Introduction

The Helidon CLI lets you easily create a Helidon project by picking from a set of archetypes. It also supports a developer loop that performs continuous compilation and application restart, so you can easily iterate over source code changes.

The CLI is distributed as a standalone executable (compiled using GraalVM) for ease of installation. It is currently available as a download for Linux, Mac and Windows. Simply download the binary, install it at a location accessible from your PATH and you’re ready to go.

Prerequisites

Table 1. Prerequisite product versions for Helidon 4.3.0-SNAPSHOT

Java SE 21 (Open JDK 21)

Helidon requires Java 21+ (25+ recommended).

Maven 3.8+

Helidon requires Maven 3.8+.

You should make sure java and mvn are in your path.

java -version
mvn --version

Installation

MacOS
curl -L -O https://helidon.io/cli/latest/darwin/helidon
chmod +x ./helidon
sudo mv ./helidon /usr/local/bin/

If you get a warning that "the developer cannot be verified" when running the CLI this is due to the Helidon CLI not being signed and notarized yet. You can disable this check by running: xattr -d com.apple.quarantine helidon

Linux
curl -L -O https://helidon.io/cli/latest/linux/helidon
chmod +x ./helidon
sudo mv ./helidon /usr/local/bin/
Windows
PowerShell -Command Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "https://helidon.io/cli/latest/windows/helidon.exe" -OutFile "C:\Windows\system32\helidon.exe"

For Windows you will also need the Visual C++ Redistributable Runtime. See Helidon on Windows for more information.

Verify CLI installation
helidon version

Create a New Project

helidon init

Then answer the questions.

Developer Loop

cd myproject
helidon dev

As you make source code changes the project will automatically recompile and restart your application.

Demo

CLI Demo