The Spring Framework 2.0 introduced support for namespaces, which simplifies the Xml configuration of the application context, and consequently Spring Integration provides broad namespace support. This reference guide applies the following conventions for all code examples that use namespace support: The int namespace prefix will be used for Spring Integration's core namespace support. Each Spring Integration adapter type (module) will provide its own namespace, which is configured using the following convention: int- followed by the name of the module, e.g. int-twitter, int-stream, … … ]]> For a detailed explanation regarding Spring Integration's namespace support see . Please note that the namespace prefix can be freely chosen. You may even choose not to use any namespace prefixes at all. Therefore, apply the convention that suits your application needs best. Be aware, though, that SpringSource Tool Suite™ (STS) uses the same namespace conventions for Spring Integration as used in this reference guide.