How can I create an executable JAR with dependencies using Maven?

<build>  <plugins>    <plugin>      <artifactId>maven-assembly-plugin</artifactId>      <configuration>        <archive>          <manifest>            <mainClass>fully.qualified.MainClass</mainClass>          </manifest>        </archive>        <descriptorRefs>          <descriptorRef>jar-with-dependencies</descriptorRef>        </descriptorRefs>      </configuration>    </plugin>  </plugins></build>

and you run it with

mvn clean compile assembly:single

Compile goal should be added before assembly:single or otherwise the code on your own project is not included.

See more details in comments.

Commonly this goal is tied to a build phase to execute automatically. This ensures the JAR is built when executing mvn install or performing a deployment/release.

<plugin>  <artifactId>maven-assembly-plugin</artifactId>  <configuration>    <archive>      <manifest>        <mainClass>fully.qualified.MainClass</mainClass>      </manifest>    </archive>    <descriptorRefs>      <descriptorRef>jar-with-dependencies</descriptorRef>    </descriptorRefs>  </configuration>  <executions>    <execution>      <id>make-assembly</id> <!-- this is used for inheritance merges -->      <phase>package</phase> <!-- bind to the packaging phase -->      <goals>        <goal>single</goal>      </goals>    </execution>  </executions></plugin>

You can use the dependency-plugin to generate all dependencies in a separate directory before the package phase and then include that in the classpath of the manifest:

<plugin>    <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>    <artifactId>maven-dependency-plugin</artifactId>    <executions>        <execution>            <id>copy-dependencies</id>            <phase>prepare-package</phase>            <goals>                <goal>copy-dependencies</goal>            </goals>            <configuration>                <outputDirectory>${project.build.directory}/lib</outputDirectory>                <overWriteReleases>false</overWriteReleases>                <overWriteSnapshots>false</overWriteSnapshots>                <overWriteIfNewer>true</overWriteIfNewer>            </configuration>        </execution>    </executions></plugin><plugin>    <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>    <artifactId>maven-jar-plugin</artifactId>    <configuration>        <archive>            <manifest>                <addClasspath>true</addClasspath>                <classpathPrefix>lib/</classpathPrefix>                <mainClass>theMainClass</mainClass>            </manifest>        </archive>    </configuration></plugin>

Alternatively use ${project.build.directory}/classes/lib as OutputDirectory to integrate all jar-files into the main jar, but then you will need to add custom classloading code to load the jars.

See executable-jar-with-maven-example (GitHub)

Notes

Those pros and cons are provided by Stephan.

For Manual Deployment

• Pros
• Cons
  • Dependencies are out of the final jar.

Copy Dependencies to a specific directory

<plugin>  <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>  <artifactId>maven-dependency-plugin</artifactId>  <executions>    <execution>      <id>copy-dependencies</id>      <phase>prepare-package</phase>      <goals>        <goal>copy-dependencies</goal>      </goals>      <configuration>        <outputDirectory>${project.build.directory}/${project.build.finalName}.lib</outputDirectory>      </configuration>    </execution>  </executions></plugin>

Make the Jar Executable and Classpath Aware

<plugin>  <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>  <artifactId>maven-jar-plugin</artifactId>  <configuration>    <archive>      <manifest>        <addClasspath>true</addClasspath>        <classpathPrefix>${project.build.finalName}.lib/</classpathPrefix>        <mainClass>${fully.qualified.main.class}</mainClass>      </manifest>    </archive>  </configuration></plugin>

At this point the jar is actually executable with external classpath elements.

$ java -jar target/${project.build.finalName}.jar

Make Deployable Archives

The jar file is only executable with the sibling ...lib/ directory. We need to make archives to deploy with the directory and its content.

<plugin>  <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>  <artifactId>maven-antrun-plugin</artifactId>  <executions>    <execution>      <id>antrun-archive</id>      <phase>package</phase>      <goals>        <goal>run</goal>      </goals>      <configuration>        <target>          <property name="final.name" value="${project.build.directory}/${project.build.finalName}"/>          <property name="archive.includes" value="${project.build.finalName}.${project.packaging} ${project.build.finalName}.lib/*"/>          <property name="tar.destfile" value="${final.name}.tar"/>          <zip basedir="${project.build.directory}" destfile="${final.name}.zip" includes="${archive.includes}" />          <tar basedir="${project.build.directory}" destfile="${tar.destfile}" includes="${archive.includes}" />          <gzip src="${tar.destfile}" destfile="${tar.destfile}.gz" />          <bzip2 src="${tar.destfile}" destfile="${tar.destfile}.bz2" />        </target>      </configuration>    </execution>  </executions></plugin>

Now you have target/${project.build.finalName}.(zip|tar|tar.bz2|tar.gz) which each contains the jar and lib/*.

Apache Maven Assembly Plugin

• Pros
• Cons
  • No class relocation support (use maven-shade-plugin if class relocation is needed).

<plugin>  <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>  <artifactId>maven-assembly-plugin</artifactId>  <executions>    <execution>      <phase>package</phase>      <goals>        <goal>single</goal>      </goals>      <configuration>        <archive>          <manifest>            <mainClass>${fully.qualified.main.class}</mainClass>          </manifest>        </archive>        <descriptorRefs>          <descriptorRef>jar-with-dependencies</descriptorRef>        </descriptorRefs>      </configuration>    </execution>  </executions></plugin>

You have target/${project.bulid.finalName}-jar-with-dependencies.jar.

Apache Maven Shade Plugin

• Pros
• Cons

<plugin>  <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>  <artifactId>maven-shade-plugin</artifactId>  <executions>    <execution>      <goals>        <goal>shade</goal>      </goals>      <configuration>        <shadedArtifactAttached>true</shadedArtifactAttached>        <transformers>          <transformer implementation="org.apache.maven.plugins.shade.resource.ManifestResourceTransformer">            <mainClass>${fully.qualified.main.class}</mainClass>          </transformer>        </transformers>      </configuration>    </execution>  </executions></plugin>

You have target/${project.build.finalName}-shaded.jar.

onejar-maven-plugin

• Pros
• Cons
  • Not actively supported since 2012.

<plugin>  <!--groupId>org.dstovall</groupId--> <!-- not available on the central -->  <groupId>com.jolira</groupId>  <artifactId>onejar-maven-plugin</artifactId>  <executions>    <execution>      <configuration>        <mainClass>${fully.qualified.main.class}</mainClass>        <attachToBuild>true</attachToBuild>        <!-- https://code.google.com/p/onejar-maven-plugin/issues/detail?id=8 -->        <!--classifier>onejar</classifier-->        <filename>${project.build.finalName}-onejar.${project.packaging}</filename>      </configuration>      <goals>        <goal>one-jar</goal>      </goals>    </execution>  </executions></plugin>

Spring Boot Maven Plugin

• Pros
• Cons
  • Add potential unecessary Spring and Spring Boot related classes.

<plugin>  <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>  <artifactId>spring-boot-maven-plugin</artifactId>  <executions>    <execution>      <goals>        <goal>repackage</goal>      </goals>      <configuration>        <classifier>spring-boot</classifier>        <mainClass>${fully.qualified.main.class}</mainClass>      </configuration>    </execution>  </executions></plugin>

You have target/${project.bulid.finalName}-spring-boot.jar.