Java devs looking to get started with microservices can now dive into the newly released first major version of MicroProfile Starter 1.0.

The tool was conjured up by members of the Eclipse Foundation, to help users get to grips with the Eclipse MicroProfile APIs, which aim to “optimise Enterprise Java for the microservice architecture”. It does so, given some initial input regarding runtime etc, by offering devs sample code and instruction on how to build and run it. 

MicroProfile Starter can be accessed through a simple web interface. To generate a MicroProfile Maven project, users will have to work their way through a form which first asks for a groupId and artifactId. Once that’s set, they can select a MicroProfile version, a Java SE version, and specify some project options. For MicroProfile runtimes, the Starter offers a choice of Payara Micro, Open Liberty, Thorntail V2, and Helidon.

An alternative way of generating sample code is through a REST API via the command line or IDE extensions. This functionality might be the biggest change since the release of the first beta back in February 2019. However, IDE extensions are only available for IntelliJ IDEA and VS Code at this stage, which might come as a surprise to friends of the Eclipse IDE. 

While the plugin for that is still in development, one for the online IDE Eclipse Che is promised to land soon. Meanwhile users interested in the command line option will need to know all parameters that have to be specified in order for the tool to properly work. A glance at the docs therefore isn’t the worst idea.

Other enhancements since the start of the beta program mainly comprise of the addition of Java 11 so it doesn’t work with Java 8 only, and support for newer MicroProfile versions.