Grails Developer

What I Do

• Provide detailed guidance for building current Grails web applications and REST APIs.
• Assist with GORM for data modeling, controllers for request handling, services for business logic, and views (GSP, JSON, Markup).
• Support testing with Spock 2.4 (unit/integration tests) and Geb for browser automation.
• Guide plugin usage and development, security implementation, and deployment strategies.
• Help with configuration, internationalization, async programming, and performance optimization.

When to Use Me

Activate this skill when developing with current Grails, including:

• Building CRUD applications, RESTful APIs, or full-stack web applications.
• Working with GORM domain classes, constraints, and relationships.
• Creating controllers, services, interceptors, or tag libraries.
• Writing Spock specifications or Geb functional tests.
• Configuring plugins, security, caching, or database migrations.
• Deploying Grails applications to containers or cloud platforms.

Technology Stack

Current Grails is built on:

• Spring Boot: 4.1.x
• Spring Framework: 7.0.x
• Groovy: 5.1.x
• Gradle: 9.6.x
• Spock: 2.4-groovy-5.0
• Jakarta EE: 10 (migrated from javax.*)
• Micronaut: Optional via grails-micronaut plugin

Project Structure

myapp/
├── grails-app/
│   ├── conf/                 # Configuration
│   │   ├── application.yml   # Main config
│   │   ├── logback-spring.xml # Logging config
│   │   └── spring/resources.groovy # Spring bean definitions
│   ├── controllers/          # Request handlers
│   ├── domain/               # GORM domain classes
│   ├── i18n/                 # Message bundles
│   ├── init/                 # Bootstrap classes
│   ├── services/             # Business logic
│   ├── taglib/               # Custom GSP tags
│   ├── utils/                # Utility classes
│   └── views/                # GSP templates
├── src/
│   ├── main/groovy/          # Additional Groovy classes
│   ├── main/java/            # Java classes
│   ├── test/groovy/          # Test specifications
│   └── integration-test/groovy/ # Integration test specifications
├── build.gradle              # Build configuration
└── gradle.properties         # Project properties

Domain Classes (GORM)

Basic Domain Class

class Book {
    String title
    String author
    Date datePublished
    Integer pages

    static constraints = {
        title blank: false, maxSize: 255
        author blank: false
        datePublished nullable: true
        pages min: 1, nullable: true
    }

    static mapping = {
        table 'books'
        title column: 'book_title'
        datePublished type: 'date'
    }
}

Relationships

class Author {
    String name

    static hasMany = [books: Book]

    static mapping = {
        books cascade: 'all-delete-orphan'
    }
}

class Book {
    String title

    static belongsTo = [author: Author]
}

// Many-to-Many
class Book {
    static hasMany = [categories: Category]
    static belongsTo = Category
}

class Category {
    String name
    static hasMany = [books: Book]
}

GORM Queries

// Dynamic finders
Book.findByTitle("Grails Guide")
Book.findAllByAuthorLike("%Smith%")
Book.findByTitleAndAuthor("Guide", "Smith")
Book.countByPagesGreaterThan(100)

// Where queries
Book.where {
    title =~ "%Grails%" && pages > 100
}.list()

// Criteria queries
Book.withCriteria {
    like('title', '%Grails%')
    gt('pages', 100)
    order('datePublished', 'desc')
    maxResults(10)
}

// HQL queries
Book.executeQuery(
    "from Book b where b.author.name = :name",
    [name: 'Smith']
)

// Detached criteria (reusable)
def criteria = Book.where {
    pages > 100
}
criteria.list()
criteria.count()

Transactions

// In services (default transactional)
@Transactional
class BookService {
    def saveBook(Book book) {
        book.save(failOnError: true)
    }
}

// Manual transaction control
Book.withTransaction { status ->
    def book = new Book(title: "Test")
    book.save()
    if (someCondition) {
        status.setRollbackOnly()
    }
}

Controllers

Basic Controller

class BookController {

    BookService bookService

    static allowedMethods = [save: 'POST', update: 'PUT', delete: 'DELETE']

    def index() {
        respond Book.list(), model: [bookCount: Book.count()]
    }

    def show(Long id) {
        respond Book.get(id)
    }

    def create() {
        respond new Book(params)
    }

    def save(Book book) {
        if (book.hasErrors()) {
            respond book.errors, view: 'create'
            return
        }
        bookService.save(book)
        redirect action: 'show', id: book.id
    }

    def edit(Long id) {
        respond Book.get(id)
    }

    def update(Book book) {
        if (book.hasErrors()) {
            respond book.errors, view: 'edit'
            return
        }
        bookService.save(book)
        redirect action: 'show', id: book.id
    }

    def delete(Long id) {
        bookService.delete(id)
        redirect action: 'index'
    }
}

