[[getting-started]]
== Getting started

To get started with the plugin it needs to be applied to your project.

ifeval::["{version-type}" == "RELEASE"]
The plugin is https://plugins.gradle.org/plugin/org.springframework.boot[published to
Gradle's plugin portal] and can be applied using the `plugins` block:
[source,groovy,indent=0,subs="verbatim,attributes"]
----
include::../gradle/getting-started/apply-plugin-release.gradle[]
----
endif::[]
ifeval::["{version-type}" == "MILESTONE"]
[source,groovy,indent=0,subs="verbatim,attributes"]
----
include::../gradle/getting-started/apply-plugin-milestone.gradle[]
----
endif::[]
ifeval::["{version-type}" == "SNAPSHOT"]
[source,groovy,indent=0,subs="verbatim,attributes"]
----
include::../gradle/getting-started/apply-plugin-snapshot.gradle[]
----
endif::[]

Applied in isolation the plugin makes few changes to a project. Instead, the plugin
detects when certain other plugins are applied and reacts accordingly. For example, when
the `java` plugin is applied a task for building an executable jar is automatically
configured.

A typical Spring Boot project will apply the {groovy-plugin}[`groovy`],
{java-plugin}java_plugin.html[`java`], or {kotlin-plugin}[`org.jetbrains.kotlin.jvm`]
plugin and the {dependency-management-plugin}[`io.spring.dependency-management`] plugin as
a minimum. For example:

[source,groovy,indent=0,subs="verbatim,attributes"]
----
include::../gradle/getting-started/typical-plugins.gradle[tags=apply]
----

To learn more about how the Spring Boot plugin behaves when other plugins are applied
please see the section on <<reacting-to-other-plugins, reacting to other plugins>>.
