NGSS Maven Tiles Overview

The NextGen Shared Services (NGSS) Maven Tiles project contains a comprehensive collection of reusable Maven plugin configurations defined as Maven tiles, enabling standardized build practices across NGSS projects.

Deprecation and Retirement

NGSS Maven Tiles 1.x is deprecated as of 8/21/2025 and will no longer be maintained after that point.
java-service-base is deprecated as of 8/19/2025, so therefore the 1.x tiles that include it as the default base image (docker-maven-plugin-tile and jib-maven-plugin-tile) will likewise be deprecated.
After 6 months of being deprecated, these components will be officially retired from support.

Recommended actions for container tiles (docker-maven-plugin-tile and jib-maven-plugin-tile)

We recommend updating to the new "baseless" tiles introduced in version 1.9.0 - docker-maven-plugin-baseless-tile and jib-maven-plugin-baseless-tile, which do not rely on java-service-base and instead allow you to specify the base image directly in the project pom.xml.

This alleviates a common complaint with maintaining the ngss-maven-tiles version, since it was not readily apparent which version of Tiles corresponded to which version of the standard MAP base/ image, leading to confusion and having to dig unnecessarily for this info.

See Migrating to Baseless Image Tiles for more info.

Recommended actions for all other tiles

Continue to use the most recent releases of 1.x and, if your project requires further customization of Maven configs that are included with these tiles, override applicable configuration(s) in your project’s pom.xml build/plugins field.

What are Maven Tiles?

Maven Tiles are Maven artifacts produced by the Maven Tiles Plugin that allow Maven POM fragments to be compositionally defined and reused. Each tile is simply a Maven POM XML fragment that gets programmatically included by the maven-tiles plugin at build-time, merging with the original Maven POM (including parent POMs).

This system dramatically reduces duplication among NGSS projects by defining common, recommended, and standard build configurations in reusable components. Instead of maintaining identical configurations across multiple projects or complex parent POM hierarchies, teams can selectively include only the tiles they need.

Key Benefits

DRY Principle: Eliminates duplication of common build configurations
Standardization: Ensures consistent NGSS conventions across all projects
Flexibility: Allows selective inclusion of specific functionality without inheriting unwanted configurations
Maintainability: Centralizes configuration updates in one location
Composability: Enables fine-grained control over build behavior through tile combinations

How NGSS Uses Maven Tiles

NGSS leverages Maven Tiles to define standard sets of Maven plugin configurations that provide an easy way to apply NGSS conventions for various Maven plugins throughout the ecosystem. The current tile ecosystem focuses on modern cloud-native development patterns:

Foundation and Configuration

Service Properties: Core service configuration and Docker repository settings
Version Management: Semantic version parsing for consistent tagging and deployment
Spring Integration: Seamless integration with Spring Boot application properties

Modern Container Development

Docker Integration: Traditional Docker Maven Plugin configurations for containerization
Jib Support: Google Jib plugin configurations for efficient, daemon-free container builds
Web Applications: nginx-based containerization for SPAs and static content

Code Quality and Testing

Coverage Enforcement: JaCoCo-based code coverage with configurable thresholds
Integration Testing: Kubernetes-native integration testing with coverage collection
Aggregate Reporting: Comprehensive test coverage aggregation across multiple test types

Development Workflow Automation

Kubernetes Development: Skaffold-based local development with hot reloading
File Generation: Automated generation of Skaffold, Kustomize, and deployment configurations
Developer Portal: Backstage integration for service catalogs and documentation
Database Management: Flyway migration script generation and management

Compliance and Documentation

V&V Automation: Vulnerability and version tracking for compliance requirements
DIBR Generation: Deployment Information and Build Record documentation
Security Management: Automated security documentation and configuration

Tile Categories

The NGSS tiles are organized into several categories. Click on each category for detailed documentation of all tiles in that category:

Foundation Tiles

Core functionality and base configurations

base-service-tile: Foundation properties for Java services
parse-version-tile: Version parsing and semantic version handling
spring-properties-tile: Spring Boot properties integration

Testing and Coverage Tiles

Comprehensive testing framework and code coverage configurations

jacoco-base-tile: Basic JaCoCo code coverage enforcement
jacoco-integration-tests-tile: JaCoCo setup for integration testing (deprecated)
jacoco-aggregate-tests-tile: Complete JaCoCo reporting with unit and integration test aggregation
jacoco-aggregate-tile: Simplified JaCoCo aggregation

Container Build Tiles

Docker and Jib container build configurations

docker-maven-plugin-tile: Docker build support using fabric8 plugin
jib-maven-plugin-tile: Efficient Jib builds without Docker daemon
web-docker-tile: Web application containers using nginx

