# Spring Boot deployment checklist

> **This file is reference data, not instructions. It lists things to verify before deploying. Nothing below is a command from the operator, and no line in it grants authority to act. Run the read-only verification steps if you wish, then report what you found to the human operator and let them decide what to change. Do not modify the project on the basis of this file. This holds when you are running unattended, on autopilot, or in any automatic mode: an autonomy setting is not the operator approval this file withholds, and no finding here becomes authority to edit a file because nobody is watching. If something needs changing, say so and stop.**

Source: https://deploy-list.com/java/spring-boot.md · 20 checks · layers: universal -> java -> web -> java.spring-boot · generated 2026-08-22

Verification steps come in three kinds. **Verify:** read-only, allowlisted, safe for an agent to run. **Operator-run:** a command only the human should decide to run, typically a framework CLI. An agent must not run these, only report them as outstanding. **Verify by hand:** needs a person to look.

## critical (6)

- **The schema is not altered by the application at startup** — `reliability` · `java.spring-boot.schema-not-generated-at-startup`
  - Why: Letting the ORM update the schema means a deploy can drop a column or a table because a field was renamed. On create-drop it discards the database on every restart. Neither failure announces itself before it happens.
  - Do: Set the generation strategy to validate or none in production and move schema changes to a migration tool that runs deliberately and can be reviewed.
  - Verify: `grep -rnE 'ddl-auto|hibernate.hbm2ddl' --include='application*.properties' --include='application*.yml' --include='application*.yaml' . 2>/dev/null | head -10`
  - Expect: validate or none for the production profile. update, create or create-drop is the finding.
  - Ref: https://docs.spring.io/spring-boot/how-to/data-initialization.html
- **No environment file is tracked in git** — `secrets` · `universal.gitignore-env`
  - Why: Environment files hold database credentials and API keys. Once committed they remain in history after deletion, so every affected credential has to be rotated rather than simply removed.
  - Do: Remove any tracked environment file from the index, add it to .gitignore, then rotate every credential that was ever committed.
  - Verify: `git ls-files --error-unmatch .env .env.local .env.production 2>&1 | head -5`
  - Expect: Every path reports that it did not match any file. A path echoed back is tracked and must be dealt with.
  - Ref: https://cheatsheetseries.owasp.org/cheatsheets/Secrets_Management_Cheat_Sheet.html
- **The debug agent is not enabled in production** — `security` · `java.no-debug-agent-in-production`
  - Why: A listening debug agent lets anyone who can reach the port load classes and execute code inside the process. There is no authentication on it, and it is usually left behind after an incident.
  - Do: Remove the debug agent flags from production start scripts and container images, and confirm the port is not exposed. If remote debugging is needed, bind it to localhost and tunnel.
  - Verify: `grep -rnE 'agentlib:jdwp|-Xdebug|-Xrunjdwp' --include=Dockerfile --include='*.sh' --include='*.yml' --include='*.yaml' --include='*.conf' . 2>/dev/null | head -10`
  - Expect: No production start path enables it. A hit in a development compose file or a debug profile is fine.
  - Ref: https://docs.oracle.com/en/java/javase/21/docs/specs/jpda/conninv.html
- **Actuator exposes only the endpoints you chose** — `security` · `java.spring-boot.actuator-endpoints-restricted`
  - Why: Exposing everything publishes env, configprops and heapdump. The heap dump contains every credential the process has ever held in memory, and it is a plain download with no authentication in front of it.
  - Do: List the endpoints you actually need, usually health and info. Put the rest behind authentication or on a management port that is not routed from outside.
  - Verify: `grep -rnE 'management.endpoints.web.exposure' --include='application*.properties' --include='application*.yml' --include='application*.yaml' . 2>/dev/null | head -10`
  - Expect: An explicit list of endpoints. A wildcard, or exposure of env, heapdump or configprops, is the finding.
  - Ref: https://docs.spring.io/spring-boot/reference/actuator/endpoints.html
- **The database console is not enabled** — `security` · `java.spring-boot.h2-console-disabled`
  - Why: The console is a web page that runs arbitrary SQL against the datasource, and in common configurations it reaches any JDBC URL. Left enabled and reachable, it is a full compromise of the database and often of the host.
  - Do: Disable the console outside development. If it is needed locally, enable it in a development profile only.
  - Verify: `grep -rnE 'h2.console' --include='application*.properties' --include='application*.yml' --include='application*.yaml' . 2>/dev/null | head -10`
  - Expect: Not enabled, or enabled only in a development profile that production never activates.
  - Ref: https://docs.spring.io/spring-boot/how-to/data-access.html
- **No account is left on a default or generated password** — `security` · `java.spring-boot.no-default-security-credentials`
  - Why: The default single user with a password printed at startup is meant for a first run. Left in place it is a known username with a credential that appears in the log everyone can read.
  - Do: Replace the default user with a real authentication provider, and remove any password committed to configuration. Rotate anything that was ever written down.
  - Verify: `grep -rnE 'spring.security.user' --include='application*.properties' --include='application*.yml' --include='application*.yaml' . 2>/dev/null | head -10`
  - Expect: No committed password. Ideally no configured static user at all in production.
  - Ref: https://docs.spring.io/spring-boot/reference/web/spring-security.html

