sbt by example 

This page assumes you’ve installed sbt 1.

Let’s start with examples rather than explaining how sbt works or why.

Create a minimum sbt build 

$ mkdir foo-build
$ cd foo-build
$ touch build.sbt

Start sbt shell 

$ sbt
[info] Updated file /tmp/foo-build/project/build.properties: set sbt.version to 1.9.3
[info] welcome to sbt 1.9.3 (Eclipse Adoptium Java 17.0.8)
[info] Loading project definition from /tmp/foo-build/project
[info] loading settings for project foo-build from build.sbt ...
[info] Set current project to foo-build (in build file:/tmp/foo-build/)
[info] sbt server started at local:///Users/eed3si9n/.sbt/1.0/server/abc4fb6c89985a00fd95/sock
[info] started sbt server
sbt:foo-build>

Exit sbt shell 

To leave sbt shell, type exit or use Ctrl+D (Unix) or Ctrl+Z (Windows).

sbt:foo-build> exit

Compile a project 

As a convention, we will use the sbt:...> or > prompt to mean that we’re in the sbt interactive shell.

$ sbt
sbt:foo-build> compile

Recompile on code change 

Prefixing the compile command (or any other command) with ~ causes the command to be automatically re-executed whenever one of the source files within the project is modified. For example:

sbt:foo-build> ~compile
[success] Total time: 0 s, completed 28 Jul 2023, 13:32:35
[info] 1. Monitoring source files for foo-build/compile...
[info]    Press <enter> to interrupt or '?' for more options.

Create a source file 

Leave the previous command running. From a different shell or in your file manager create in the foo-build directory the following nested directories: src/main/scala/example. Then, create Hello.scala in the example directory using your favorite editor as follows:

package example

object Hello {
  def main(args: Array[String]): Unit = {
    println("Hello")
  }
}

This new file should be picked up by the running command:

[info] Build triggered by /tmp/foo-build/src/main/scala/example/Hello.scala. Running 'compile'.
[info] compiling 1 Scala source to /tmp/foo-build/target/scala-2.12/classes ...
[success] Total time: 0 s, completed 28 Jul 2023, 13:38:55
[info] 2. Monitoring source files for foo-build/compile...
[info]    Press <enter> to interrupt or '?' for more options.

Press Enter to exit ~compile.

Run a previous command 

From sbt shell, press up-arrow twice to find the compile command that you executed at the beginning.

sbt:foo-build> compile

Getting help 

Use the help command to get basic help about the available commands.

sbt:foo-build> help

  <command> (; <command>)*                       Runs the provided semicolon-separated commands.
  about                                          Displays basic information about sbt and the build.
  tasks                                          Lists the tasks defined for the current project.
  settings                                       Lists the settings defined for the current project.
  reload                                         (Re)loads the current project or changes to plugins project or returns from it.
  new                                            Creates a new sbt build.
  new                                            Creates a new sbt build.
  projects                                       Lists the names of available projects or temporarily adds/removes extra builds to the session.

....

Display the description of a specific task:

sbt:foo-build> help run
Runs a main class, passing along arguments provided on the command line.

Run your app 

sbt:foo-build> run
[info] running example.Hello
Hello
[success] Total time: 0 s, completed 28 Jul 2023, 13:40:31

Set ThisBuild / scalaVersion from sbt shell 

sbt:foo-build> set ThisBuild / scalaVersion := "2.13.12"
[info] Defining ThisBuild / scalaVersion
[info] The new value will be used by Compile / bspBuildTarget, Compile / dependencyTreeCrossProjectId and 50 others.
[info]  Run `last` for details.
[info] Reapplying settings...
[info] set current project to foo-build (in build file:/tmp/foo-build/)

Check the scalaVersion setting:

sbt:foo-build> scalaVersion
[info] 2.13.12

Save the session to build.sbt 

We can save the ad-hoc settings using session save.

sbt:foo-build> session save
[info] Reapplying settings...
[info] set current project to foo-build (in build file:/tmp/foo-build/)
[warn] build source files have changed
[warn] modified files:
[warn]   /tmp/foo-build/build.sbt
[warn] Apply these changes by running `reload`.
[warn] Automatically reload the build when source changes are detected by setting `Global / onChangedBuildSource := ReloadOnSourceChanges`.
[warn] Disable this warning by setting `Global / onChangedBuildSource := IgnoreSourceChanges`.

build.sbt file should now contain:

ThisBuild / scalaVersion := "2.13.12"

Name your project 

Using an editor, change build.sbt as follows:

ThisBuild / scalaVersion := "2.13.12"
ThisBuild / organization := "com.example"

lazy val hello = (project in file("."))
  .settings(
    name := "Hello"
  )

Reload the build 

Use the reload command to reload the build. The command causes the build.sbt file to be re-read, and its settings applied.

sbt:foo-build> reload
[info] welcome to sbt 1.9.3 (Eclipse Adoptium Java 17.0.8)
[info] loading project definition from /tmp/foo-build/project
[info] loading settings for project hello from build.sbt ...
[info] set current project to Hello (in build file:/tmp/foo-build/)
sbt:Hello>

Note that the prompt has now changed to sbt:Hello>.

