graalvm-native-image

GraalVM Native Image for Java Applications

Expert skill for building high-performance native executables from Java applications using GraalVM Native Image, dramatically reducing startup time and memory consumption.

Overview

GraalVM Native Image compiles Java applications ahead-of-time (AOT) into standalone native executables. These executables start in milliseconds, require significantly less memory than JVM-based deployments, and are ideal for serverless functions, CLI tools, and microservices where fast startup and low resource usage are critical.

This skill provides a structured workflow to migrate JVM applications to native binaries, covering build tool configuration, framework-specific patterns, reflection metadata management, and an iterative approach to resolving native build failures.

When to Use

Use this skill when:

• Converting a JVM-based Java application to a GraalVM native executable
• Optimizing cold start times for serverless or containerized deployments
• Reducing memory footprint (RSS) of Java microservices
• Configuring Maven or Gradle with GraalVM Native Build Tools
• Resolving ClassNotFoundException, NoSuchMethodException, or missing resource errors in native builds
• Generating or editing reflect-config.json, resource-config.json, or other GraalVM metadata files
• Using the GraalVM tracing agent to collect reachability metadata
• Implementing RuntimeHints for Spring Boot native support
• Building native images with Quarkus or Micronaut

Instructions

1. Contextual Project Analysis

Before any configuration, analyze the project to determine the build tool, framework, and dependencies:

Detect the build tool:

# Check for Maven
if [ -f "pom.xml" ]; then
    echo "Build tool: Maven"
    # Check for Maven wrapper
    [ -f "mvnw" ] && echo "Maven wrapper available"
fi

# Check for Gradle
if [ -f "build.gradle" ] || [ -f "build.gradle.kts" ]; then
    echo "Build tool: Gradle"
    [ -f "build.gradle.kts" ] && echo "Kotlin DSL"
    [ -f "gradlew" ] && echo "Gradle wrapper available"
fi