How to Fix Spring Shell Closing Immediately in IDE – Complete Guide

Introduction

Running a Spring Shell application in your IDE, but it shuts down right after startup? You’re not alone. This issue is especially common in environments like IntelliJ IDEA, Eclipse, or Spring Tool Suite, where terminal behavior differs from standard command-line interfaces.

The root cause lies in how Spring Shell, powered by the JLine library, handles terminal interactions. In this guide, we’ll break down why Spring Shell exits immediately and walk you through the best solutions to keep it running and responsive.

Why Spring Shell Exits Instantly in IDEs

Spring Shell depends on JLine to manage terminal input/output. However, many IDEs don’t fully support terminal emulation. This leads the application to mistakenly interpret an EOF (End-of-File) signal, causing it to shut down prematurely instead of waiting for user input.

Fix 1: Configure JVM Terminal Settings

You can override the default terminal behavior by providing custom JVM arguments based on your operating system.

For macOS/Linux:

-Djline.terminal=org.springframework.shell.core.IdeTerminal

For Windows:

-Djline.WindowsTerminal.directConsole=false
-Djline.terminal=jline.UnsupportedTerminal

How to Apply These Settings:

• IntelliJ / Spring Tool Suite / Eclipse:
  • Go to Run Configurations or Edit Configurations
  • Locate the VM Options section
  • Paste the appropriate flags based on your OS
• Visual Studio Code:
  • Open your launch.json
  • Add the arguments under the vmArgs section

Fix 2: Gradle Configuration for Interactive Shell

If you’re using Gradle to build your project, make sure the shell app can receive standard input:

// In build.gradle
bootRun {
    standardInput = System.in
}

Then run your app using:

./gradlew bootRun

This ensures the terminal stays open for user interaction.

Fix 3: Run as a JAR in Native Terminal

Instead of running from the IDE, you can package the app and run it directly via the terminal:

./gradlew build
java -jar build/libs/your-app.jar

This avoids the IDE’s terminal limitations altogether.

Best Practices for Spring Shell Development

• ✅ Test in Both IDE and CLI: Make sure your shell behaves as expected in different environments.
• 🔄 Keep Dependencies Updated: Use the latest Spring Shell version to benefit from recent fixes.
• 🐞 Enable Debug Logging: Helpful for diagnosing JLine or terminal-related issues.

Troubleshooting FAQs

• Q: My @CliCommand methods still don’t work. What gives?
  A: Ensure the class is scanned properly—annotate with @Component and check your @ComponentScan settings.
• Q: Any terminal emulators recommended for Windows?
  A: Yes! Try Windows Terminal, ConEmu, or Cmder for better compatibility with CLI-based apps.

Conclusion

The Spring Shell prompt exiting immediately is a common but solvable challenge when working within an IDE. Whether it’s tweaking JVM settings, adjusting Gradle config, or running your app from the terminal, each of these fixes ensures a smoother development experience.

Want to dive deeper? Check out our full Spring Shell CLI Development Guide.

Keywords: Spring Shell closes immediately, Spring Shell prompt fix, Spring CLI EOF issue, Gradle bootRun input, JLine terminal setup, Spring Shell IntelliJ terminal problem

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Let me know if you’d like a version tailored specifically for IntelliJ users or as a tutorial blog post with screenshots!