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Getting Started

Get up and running with Haft in under 5 minutes.

What is Haft?​

Haft is a command-line tool that supercharges Spring Boot development. While Spring Initializr gets you started with a new project, Haft serves as your lifecycle companion — helping you generate boilerplate code, manage dependencies, and maintain architectural consistency throughout your project.

Quick Start​

1. Install Haft​

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/KashifKhn/haft/main/install.sh | bash

Or using Go:

go install github.com/KashifKhn/haft/cmd/haft@latest

See Installation for more options.

2. Create a New Project​

haft init

This launches an interactive wizard that guides you through:

  • Project name and Maven coordinates
  • Java and Spring Boot versions
  • Build tool selection (Maven/Gradle)
  • Dependency selection from all Spring starters

3. Generate Resources​

cd my-app
haft generate resource User

Haft's intelligent detection engine scans your project and generates code that matches your existing patterns:

  • Architecture-aware — Generates files in the correct location based on your project structure (Layered, Feature-based, Hexagonal, Clean, or Modular)
  • Pattern-matching — Uses your existing DTO naming (Request/Response vs DTO), ID types (Long vs UUID), and mapper style
  • Profile caching — First run scans your project, subsequent runs are instant

This creates a complete CRUD structure:

  • UserController.java — REST endpoints
  • UserService.java — Service interface
  • UserServiceImpl.java — Service implementation
  • UserRepository.java — JPA repository
  • User.java — Entity
  • UserRequest.java / UserResponse.java — DTOs
  • UserMapper.java — Entity-DTO mapping
  • UserServiceTest.java — Unit tests with Mockito
  • UserControllerTest.java — Integration tests with MockMvc

Or generate individual components:

haft generate controller Product   # haft g co
haft generate service Order        # haft g s
haft generate repository Payment   # haft g repo
haft generate entity Customer      # haft g e
haft generate dto Invoice

4. Add Security​

# Interactive selection of security types
haft generate security

# Generate JWT authentication for REST APIs
haft generate security --jwt

# Generate session-based auth for web apps
haft generate security --session

# Generate OAuth2 (Google, GitHub, Facebook)
haft generate security --oauth2

This creates a complete security setup:

  • SecurityConfig.java - Spring Security configuration
  • JwtUtil.java - Token generation/validation (JWT)
  • AuthenticationController.java - Login/register endpoints
  • CustomUserDetailsService.java - User loading
  • DTOs for authentication requests/responses

5. Add Dependencies​

# Interactive search picker
haft add

# Browse by category
haft add --browse

# Add using shortcuts
haft add lombok validation jwt

# Add database driver
haft add postgresql

# List available shortcuts
haft add --list

6. Remove Dependencies​

# Interactive picker
haft remove

# Remove by name
haft remove lombok
haft rm h2 validation

# Remove using suffix matching
haft rm jpa   # Removes spring-boot-starter-data-jpa

7. Run Your Project​

# Maven
./mvnw spring-boot:run

# Gradle
./gradlew bootRun

That's it! You have a fully configured Spring Boot project with CRUD endpoints.

What's Next?​

Example: Non-Interactive Mode​

For CI/CD pipelines or scripting:

# Create project
haft init my-service \
  --group com.example \
  --java 21 \
  --spring 3.4.0 \
  --deps web,data-jpa,lombok,validation \
  --no-interactive

# Generate resources
cd my-service
haft generate resource User --no-interactive
haft generate resource Product --no-interactive

# Skip test generation
haft generate resource Order --skip-tests --no-interactive

# Force re-scan project (ignore cached profile)
haft generate resource Payment --refresh --no-interactive

# Or generate individual components
haft generate controller Order --no-interactive
haft generate entity Customer --no-interactive

Getting Help​

# General help
haft --help

# Command-specific help
haft init --help
haft generate --help
haft generate resource --help
haft generate controller --help
haft add --help
haft remove --help
haft completion --help

Enable Shell Completions​

Set up tab completions for a better experience:

# Bash
source <(haft completion bash)

# Zsh
source <(haft completion zsh)

# Fish
haft completion fish | source

# PowerShell
haft completion powershell | Out-String | Invoke-Expression

See haft completion for permanent installation instructions.

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