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🚀 Building Container Images with Spring Boot Buildpacks (No Dockerfile, No Jib)


This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by DevCorner2

Containerizing applications is often seen as a Docker-first activity — you write a Dockerfile, build an image, and push it to a registry. But modern platforms like Cloud Native Buildpacks (CNB) provide a more streamlined alternative.

With Spring Boot Buildpacks (Paketo), you can create production-ready container images without a Dockerfile, without Jib, and without deep Docker knowledge.

🛠 Why Buildpacks?

  • No Dockerfile needed — everything is auto-generated.
  • Best practices baked in (optimized base images, JVM tuning, layering).
  • Works with any registry — Docker Hub, Harbor, ECR, GCR, ACR, etc.
  • Direct Spring Boot support — works out-of-the-box with Maven and Gradle.

📌 Step 1: Prerequisites

  • Spring Boot 2.3+ (supports build-image).
  • Docker installed locally (for creating the image).

📌 Step 2: Build an Image with Maven

Inside your Spring Boot project, simply run:

mvn spring-boot:build-image -Dspring-boot.build-image.imageName=myregistry.example.com:5000/myteam/myapp:1.0

What happens here:

  • Spring Boot invokes Paketo Buildpacks.
  • A JVM-optimized image is built.
  • The image is tagged and ready.

📌 Step 3: Build an Image with Gradle

If you use Gradle:

./gradlew bootBuildImage --imageName=myregistry.example.com:5000/myteam/myapp:1.0

📌 Step 4: Push to Private Registry

After the image is built, tag and push it (if not already tagged):

docker push myregistry.example.com:5000/myteam/myapp:1.0

📌 Step 5: Run the Image

Verify everything works:

docker run -p 8080:8080 myregistry.example.com:5000/myteam/myapp:1.0

⚡ Pro Tips

  • Custom JDK version: Paketo auto-detects your project’s JDK requirements.
  • Layer caching: Faster rebuilds by reusing cached layers.
  • Zero-config builds: CI/CD-friendly — just run mvn spring-boot:build-image in pipelines.
  • Security updates: Base images are maintained and patched automatically.

✅ Conclusion

With Spring Boot Buildpacks (Paketo) you get a zero-Dockerfile, zero-Jib alternative for building production-ready images.

It’s ideal if:

  • You want one command builds.
  • Your organization mandates best-practice base images.
  • You’re deploying Spring Boot apps at scale on Kubernetes, Cloud Foundry, or Tanzu.

👉 So now we have three structured approaches to containerize Java apps:

  1. Dockerfile → total control.
  2. Google Jib → no Docker, Maven/Gradle integrated.
  3. Spring Boot Buildpacks → zero config, production-ready defaults.


This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by DevCorner2