SpringbootHow-ToBeginner · 4 min read

How to Expose Actuator Endpoints in Spring Boot

To expose actuator endpoints in Spring Boot, add spring-boot-starter-actuator to your project and configure management.endpoints.web.exposure.include in application.properties or application.yml. By default, only health and info endpoints are exposed; you can specify others like metrics or env explicitly.

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Syntax

To expose actuator endpoints, you configure the management.endpoints.web.exposure.include property in your application.properties or application.yml file. This property accepts a comma-separated list of endpoint names or * to expose all.

Example properties:

management.endpoints.web.exposure.include=health,info,metrics
management.endpoints.web.exposure.include=* (exposes all endpoints)

Also, ensure the actuator dependency is added to your project.

properties

<dependency>
  <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
  <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-actuator</artifactId>
</dependency>

application.properties example:

management.endpoints.web.exposure.include=health,info,metrics

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Example

This example shows a Spring Boot application exposing health, info, and metrics actuator endpoints. The application.properties file configures which endpoints are exposed over HTTP.

java/properties

package com.example.actuatordemo;

import org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication;
import org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.SpringBootApplication;

@SpringBootApplication
public class ActuatorDemoApplication {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        SpringApplication.run(ActuatorDemoApplication.class, args);
    }
}

# application.properties
management.endpoints.web.exposure.include=health,info,metrics

Output

When running the app, you can access: - http://localhost:8080/actuator/health - http://localhost:8080/actuator/info - http://localhost:8080/actuator/metrics These endpoints return JSON with health status, app info, and metrics data respectively.

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Common Pitfalls

Not adding the spring-boot-starter-actuator dependency means no actuator endpoints are available.
By default, only health and info endpoints are exposed; forgetting to configure management.endpoints.web.exposure.include will hide others.
Using management.endpoints.web.exposure.include=* exposes all endpoints, which may be a security risk in production.
Not configuring security properly can block access to actuator endpoints or expose sensitive data.

properties

# Wrong (no exposure configured):

management.endpoints.web.exposure.include=

# Right (expose health and info):

management.endpoints.web.exposure.include=health,info

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Quick Reference

Property	Description	Example Value
management.endpoints.web.exposure.include	Comma-separated list of endpoints to expose over HTTP	health,info,metrics
management.endpoints.web.base-path	Base path for actuator endpoints	/actuator
management.endpoint.health.show-details	Controls health endpoint details visibility	always
management.endpoints.enabled-by-default	Enable or disable endpoints by default	true

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Key Takeaways

Add spring-boot-starter-actuator dependency to enable actuator endpoints.

Configure management.endpoints.web.exposure.include to specify which endpoints to expose.

By default, only health and info endpoints are exposed; others must be explicitly included.

Use * to expose all endpoints but be cautious about security risks.

Secure actuator endpoints properly to avoid exposing sensitive information.