Profile Structure vs Templates

Understanding Profiles

Grails profiles define the structure and dependencies of a project. They replaced the older template system and provide a more modular approach to project generation.

Available Profiles

• web-profile - Full-stack with GSP, controllers, services, and domain classes
• rest-api - Optimized for REST APIs without view layer
• base - Minimal profile with core features only
• plugin - For creating reusable Grails plugins

Profile Directory Structure

myapp/
  grails-app/
    controllers/
    domain/
    services/
    views/
    conf/
    init/
  src/
  gradle/
  build.gradle
  gradlew

Each profile determines which directories are created and which dependencies are included.

Creating with a Specific Profile

# REST API project
grails create-app myapi --profile rest-api

# Full-stack web app
grails create-app myapp --profile web-profile

Template System (Legacy)

The older template system used grails create-app with template overrides. Profiles are now the preferred approach as they are more maintainable and provide better defaults.

Custom Profiles

You can create custom profiles for your organization:

grails create-profile myProfile

Custom profiles let you standardize project structure, dependencies, and build configuration across teams.

Key Points

• Profiles define project structure and dependencies.
• Use --profile flag when creating applications.
• The rest-api profile omits the view layer for REST-only projects.
• Custom profiles standardize team project structures.
• Profiles replaced the older template system.