REST Controller

import grails.rest.RestfulController

class BookController extends RestfulController<Book> {

    static responseFormats = ['json', 'xml']

    BookController() {
        super(Book)
    }

    // Override to customize
    @Override
    protected Book queryForResource(Serializable id) {
        Book.where { id == id && active == true }.find()
    }
}

Command Objects

class BookCommand implements Validateable {
    String title
    String author
    Integer pages

    static constraints = {
        title blank: false
        author blank: false
        pages min: 1, nullable: true
    }
}

class BookController {
    def save(BookCommand cmd) {
        if (cmd.hasErrors()) {
            respond cmd.errors
            return
        }
        // Process valid command
    }
}

Content Negotiation

class BookController {
    def show(Long id) {
        def book = Book.get(id)
        respond book  // Auto-negotiates based on Accept header
    }
}

// Or explicit
def show(Long id) {
    def book = Book.get(id)
    withFormat {
        html { render view: 'show', model: [book: book] }
        json { render book as JSON }
        xml { render book as XML }
    }
}

Services

Basic Service

import grails.gorm.transactions.Transactional

@Transactional
class BookService {

    def findByTitle(String title) {
        Book.findByTitle(title)
    }

    def save(Book book) {
        book.save(failOnError: true)
    }

    @Transactional(readOnly = true)
    def list(Map params) {
        Book.list(params)
    }

    def delete(Long id) {
        Book.get(id)?.delete()
    }
}

Service with Events

import grails.events.annotation.Publisher
import grails.events.annotation.Subscriber

class BookService {

    @Publisher
    def save(Book book) {
        book.save()
        // Automatically publishes 'book.saved' event
    }
}

class NotificationService {

    @Subscriber('book.saved')
    def onBookSaved(Book book) {
        // Handle event
        log.info "Book saved: ${book.title}"
    }
}

Async Service

import grails.async.Promise
import static grails.async.Promises.*

class BookService {

    Promise<Book> findAsync(Long id) {
        task {
            Book.get(id)
        }
    }

    def processBooks() {
        def p1 = task { Book.findAllByActive(true) }
        def p2 = task { Author.list() }

        waitAll(p1, p2)
        // Both complete
    }
}

Views

GSP (Groovy Server Pages)

<!-- grails-app/views/book/list.gsp -->
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
    <title>Books</title>
    <asset:stylesheet src="application.css"/>
</head>
<body>
    <h1>Books (${bookCount})</h1>

    <g:each in="${bookList}" var="book">
        <div class="book">
            <h2>${book.title}</h2>
            <p>By ${book.author}</p>
            <g:link action="show" id="${book.id}">View</g:link>
        </div>
    </g:each>

    <g:if test="${bookList.empty}">
        <p>No books found.</p>
    </g:if>

    <g:paginate total="${bookCount}"/>

    <asset:javascript src="application.js"/>
</body>
</html>

Common GSP Tags

<!-- Links -->
<g:link controller="book" action="show" id="${book.id}">View</g:link>
<g:createLink action="list"/>

<!-- Forms -->
<g:form action="save">
    <g:textField name="title" value="${book?.title}"/>
    <g:textArea name="description" value="${book?.description}"/>
    <g:select name="category" from="${categories}" optionKey="id" optionValue="name"/>
    <g:checkBox name="active" value="${book?.active}"/>
    <g:submitButton name="submit" value="Save"/>
</g:form>

<!-- Conditionals -->
<g:if test="${condition}">...</g:if>
<g:elseif test="${other}">...</g:elseif>
<g:else>...</g:else>

<!-- Iteration -->
<g:each in="${items}" var="item" status="i">
    ${i}: ${item.name}
</g:each>

<!-- Rendering -->
<g:render template="bookRow" model="[book: book]"/>
<g:render template="bookRow" collection="${books}" var="book"/>

<!-- Security (with Spring Security plugin) -->
<sec:ifLoggedIn>Welcome, ${sec.username()}</sec:ifLoggedIn>
<sec:ifNotLoggedIn><g:link controller="login">Login</g:link></sec:ifNotLoggedIn>

JSON Views

// grails-app/views/book/show.gson
import myapp.Book

model {
    Book book
}

json {
    id book.id
    title book.title
    author book.author
    datePublished book.datePublished?.format('yyyy-MM-dd')
    _links {
        self {
            href "/books/${book.id}"
        }
    }
}

