How to use the Spring Boot Engineer agent skill

What is an agent skill and what does this one do?

An agent skill is a folder containing a SKILL.md file and optional reference notes that an AI agent can load when a task matches the skill's description. This one is named spring-boot-engineer and is licensed MIT.

Once installed, the agent follows Spring Boot 3.x practices when you ask it to build Java backend code. It produces entities, repositories, services, REST controllers, DTOs, validation, exception handling and tests, using constructor injection and layered design. It also loads reference notes on security, data access, cloud integration, web and testing when they are relevant.

• Generates Spring Boot 3.x configuration and REST controllers
• Implements Spring Security 6 authentication flows
• Sets up Spring Data JPA repositories
• Configures reactive WebFlux endpoints
• Covers Spring Cloud integration and Java REST API design

Install the spring-boot-engineer skill

Download the ZIP for this skill from the page where you found this guide, then unzip it. You can put the skill in one of two places. For a personal setup available across projects, unzip it into ~/.claude/skills/. For a single project, unzip it into that project's .claude/skills/ folder.

If you use the Claude apps instead, open Settings, go to Capabilities, and upload the skill under Skills.

• Personal install: ~/.claude/skills/
• Project install: .claude/skills/ inside your project
• Claude apps: Settings → Capabilities → Skills, then upload

Trigger the skill with natural requests

You do not need a special command. Describe the Spring Boot work you want in plain language and mention Spring Boot, Spring Security, Spring Data JPA, WebFlux or Spring Cloud where relevant. The skill's description lists the topics it covers, so requests that match them are the ones it is meant to handle.

Be specific about the project. Say which Spring Boot version you use, which build tool you have, and what the endpoint or entity should do. The agent will ask you to confirm the design before it writes code.

• "Create a Spring Boot 3 REST controller for orders with validation and a global exception handler."
• "Set up Spring Security 6 JWT login for /api/auth with role-based access to /api/admin."
• "Add a Spring Data JPA repository for users with a case-insensitive email search."
• "Build a reactive WebFlux endpoint that streams product updates."

What the skill produces and how it checks its work

The skill's core workflow moves through analysis, design, implementation, security, testing and deployment. The agent is instructed to run ./mvnw test or ./gradlew test and to confirm all tests pass before moving on. For deployment, it validates that the Actuator endpoint /actuator/health returns UP and, if it returns DOWN, checks the components detail in the response.

The Quick Start examples in the skill show a product feature with an entity, repository, service with constructor injection, a REST controller, a record DTO, a global exception handler and a @WebMvcTest slice test.

Requirements and safety notes

You need Java and a Spring Boot 3.x project, plus Maven (./mvnw) or Gradle (./gradlew) build tooling. The Testcontainers reference implies Docker is needed for integration tests. The skill runs scripts and does not use the network, according to its listing.

Review security output before production use. Generated authentication and CORS configuration can contain mistakes that only a security review or tests will catch. If you do not want the agent running build or test commands, do not use this skill for that project, because its workflow instructs it to run them.

• Runs scripts: yes
• Uses network: no
• Generated auth and CORS code needs human review before production