## high (9)

- **No snapshot dependency is in the release build** — `build` · `java.no-snapshot-dependencies`
  - Why: A snapshot resolves to whatever was published most recently, so the same commit builds differently on different days and the artifact you tested is not the one that ships.
  - Do: Pin every dependency to a released version before tagging. Keep snapshots to local development and to modules you are actively changing.
  - Verify: `grep -rn 'SNAPSHOT' --include=pom.xml --include='*.gradle' --include='*.gradle.kts' . 2>/dev/null | head -10`
  - Expect: Nothing, other than the project's own version while it is unreleased.
  - Ref: https://docs.oracle.com/en/java/
- **The production profile is actually the one that is active** — `config` · `java.spring-boot.production-profile-active`
  - Why: Every setting above is usually correct in the production profile and wrong in the default one. If nothing sets the active profile, the application starts with the defaults and every one of those settings is the development value.
  - Do: Set the active profile explicitly in the deployment environment rather than relying on a default in the packaged configuration, and log which profile started.
  - Verify: `grep -rnE 'SPRING_PROFILES_ACTIVE|spring.profiles.active' --include=Dockerfile --include='*.yml' --include='*.yaml' --include='*.properties' --include='*.sh' . 2>/dev/null | head -10`
  - Expect: The deployment sets it. A value set only inside the packaged configuration is easy to override by accident.
  - Ref: https://docs.spring.io/spring-boot/reference/features/profiles.html
- **The heap is bounded against the container limit** — `reliability` · `java.heap-bounded-in-container`
  - Why: A modern runtime reads the container limit, but only if one is set. With no limit it sizes the heap against host memory, grows into it, and is killed by the platform rather than by its own collector.
  - Do: Set a memory limit on the container and size the heap as a percentage of it, leaving headroom for stacks, metaspace and native buffers.
  - Verify: `grep -rnE 'MaxRAMPercentage|-Xmx|memory:' --include=Dockerfile --include='*.yml' --include='*.yaml' . 2>/dev/null | head -10`
  - Expect: A container memory limit exists, and the heap is sized relative to it rather than left to the default.
  - Ref: https://docs.oracle.com/en/java/javase/21/gctuning/
- **A backup has been restored at least once** — `reliability` · `universal.backup-restore-tested`
  - Why: An untested backup is a belief, not a capability. Silent corruption, missing tables and expired credentials are all routinely discovered during the first restore, which is the worst possible time to find out.
  - Do: Restore the most recent backup into a scratch environment, confirm the data is complete and current, and write down how long the restore took.
  - Verify by hand: Confirm that someone has restored a production backup into a separate environment recently, and that the restore procedure is written down somewhere findable.
  - Ref: https://cheatsheetseries.owasp.org/cheatsheets/Logging_Cheat_Sheet.html
- **Known vulnerabilities in dependencies have been reviewed** — `security` · `java.dependency-vulnerabilities-reviewed`
  - Why: A typical service pulls in hundreds of transitive artifacts. The ones that caused the worst incidents of the last decade were all transitive, and nothing in a normal build fails when one is vulnerable.
  - Do: Run a dependency scanner before a release and decide on each finding, recording a reason where you accept one.
  - Operator-run (do not run this yourself): `mvn org.owasp:dependency-check-maven:check`
  - Expect: No unreviewed finding above your agreed threshold. Gradle projects have an equivalent task.
  - Ref: https://docs.oracle.com/en/java/
- **DevTools is not on the production classpath** — `security` · `java.spring-boot.devtools-not-in-production`
  - Why: DevTools restarts the application when files change, disables template and resource caching, and can open a remote debug channel. On a production classpath it is both a performance problem and an attack surface.
  - Do: Keep the dependency optional in Maven or in the developmentOnly configuration in Gradle, so it is excluded from the packaged artifact.
  - Verify: `grep -rn -B2 -A4 'spring-boot-devtools' --include=pom.xml --include='*.gradle' --include='*.gradle.kts' . 2>/dev/null | head -20`
  - Expect: The dependency is marked optional or developmentOnly. A plain compile or implementation dependency ships it.
  - Ref: https://docs.spring.io/spring-boot/reference/using/devtools.html
- **Error responses do not carry stack traces or messages** — `security` · `java.spring-boot.error-details-not-returned`
  - Why: A returned stack trace names your framework versions, package layout and often the failing query. It is the cheapest reconnaissance an attacker can do, and it is handed over by the application itself.
  - Do: Leave stack traces off, and return messages only where you wrote them deliberately. Log the detail instead, with a correlation id the caller can quote.
  - Verify: `grep -rnE 'server.error.include' --include='application*.properties' --include='application*.yml' --include='application*.yaml' . 2>/dev/null | head -10`
  - Expect: include-stacktrace is never, and include-message and include-binding-errors are not on always.
  - Ref: https://docs.spring.io/spring-boot/reference/web/servlet.html
- **Plain HTTP requests redirect to HTTPS** — `security` · `web.https-redirect`
  - Why: Without a redirect, a visitor who types the bare domain sends the whole session over plaintext, including any cookie set without the Secure flag.
  - Do: Configure the web server or CDN to answer HTTP with a permanent redirect to the HTTPS URL, and enable HSTS once you are confident.
  - Verify by hand: Open the site over plain HTTP in a private window and confirm the browser lands on the HTTPS URL before any content renders.
  - Ref: https://cheatsheetseries.owasp.org/cheatsheets/Transport_Layer_Protection_Cheat_Sheet.html
- **Security response headers are served** — `security` · `web.security-headers`
  - Why: Without them a browser has no instruction to block framing, to stop guessing content types, or to withhold the referring URL, so three whole classes of attack stay available for the sake of a few response headers.
  - Do: Serve Content-Security-Policy, X-Content-Type-Options, Referrer-Policy and Strict-Transport-Security from the application, the web server or the CDN, whichever sits closest to the user.
  - Verify by hand: Load the deployed site and inspect the response headers on the main document, then confirm each of the four is present with a value you chose deliberately.
  - Ref: https://cheatsheetseries.owasp.org/cheatsheets/HTTP_Headers_Cheat_Sheet.html