Layouts

<!-- grails-app/views/layouts/main.gsp -->
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
    <title><g:layoutTitle default="My App"/></title>
    <asset:stylesheet src="application.css"/>
    <g:layoutHead/>
</head>
<body>
    <nav><!-- Navigation --></nav>
    <main>
        <g:layoutBody/>
    </main>
    <footer><!-- Footer --></footer>
    <asset:javascript src="application.js"/>
</body>
</html>

<!-- Use in views -->
<html>
<head>
    <meta name="layout" content="main"/>
    <title>Books</title>
</head>
<body>
    <!-- Page content -->
</body>
</html>

Interceptors

class AuthInterceptor {

    AuthInterceptor() {
        matchAll()
            .excludes(controller: 'login')
            .excludes(controller: 'error')
    }

    boolean before() {
        if (!session.user) {
            redirect(controller: 'login')
            return false
        }
        true
    }

    boolean after() {
        // After action executes
        true
    }

    void afterView() {
        // After view renders
    }
}

Tag Libraries

class BookTagLib {

    static namespace = 'book'
    static defaultEncodeAs = [taglib: 'html']

    def formatTitle = { attrs, body ->
        def title = attrs.title ?: body()
        out << "<span class='book-title'>${title}</span>"
    }

    def ifHasBooks = { attrs, body ->
        if (Book.count() > 0) {
            out << body()
        }
    }
}

// Usage in GSP
<book:formatTitle title="${book.title}"/>
<book:ifHasBooks>
    <p>We have books!</p>
</book:ifHasBooks>

Configuration

application.yml

grails:
    profile: web
    codegen:
        defaultPackage: myapp
    gorm:
        reactor:
            events: false
    mime:
        types:
            json: ['application/json', 'text/json']
            xml: ['text/xml', 'application/xml']

environments:
    development:
        dataSource:
            dbCreate: create-drop
            url: jdbc:h2:mem:devDb
    test:
        dataSource:
            dbCreate: update
            url: jdbc:h2:mem:testDb
    production:
        dataSource:
            dbCreate: none
            url: jdbc:postgresql://localhost/myapp
            driverClassName: org.postgresql.Driver
            dialect: org.hibernate.dialect.PostgreSQLDialect
            properties:
                jmxEnabled: true
                initialSize: 5
                maxActive: 50

server:
    port: 8080
    servlet:
        context-path: /myapp

URL Mappings

// grails-app/controllers/myapp/UrlMappings.groovy
class UrlMappings {

    static mappings = {
        // Default
        "/$controller/$action?/$id?(.$format)?" {
            constraints {
                // apply constraints here
            }
        }

        // REST resources
        "/api/books"(resources: 'book')

        // Custom mappings
        "/books/$id"(controller: 'book', action: 'show')
        "/search"(controller: 'book', action: 'search')

        // Named URL mappings
        name bookShow: "/books/$id" {
            controller = 'book'
            action = 'show'
        }

        // Error pages
        "500"(view: '/error')
        "404"(view: '/notFound')
    }
}

Testing with Spock

Unit Test - Controller

import grails.testing.web.controllers.ControllerUnitTest
import spock.lang.Specification

class BookControllerSpec extends Specification
        implements ControllerUnitTest<BookController> {

    def setup() {
        controller.bookService = Mock(BookService)
    }

    void "index returns list of books"() {
        given:
        def books = [new Book(title: "Test")]
        controller.bookService.list(_) >> books

        when:
        controller.index()

        then:
        model.bookList == books
        view == '/book/index'
    }

    void "show returns 404 for missing book"() {
        when:
        controller.show(999)

        then:
        response.status == 404
    }
}

Unit Test - Service

import grails.testing.services.ServiceUnitTest
import spock.lang.Specification

class BookServiceSpec extends Specification
        implements ServiceUnitTest<BookService> {

    void "save persists book"() {
        given:
        def book = new Book(title: "Test", author: "Author")

        when:
        def result = service.save(book)

        then:
        result.id != null
        Book.count() == 1
    }
}

Unit Test - Domain

import grails.testing.gorm.DomainUnitTest
import spock.lang.Specification

class BookSpec extends Specification
        implements DomainUnitTest<Book> {

    void "title cannot be blank"() {
        when:
        domain.title = ""
        domain.author = "Test"

        then:
        !domain.validate(['title'])
        domain.errors['title'].code == 'blank'
    }

    void "valid book passes validation"() {
        when:
        domain.title = "Valid Title"
        domain.author = "Author"

        then:
        domain.validate()
    }
}

Integration Test

import grails.testing.mixin.integration.Integration
import grails.gorm.transactions.Rollback
import spock.lang.Specification

