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.

Helidon requires Java and Maven. You might also need Docker and Kubernetes depending on how you plan to deploy your services.

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

java -version
mvn --version

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

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

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.

helidon init

Then answer the questions.

cd myproject
helidon dev

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