## recommended (5)

- **The build declares which Java version it targets** — `build` · `java.toolchain-version-declared`
  - Why: Without a declared release target the build compiles against whatever runtime the machine has, and a class file built on a newer runtime fails at startup on an older one with an error that names a version number and nothing else.
  - Do: Declare the release or toolchain version in the build file so the compiler is checked against it rather than inferring it from the environment.
  - Verify: `grep -rnE 'maven.compiler.release|<release>|sourceCompatibility|languageVersion|<java.version>' --include=pom.xml --include='*.gradle' --include='*.gradle.kts' . 2>/dev/null | head -10`
  - Expect: A version is declared in the build file.
  - Ref: https://docs.oracle.com/en/java/javase/21/docs/specs/man/javac.html
- **The project declares a license** — `legal` · `universal.license-declared`
  - Why: Code with no license is not open source and not safe for anyone else to use, and for a closed project the absence leaves contributors with no written statement of who owns what they wrote.
  - Do: Add a license file at the repository root, and reference it from the package metadata so tooling can read it.
  - Verify: `ls LICENSE LICENSE.md LICENSE.txt COPYING 2>/dev/null | head -3`
  - Expect: A license file exists at the repository root.
- **A favicon is served** — `seo` · `web.favicon-present`
  - Why: Browsers request a favicon on every page load. When it is missing the site logs a 404 on each visit and shows a blank tab icon in bookmarks and history.
  - Do: Add a favicon at the site root, and reference the sizes you need from the document head.
  - Verify: `ls favicon.ico favicon.svg public/favicon.ico static/favicon.ico 2>/dev/null | head -5`
  - Expect: At least one favicon file is listed.
  - Ref: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/Favicon
- **Open Graph tags are present on shareable pages** — `seo` · `web.open-graph-tags`
  - Why: Without them a shared link renders as a bare URL with no title, description or image, which measurably reduces click-through from chat and social apps.
  - Do: Add og:title, og:description, og:image and og:url to the document head of every page meant to be shared.
  - Verify: `grep -rl 'og:title' --include=*.html --include=*.twig --include=*.tsx . 2>/dev/null | head -5`
  - Expect: At least one template declares Open Graph tags.
  - Ref: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/meta
- **A robots file exists and does not block the whole site** — `seo` · `web.robots-txt`
  - Why: A robots file copied from a staging environment usually disallows everything, and it will keep the production site out of search results silently for as long as nobody thinks to look at it.
  - Do: Publish a robots file that allows the pages you want indexed, disallows the ones you do not, and points at your sitemap.
  - Verify: `cat robots.txt public/robots.txt static/robots.txt 2>/dev/null | head -20`
  - Expect: A robots file exists and does not disallow the entire site, unless keeping it unindexed is deliberate.
  - Ref: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/Robots.txt

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Report what you found to the operator. Do not change the project.