[[starters]]
= Starters

Starters are convenient dependency descriptors you can include in your
application. Include a starter to get the dependencies and Spring Boot
auto-configuration for a feature set.  Starters that begin with `spring-cloud-starter-kubernetes-fabric8`
provide implementations using the https://github.com/fabric8io/kubernetes-client[Fabric8 Kubernetes Java Client].
Starters that begin with
`spring-cloud-starter-kubernetes-client` provide implementations using the https://github.com/kubernetes-client/java[Kubernetes Java Client].

NOTE:  You CANNOT combine starters from Fabric8 and Kubernetes Java Clients.  You must pick one library to
use and use the starters for that library only.

[cols="a,d"]
|===
| Starter | Features

| [source,xml]
.Fabric8 Dependency
----
<dependency>
    <groupId>org.springframework.cloud</groupId>
    <artifactId>spring-cloud-starter-kubernetes-fabric8</artifactId>
</dependency>
----

[source,xml]
.Kubernetes Client Dependency
----
<dependency>
    <groupId>org.springframework.cloud</groupId>
    <artifactId>spring-cloud-starter-kubernetes-client</artifactId>
</dependency>
----
| <<DiscoveryClient for Kubernetes,Discovery Client>> implementation that
resolves service names to Kubernetes Services.

| [source,xml]
.Fabric8 Dependency
----
<dependency>
    <groupId>org.springframework.cloud</groupId>
    <artifactId>spring-cloud-starter-kubernetes-fabric8-config</artifactId>
</dependency>
----

[source,xml]
.Kubernetes Client Dependency
----
<dependency>
    <groupId>org.springframework.cloud</groupId>
    <artifactId>spring-cloud-starter-kubernetes-client-config</artifactId>
</dependency>
----
| Load application properties from Kubernetes
xref:property-source-config/configmap-propertysource.adoc[ConfigMaps] and <<Secrets PropertySource,Secrets>>.
xref:property-source-config/propertysource-reload.adoc[Reload] application properties when a ConfigMap or
Secret changes.

| [source,xml]
.Fabric8 Dependency
----
<dependency>
    <groupId>org.springframework.cloud</groupId>
    <artifactId>spring-cloud-starter-kubernetes-fabric8-all</artifactId>
</dependency>
----

[source,xml]
.Kubernetes Client Dependency
----
<dependency>
    <groupId>org.springframework.cloud</groupId>
    <artifactId>spring-cloud-starter-kubernetes-client-all</artifactId>
</dependency>
----
| All Spring Cloud Kubernetes features.
|===