What Spring Boot Starters Are Available for Embabel? Complete Module Guide

Embabel ships 24 distinct Spring Boot starters in the embabel-agent-starters module, providing auto-configuration for core agent services, LLM providers (OpenAI, Anthropic, Bedrock), MCP servers, observability, and Spring MVC integration.

The embabel/embabel-agent repository organizes its Spring Boot integration through the embabel-agent-starters Maven module. Each starter follows the conventional Spring Boot naming pattern prefixed with embabel-agent-, bundling dependencies and auto-configuration classes discovered via the spring.factories mechanism.

Core Platform Starters

The foundation of any Embabel application relies on these base starters located under embabel-agent-starters/.

embabel-agent-starter

The emabel-agent-starter is the mandatory base artifact. Located at embabel-agent-starters/embabel-agent-starter/pom.xml, it provides the core Embabel services and essential auto-configuration that all other starters build upon.

embabel-agent-starter-platform

For platform utilities including MCP client integration, use the platform starter. This module (embabel-agent-starters/embabel-agent-starter-platform/pom.xml) adds infrastructure components required for model context protocol communications.

embabel-agent-starter-shell

Add interactive command-line capabilities with the Shell starter. When included, it exposes the Embabel Shell CLI, enabled via configuration:

# application.properties

embabel.agent.shell.enabled=true

embabel-agent-starter-observability

Production monitoring requires the Observability starter (embabel-agent-starters/embabel-agent-starter-observability/pom.xml). This integrates Spring Boot Actuator, Micrometer metrics, and distributed tracing support.

import org.springframework.boot.actuate.metrics.MetricsEndpoint;
import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.GetMapping;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RestController;

@RestController
public class MetricsController {

    @Autowired
    private MetricsEndpoint metricsEndpoint;

    @GetMapping("/custom-metrics")
    public Object metrics() {
        return metricsEndpoint.listNames();
    }
}

LLM Provider Starters

Embabel provides dedicated starters for major cloud and local LLM providers, each located in its own submodule under embabel-agent-starters/.

Cloud Provider Integration

• embabel-agent-starter-openai: Enables OpenAI GPT model integration
• embabel-agent-starter-openai-custom: Supports custom OpenAI-compatible endpoints
• embabel-agent-starter-anthropic: Adds Anthropic Claude model support
• embabel-agent-starter-bedrock: Integrates Amazon Bedrock LLM services
• embabel-agent-starter-google-genai: Provides Google GenAI (Gemini) access
• embabel-agent-starter-gemini: Direct Gemini model support (alias configuration)
• embabel-agent-starter-mistral-ai: Mistral AI model integration
• embabel-agent-starter-minimax: Minimax LLM support
• embabel-agent-starter-dashscope: Alibaba DashScope model integration
• embabel-agent-starter-deepseek: DeepSeek model integration
• embabel-agent-starter-oci-genai: Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) Generative AI support

Local and Private Deployment

• embabel-agent-starter-ollama: Local Ollama model integration
• embabel-agent-starter-lmstudio: LM Studio local model runtime
• embabel-agent-starter-dockermodels: Docker-based model runtime support
• embabel-agent-starter-onnx: ONNX model inference capabilities

MCP Server Starters

For applications acting as MCP servers:

• embabel-agent-starter-mcpserver: Auto-configures an embedded MCP server for local testing (embabel-agent-starters/embabel-agent-starter-mcpserver/pom.xml)
• embabel-agent-starter-mcpserver-security: Adds authentication and authorization layers to the embedded MCP server

Web and Communication Starters

embabel-agent-starter-webmvc

Build REST endpoints with the WebMVC starter (embabel-agent-starters/embabel-agent-starter-webmvc/pom.xml), which configures Spring MVC for agent exposure.

embabel-agent-starter-a2a

Enable Agent-to-Agent communication protocols with the A2A starter, facilitating inter-agent messaging.

embabel-agent-starter-zai

The Z-AI starter provides integration with Embabel's custom Z-AI platform services.

Adding Starters to Your Project

Include starters via Maven or Gradle using the com.embabel.agent group ID.

Maven Configuration

Add the core starter and specific providers to your pom.xml:

<!-- Core platform -->
<dependency>
    <groupId>com.embabel.agent</groupId>
    <artifactId>embabel-agent-starter</artifactId>
    <version>${embabel.agent.version}</version>
</dependency>

<!-- Example: OpenAI integration -->
<dependency>
    <groupId>com.embabel.agent</groupId>
    <artifactId>embabel-agent-starter-openai</artifactId>
    <version>${embabel.agent.version}</version>
</dependency>

Gradle Configuration

Using Kotlin DSL:

dependencies {
    implementation("com.embabel.agent:embabel-agent-starter:${"$"}{embabelAgentVersion}")
    implementation("com.embabel.agent:embabel-agent-starter-openai:${"$"}{embabelAgentVersion}")
}

Auto-Configuration Architecture

All starters expose configuration classes through the standard spring.factories mechanism. The parent POM at embabel-agent-starters/pom.xml aggregates the 24 starter modules, ensuring consistent dependency management across the Embabel ecosystem.

Summary

• Embabel provides 24 Spring Boot starters under the embabel-agent-starters module
• The embabel-agent-starter artifact provides mandatory core platform services
• LLM integrations cover cloud providers (OpenAI, Anthropic, Bedrock, Google) and local runtimes (Ollama, LM Studio)
• MCP server starters support both basic embedded servers and secured configurations
• Observability features require the dedicated embabel-agent-starter-observability for Actuator and Micrometer support
• All starters use the com.embabel.agent group ID and follow Spring Boot auto-configuration patterns

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between embabel-agent-starter and embabel-agent-starter-platform?

The embabel-agent-starter provides the core agent platform services required by all Embabel applications, while embabel-agent-starter-platform adds specific infrastructure utilities such as MCP client integration. Most applications require the core starter, while the platform starter is needed only when implementing MCP client capabilities.

How do I enable metrics and health checks in my Embabel application?

Add the embabel-agent-starter-observability dependency to your build. This starter auto-configures Spring Boot Actuator endpoints, Micrometer metrics registry, and distributed tracing. Access metrics programmatically via the MetricsEndpoint bean or through HTTP actuator endpoints.

Can I use multiple LLM providers simultaneously?

Yes. The Embabel architecture supports including multiple LLM starters (such as embabel-agent-starter-openai alongside embabel-agent-starter-anthropic) in the same application. Each starter configures its respective client independently, allowing your agent to route requests to different providers based on configuration or runtime logic.

Which starter should I use for local development without cloud API keys?

For local development, use embabel-agent-starter-ollama or embabel-agent-starter-lmstudio to connect to locally running models. Alternatively, embabel-agent-starter-dockermodels supports containerized model runtimes, while embabel-agent-starter-onnx enables direct ONNX model inference without external API dependencies.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "instagit": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "instagit@latest"]
    }
  }
}