Getting Started

Goal

This snapshot advances Gearcart Market by teaching you to boot Spring Boot with Thymeleaf on port 8084.

Every numbered folder is a complete app. Run this stage independently, then compare it with the previous folder.

Prerequisites

Use JDK 17+, Maven, and Docker for MySQL stages.

Port 8084 must be free. Copy .env.example before database stages.

• JDK 17+
• Maven
• Docker from part 4 onward

Concepts

Spring Boot boots an HTTP server; Thymeleaf drives interactive storefront UI; Tailwind styles the chrome.

Thymeleaf renders server HTML; Spring Security owns the session; JPA repositories persist catalog and orders.

Walkthrough

Confirm the health endpoint and storefront home load together.

Read the example, then open the matching snapshot. The repository includes validation, CSRF, and the surrounding structure.

@GetMapping("/health")
Map<String, Object> health() { return Map.of("ok", true, "store", "Gearcart Market"); }

Run and verify

Enter 01-Getting-Started, copy .env.example, start Docker MySQL, and run ./mvnw spring-boot:run on port 8084.

Open http://127.0.0.1:8084. From data lessons onward, Ada and Grace use password123.

git clone https://github.com/michaeldunga1/fcc-spring-ecommerce.git
cd fcc-spring-ecommerce/01-Getting-Started
cp .env.example .env
./mvnw spring-boot:run

Troubleshooting

If the browser cannot connect, confirm the process is still listening on 8084.

For database failures, confirm Docker and the gear_NN name. Never commit .env, target/, or secrets.

• Read the first exception first
• Rebuild assets after Tailwind class changes
• Never commit secrets

Try this

Change the store name in config and confirm it appears on the home page.

Test a happy path and one invalid or unauthorized request.

• Make one small change
• Test it in the browser
• Compare with the next snapshot only after it works