6. Running the Application

To run the application, use the ./mvnw mn:run command, which starts the application on port 8080.

7. Generate a Micronaut Application Native Executable with GraalVM

We will use GraalVM, an advanced JDK with ahead-of-time Native Image compilation, to generate a native executable of this Micronaut application.

Compiling Micronaut applications ahead of time with GraalVM significantly improves startup time and reduces the memory footprint of JVM-based applications.

Only Java and Kotlin projects support using GraalVM’s native-image tool. Groovy relies heavily on reflection, which is only partially supported by GraalVM.

7.1. GraalVM Installation

The easiest way to install GraalVM on Linux or Mac is to use SDKMan.io.

Java 21
sdk install java 21.0.5-graal

For installation on Windows, or for a manual installation on Linux or Mac, see the GraalVM Getting Started documentation.

The previous command installs Oracle GraalVM, which is free to use in production and free to redistribute, at no cost, under the GraalVM Free Terms and Conditions.

Alternatively, you can use the GraalVM Community Edition:

Java 21
sdk install java 21.0.2-graalce

7.2. Native Executable Generation

To generate a native executable using Maven, run:

./mvnw package -Dpackaging=native-image

The native executable is created in the target directory and can be run with target/micronautguide.

It is possible to customize the name of the native executable or pass additional build arguments using the Maven plugin for GraalVM Native Image building. Declare the plugin as following:

pom.xml
<plugin>
    <groupId>org.graalvm.buildtools</groupId>
    <artifactId>native-maven-plugin</artifactId>
    <version>0.10.3</version>
    <configuration>
        <!-- <1> -->
        <imageName>mn-graalvm-application</imageName> (1)
        <buildArgs>
              <!-- <2> -->
          <buildArg>-Ob</buildArg>
        </buildArgs>
    </configuration>
</plugin>
1 The native executable name will now be mn-graalvm-application.
2 It is possible to pass extra build arguments to native-image. For example, -Ob enables the quick build mode.

You can execute the endpoint exposed by the native executable:

curl localhost:8080/hello
Hello World

8. Next Steps

Read more about Micronaut testing.

9. Help with the Micronaut Framework

The Micronaut Foundation sponsored the creation of this Guide. A variety of consulting and support services are available.

10. License

All guides are released with an Apache license 2.0 license for the code and a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license for the writing and media (images…​).