How to enable Spring Boot DevTools on IntelliJ IDEA

DevTools reloads your Spring Boot app automatically when you change your code. First, make sure you have the Spring Boot DevTools dependency in your pom.xml.

<dependency>
   <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
   <artifactId>spring-boot-devtools</artifactId>
   <scope>runtime</scope>
   <optional>true</optional>
</dependency>

Step 1 — Enable “Build project automatically”

Open Settings > Build, Execution, Deployment > Compiler.

IntelliJ IDEA Compiler settings with Build project automatically enabled

Step 2 — Open the Registry

Press Ctrl + Shift+ A, search for Registry, then press Enter.

Searching for Registry in IntelliJ IDEA

Step 3 — Enable auto make while the app is running

Find compiler.automake.allow.when.app.running and check the checkbox.

Enabling compiler.automake.allow.when.app.running in the Registry

That’s it!

Now make a change to your source code and press Ctrl + S.

IntelliJ IDEA will re-compile and update everything for you.

Happy Coding