@Integration
@Rollback
class BookServiceIntegrationSpec extends Specification {

    BookService bookService

    void "save and retrieve book"() {
        given:
        def book = new Book(title: "Integration Test", author: "Tester")

        when:
        bookService.save(book)
        def found = Book.findByTitle("Integration Test")

        then:
        found != null
        found.author == "Tester"
    }
}

Functional Test with Geb

import geb.spock.ContainerGebSpec
import grails.testing.mixin.integration.Integration

@Integration
class BookFunctionalSpec extends ContainerGebSpec {

    void "can view book list"() {
        when:
        go '/book/index'

        then:
        title == 'Book List'
        $('h1').text() == 'Books'
    }

    void "can create new book"() {
        when:
        go '/book/create'
        $('form').title = 'New Book'
        $('form').author = 'Test Author'
        $('input[type=submit]').click()

        then:
        $('h1').text().contains('New Book')
    }
}

Plugins

Common Plugins

// build.gradle

// Spring Security
implementation 'org.apache.grails.plugins:grails-spring-security-core:7.0.1'

// Database Migration (Liquibase)
implementation 'org.apache.grails.plugins:grails-database-migration:5.0.1'

// Caching
implementation 'org.apache.grails.plugins:grails-cache:7.0.0'

// Async support
implementation 'org.apache.grails.plugins:grails-async:7.0.0'

// Fields plugin for form rendering
implementation 'org.apache.grails.plugins:grails-fields:7.0.0'

// Asset Pipeline
runtimeOnly 'com.bertramlabs.plugins:asset-pipeline-grails:5.0.8'

Spring Security Configuration

// grails-app/conf/application.groovy
grails.plugin.springsecurity.userLookup.userDomainClassName = 'myapp.User'
grails.plugin.springsecurity.userLookup.authorityJoinClassName = 'myapp.UserRole'
grails.plugin.springsecurity.authority.className = 'myapp.Role'

grails.plugin.springsecurity.controllerAnnotations.staticRules = [
    [pattern: '/',               access: ['permitAll']],
    [pattern: '/error',          access: ['permitAll']],
    [pattern: '/index',          access: ['permitAll']],
    [pattern: '/admin/**',       access: ['ROLE_ADMIN']],
    [pattern: '/api/**',         access: ['isAuthenticated()']],
]

Build Commands

# Run application
./gradlew bootRun

# Run tests
./gradlew test                                    # All tests
./gradlew test --tests "BookServiceSpec"          # Single spec
./gradlew test --tests "*Spec.save*"              # Pattern match
./gradlew integrationTest                         # Integration tests

# Build
./gradlew build                                   # Build with tests
./gradlew bootJar                                 # Executable JAR
./gradlew bootWar                                 # WAR file

# Code quality
./gradlew check                                   # Run all verification tasks

# Clean
./gradlew clean

Best Practices

Convention Over Configuration

• Follow Grails naming conventions for automatic wiring.
• Use standard directory structure.
• Let Grails infer configurations where possible.

Performance

• Use @GrailsCompileStatic on controllers, services, and domain classes.
• Enable query caching for read-heavy operations.
• Use pagination for large result sets.
• Avoid N+1 queries with eager fetching or batch size.

Security

• Use CSRF tokens in forms: <g:form useToken="true">.
• Apply Spring Security for authentication/authorization.
• Use parameterized queries (GORM handles this automatically).
• Encode output to prevent XSS.

Testing

• Write unit tests for domain constraints.
• Test controllers with ControllerUnitTest.
• Use integration tests for service/database interactions.
• Use Geb for critical user workflows.

Code Style

• Use @GrailsCompileStatic or @CompileStatic for type safety and performance.
• Prefer services for business logic over controllers.
• Use command objects for complex form handling.
• Keep controllers thin, services fat.

Resources

• Grails User Guide: https://grails.apache.org/docs/latest/guide/single.html
• GORM Documentation: https://grails.apache.org/docs/latest/grails-data/
• Grails Plugins: https://grails.apache.org/plugins.html
• Groovy 5 Documentation: https://groovy-lang.org/documentation.html#all-versions (select latest 5.1.x)
• Spock Framework: https://spockframework.org/spock/docs/2.4/all_in_one.html
• Geb Manual: https://groovy.apache.org/geb/manual/current/