Hooking in Node.js to a Spring Boot web app

So, do we need our web app to use JavaScript? To be honest, what web app doesn’t need JavaScript? It’s only the de facto standard tool found in every web browser on the planet.

In case you didn’t know it, JavaScript is a completely different world when it comes to tools and app building. So, how do we cross this vast gulf between Java and JavaScript developer tooling?

In a nutshell, we need to enter the world of Node.js. And to our fortune, there is a Maven plugin that can bridge this gap for us, known as the Maven frontend plugin (frontend-maven-plugin).

This plugin unites Node.js actions with Maven’s lifecycles, allowing us to properly invoke Node.js at the right time to download packages and assemble JavaScript code into a bundle.

Of course, compiling and bundling a JavaScript payload is for naught if there was no way for Spring Boot to bring it online.

Thankfully, Spring Boot has a solution....