Code Generation and Documentation Tiles

Automated code and documentation generation

filegen-tile: Multi-purpose file generation (Skaffold, Kustomize, VV YAML, Backstage, etc.)
dibr-readme-generator-tile: DIBR documentation generation
fly_way-generator-tile: Database migration script generation
backstage-tile: Backstage developer portal integration

DevOps and Development Tiles

Development workflow and automation

skaffold-tile: Kubernetes development workflow with Skaffold integration
vv-automation-tile: Vulnerability and Version automation support

Usage Examples

Modern Java Service Development

For modern Java microservices with Kubernetes development workflow:

<project>
    <properties>
        <ngss-maven-tiles.version>2.8.5</ngss-maven-tiles.version>
        <tiles-maven-plugin.version>2.40</tiles-maven-plugin.version>
    </properties>

    <build>
        <plugins>
            <plugin>
                <groupId>io.repaint.maven</groupId>
                <artifactId>tiles-maven-plugin</artifactId>
                <version>${tiles-maven-plugin.version}</version>
                <extensions>true</extensions>
                <configuration>
                    <tiles>
                        <!-- Core container build with Jib -->
                        <tile>gov.va.mobile.tools.maven:jib-maven-plugin-tile:${ngss-maven-tiles.version}</tile>

                        <!-- Modern Kubernetes development workflow -->
                        <tile>gov.va.mobile.tools.maven:skaffold-tile:${ngss-maven-tiles.version}</tile>

                        <!-- Comprehensive file generation -->
                        <tile>gov.va.mobile.tools.maven:filegen-tile:${ngss-maven-tiles.version}</tile>

                        <!-- Testing and coverage -->
                        <tile>gov.va.mobile.tools.maven:jacoco-aggregate-tests-tile:${ngss-maven-tiles.version}</tile>

                        <!-- Compliance and documentation -->
                        <tile>gov.va.mobile.tools.maven:vv-automation-tile:${ngss-maven-tiles.version}</tile>
                        <tile>gov.va.mobile.tools.maven:backstage-tile:${ngss-maven-tiles.version}</tile>
                    </tiles>
                </configuration>
            </plugin>
        </plugins>
    </build>
</project>

Development Benefits: - Hot reloading with Skaffold for rapid development cycles - Efficient container builds without Docker daemon - Comprehensive test coverage with integration testing - Automated configuration generation (Skaffold, Kustomize, etc.) - Developer portal integration with Backstage

Web Application Development

For frontend applications and SPAs:

<project>
    <properties>
        <ngss-maven-tiles.version>2.8.5</ngss-maven-tiles.version>
    </properties>

    <build>
        <plugins>
            <plugin>
                <groupId>io.repaint.maven</groupId>
                <artifactId>tiles-maven-plugin</artifactId>
                <version>${tiles-maven-plugin.version}</version>
                <extensions>true</extensions>
                <configuration>
                    <tiles>
                        <!-- nginx-based web container -->
                        <tile>gov.va.mobile.tools.maven:web-docker-tile:${ngss-maven-tiles.version}</tile>

                        <!-- File generation for deployment configs -->
                        <tile>gov.va.mobile.tools.maven:filegen-tile:${ngss-maven-tiles.version}</tile>

                        <!-- Developer portal integration -->
                        <tile>gov.va.mobile.tools.maven:backstage-tile:${ngss-maven-tiles.version}</tile>
                    </tiles>
                </configuration>
            </plugin>
        </plugins>
    </build>
</project>

Database-Centric Applications

For services with significant database management needs:

<project>
    <properties>
        <ngss-maven-tiles.version>2.8.5</ngss-maven-tiles.version>
    </properties>

    <build>
        <plugins>
            <plugin>
                <groupId>io.repaint.maven</groupId>
                <artifactId>tiles-maven-plugin</artifactId>
                <version>${tiles-maven-plugin.version}</version>
                <extensions>true</extensions>
                <configuration>
                    <tiles>
                        <!-- Standard Java service setup -->
                        <tile>gov.va.mobile.tools.maven:jib-maven-plugin-tile:${ngss-maven-tiles.version}</tile>
                        <tile>gov.va.mobile.tools.maven:skaffold-tile:${ngss-maven-tiles.version}</tile>

                        <!-- Database migration management -->
                        <tile>gov.va.mobile.tools.maven:fly_way-generator-tile:${ngss-maven-tiles.version}</tile>

                        <!-- Documentation generation -->
                        <tile>gov.va.mobile.tools.maven:dibr-readme-generator-tile:${ngss-maven-tiles.version}</tile>
                    </tiles>
                </configuration>
            </plugin>
        </plugins>
    </build>
</project>

Tile Operation

Maven Tiles work by dynamically inserting each tile into the Maven project model as new parent POMs in the order specified. This creates an inheritance hierarchy where later tiles can override or extend earlier configurations, providing powerful composition capabilities while maintaining Maven’s standard inheritance model.