pom-cli

pom-cli 🪄

pom-cli lets you quickly create and update a pom.xml file without manual XML editing. It’s written in Java and compiled to native code with GraalVM.

Demo for spring-boot

Installation

Unix-like

Run the following script:

curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/andirady/pom-cli/refs/heads/main/install.sh | bash

MacOS, Windows

Download the binaries from the Releases page.

Docker

You can also run pom-cli using Docker:

docker run --rm -it --user $(id -u):$(id -g) -v $PWD:/workspace ghcr.io/andirady/pom-cli [ARGS...]

Usage

Quick start

# Create pom.xml with coordinates inferred from current folder name
pom id com.example:.

# Add dependencies and plugins
pom add org.junit.jupiter:junit-jupiter --test
pom plug org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-surefire-plugin

# Inspect current project ID
pom id

Setting project ID

The project ID can be set using the id command. This command will create a new pom.xml if it does not exist yet.

# Set group ID and artifact ID, version defaults to 0.0.1-SNAPSHOT
pom id com.example:my-app

# Set full ID
pom id com.example:my-app:1.0.0

# Specifies packaging, which if not specified will use `jar`
pom id com.example:my-webapp --as=war

# Set artifact ID to current directory name
pom id .

# Set or rename artifact ID to current directory name
pom id com.example:.
pom id com.example:.:1.0.0

By default, if the group_id is not specified, unnamed will be used, and if the version is not specified, 0.0.1-SNAPSHOT will be used. To set different defaults, you can use:

POM_CLI_DEFAULT_GROUP_ID for group_id
POM_CLI_DEFAULT_VERSION for version

export POM_CLI_DEFAULT_GROUP_ID=com.example
export POM_CLI_DEFAULT_VERSION=1.2.3-SNAPSHOT
cd my-app
pom id .
# The pom will have ID com.example:my-app:1.2.3-SNAPSHOT

If the current folder belongs to a multi-module maven project, the <parent> element will be added to the pom. For example:

cd hello
pom id --as=pom com.example:.
# pom com.example:hello:0.0.1-SNAPSHOT
mkdir api
cd $_
pom id hello-api
# The pom will have the `<parent>` element set and `<groupId>` omitted.

If the project is meant to be standalone, then you can use the --standalone flag

mkdir hello/sample
cd $_
pom id --standalone .
# The pom will use the default group ID and no `<parent>` element will be added.

Reading project ID

If the pom.xml already exists, the ID of the POM can be retrieved using id command without any arguments.

pom id

Adding dependencies

Dependencies can be added using the add command.

This command will create a new pom.xml if it does not exist yet. The new pom.xml will use the default group ID and the folder name as artifact ID.

# Add compile dependency
pom add info.picocli:picocli

# Adding dependencies leveraging shell expansion
pom add org.apache.logging:log4j-{api,core}

# Add scoped dependency
pom add --test org.junit.jupiter:junit-jupiter
pom add --provided org.junit.jupiter:junit-jupiter
pom add --runtime org.junit.jupiter:junit-jupiter

# Add from maven metadata in a jar file
pom add /path/to/file.jar

# Add by path to maven module
pom add /path/to/module
pom add /path/to/module/pom.xml

# Add from stdin (single <dependency> or <dependencies> root)
pom add <<EOF
<dependency>
  <groupId>org.apache.logging.log4j</groupId>
  <artifactId>log4j-api</artifactId>
  <version>${log4j-api.version}</version>
</dependency>
EOF

For projects that are packaged as “pom”, the dependencies will be added to the dependencyManagement section.

[!NOTE] Some projects use /project/dependencies so submodules inherit dependencies, but this tool intentionally prefers declaring dependencies explicitly in each module.

If version is not specified, the latest version of the artifact will be used. If there is a parent pom, and it already included the dependency version, no version will be added.

If the pom.xml is a child pom, dependency can be added by just specifying the artifact ID. For example, if the parent pom contains the following declaration:

  <dependencyManagement>
    <dependencies>
      ...
      <dependency>
        <groupId>com.example</groupId>
        <artifactId>some-api</artifactId>
        <version>1.0.0</version>
      </dependency>
      ...
    </dependencies>
  </dependencyManagement>

Running this command:

pom add some-api

will make the target pom.xml contain the following:

  <dependencies>
    ...
    <dependency>
      <groupId>com.example</groupId>
      <artifactId>some-api</artifactId>
    </dependency>
    ...
  </dependencies>

You can also add by just specifying the artifact ID if the artifact is managed by either in the dependencyManagement, dependency with import scope, or managed by the parent.

Removing dependencies

Dependencies can be removed from the pom.xml using the remove command.

# Remove by specifying the groupId and artifactId
pom remove groupId:artifactId

# Remove by specifying the artifactId
pom remove artifactId

# Use the shorter alias, rm
pom rm artifactId

Setting parent POM

You can set the parent POM for your project using either a path to an existing parent project or by specifying the Maven coordinates.

If you set a parent, subsequent commands (such as pom add or pom plug) will properly manage dependencies and plugins according to the parent POM’s configuration.

Set parent by local path

# Parent is parent directory
pom parent ..

# Parent is in another directory of the parent directory
pom parent ../parent

# Parent is in a separate directory tree
pom parent /path/to/parent

This will set the <parent> element in your pom.xml to reference the specified parent project’s POM file. If the version of the parent was updated, calling this again will update the <version> of the <parent>.

Set parent by Maven coordinates

# Use latest version
pom parent groupId:artifactId

# Use specific version
pom parent groupId:artifactId:version

This will set the <parent> element in your pom.xml using the given group ID, artifact ID, and version.

Setting properties

# Set single property
pom set maven.compiler.source=17

# Set multiple properties
pom set maven.compiler.source=17 maven.compiler.target=17

# Set multiple properties leveraging shell expansion
pom set maven.compiler.{source,target}=17

Reading properties

# Get property from default profile
pom get maven.compiler.source

# Get property from specific profile
pom -P test get maven.compiler.source

Removing properties

# Remove from default profile
pom unset property_name

# Remove from specific profile
pom -P test unset property_name

Search

# Search by artifact ID
pom search log4j-api

# Search artifacts by class name
pom search --class Logger
pom search -c Logger

# Search artifacts by fully qualified class name
pom search --full-class org.apache.logging.log4j.Logger
pom search -fc org.apache.logging.log4j.Logger

Adding plugins

# Add using full coordinate
pom plug com.example:hello-maven-plugin:1.0.0

# Auto resolve latest version
pom plug org.graalvm.buildtools:native-maven-plugin

# Plug to profile
pom -Pnative plug org.graalvm.buildtools:native-maven-plugin

# Add built-in plugin and auto resolve the latest version
pom plug maven-resources-plugin

If the current POM is a child of another POM, you can add a plugin by simply stating the plugin’s artifact ID.

# Add plugin managed by parent
pom plug spring-boot-maven-plugin

or, if you’re starting with an empty project, you can run

pom parent parent.group:parent.artifactId:1.0.0 plug example-maven-plugin

e.g.:

pom parent org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-parent plug spring-boot-maven-plugin

Removing plugins

# Unplug by artifactId
pom unplug spring-boot-maven-plugin

# Unplug by groupId and artifactId
# Use case: multiple plugins have the same artifactId.
pom unplug org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-maven-plugin

# Unplug from a profile
pom -P dev unplug spring-boot-maven-plugin

Building

This project requires Java 21+, GraalVM CE and Maven 3.8.4+. You can use sdkman to download them.

To build, run

mvn package

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