Add toolkit-test to libraryDependencies 

Using an editor, change build.sbt as follows:

ThisBuild / scalaVersion := "2.13.12"
ThisBuild / organization := "com.example"

lazy val hello = project
  .in(file("."))
  .settings(
    name := "Hello",
    libraryDependencies += "org.scala-lang" %% "toolkit-test" % "0.1.7" % Test
  )

Use the reload command to reflect the change in build.sbt.

sbt:Hello> reload

Run tests 

sbt:Hello> test

Run incremental tests continuously 

sbt:Hello> ~testQuick

Write a test 

Leaving the previous command running, create a file named src/test/scala/example/HelloSuite.scala using an editor:

class HelloSuite extends munit.FunSuite {
  test("Hello should start with H") {
    assert("hello".startsWith("H"))
  }
}

~testQuick should pick up the change:

[info] 2. Monitoring source files for hello/testQuick...
[info]    Press <enter> to interrupt or '?' for more options.
[info] Build triggered by /tmp/foo-build/src/test/scala/example/HelloSuite.scala. Running 'testQuick'.
[info] compiling 1 Scala source to /tmp/foo-build/target/scala-2.13/test-classes ...
HelloSuite:
==> X HelloSuite.Hello should start with H  0.004s munit.FailException: /tmp/foo-build/src/test/scala/example/HelloSuite.scala:4 assertion failed
3:  test("Hello should start with H") {
4:    assert("hello".startsWith("H"))
5:  }
    at munit.FunSuite.assert(FunSuite.scala:11)
    at HelloSuite.$anonfun$new$1(HelloSuite.scala:4)
[error] Failed: Total 1, Failed 1, Errors 0, Passed 0
[error] Failed tests:
[error]         HelloSuite
[error] (Test / testQuick) sbt.TestsFailedException: Tests unsuccessful

Make the test pass 

Using an editor, change src/test/scala/example/HelloSuite.scala to:

class HelloSuite extends munit.FunSuite {
  test("Hello should start with H") {
    assert("Hello".startsWith("H"))
  }
}

Confirm that the test passes, then press Enter to exit the continuous test.

Add a library dependency 

Using an editor, change build.sbt as follows:

ThisBuild / scalaVersion := "2.13.12"
ThisBuild / organization := "com.example"

lazy val hello = project
  .in(file("."))
  .settings(
    name := "Hello",
    libraryDependencies ++= Seq(
      "org.scala-lang" %% "toolkit" % "0.1.7",
      "org.scala-lang" %% "toolkit-test" % "0.1.7" % Test
    )
  )

Use the reload command to reflect the change in build.sbt.

Use Scala REPL 

We can find out the current weather in New York.

sbt:Hello> console
[info] Starting scala interpreter...
Welcome to Scala 2.13.12 (OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM, Java 17).
Type in expressions for evaluation. Or try :help.

scala> :paste
// Entering paste mode (ctrl-D to finish)

import sttp.client4.quick._
import sttp.client4.Response

val newYorkLatitude: Double = 40.7143
val newYorkLongitude: Double = -74.006
val response: Response[String] = quickRequest
  .get(
    uri"https://api.open-meteo.com/v1/forecast?latitude=$newYorkLatitude&longitude=$newYorkLongitude&current_weather=true"
  )
  .send()

println(ujson.read(response.body).render(indent = 2))

// press Ctrl+D

// Exiting paste mode, now interpreting.

{
  "latitude": 40.710335,
  "longitude": -73.99307,
  "generationtime_ms": 0.36704540252685547,
  "utc_offset_seconds": 0,
  "timezone": "GMT",
  "timezone_abbreviation": "GMT",
  "elevation": 51,
  "current_weather": {
    "temperature": 21.3,
    "windspeed": 16.7,
    "winddirection": 205,
    "weathercode": 3,
    "is_day": 1,
    "time": "2023-08-04T10:00"
  }
}
import sttp.client4.quick._
import sttp.client4.Response
val newYorkLatitude: Double = 40.7143
val newYorkLongitude: Double = -74.006
val response: sttp.client4.Response[String] = Response({"latitude":40.710335,"longitude":-73.99307,"generationtime_ms":0.36704540252685547,"utc_offset_seconds":0,"timezone":"GMT","timezone_abbreviation":"GMT","elevation":51.0,"current_weather":{"temperature":21.3,"windspeed":16.7,"winddirection":205.0,"weathercode":3,"is_day":1,"time":"2023-08-04T10:00"}},200,,List(:status: 200, content-encoding: deflate, content-type: application/json; charset=utf-8, date: Fri, 04 Aug 2023 10:09:11 GMT),List(),RequestMetadata(GET,https://api.open-meteo.com/v1/forecast?latitude=40.7143&longitude...

scala> :q // to quit

Make a subproject 

Change build.sbt as follows:

ThisBuild / scalaVersion := "2.13.12"
ThisBuild / organization := "com.example"

lazy val hello = project
  .in(file("."))
  .settings(
    name := "Hello",
    libraryDependencies ++= Seq(
      "org.scala-lang" %% "toolkit" % "0.1.7",
      "org.scala-lang" %% "toolkit-test" % "0.1.7" % Test
    )
  )

lazy val helloCore = project
  .in(file("core"))
  .settings(
    name := "Hello Core"
  )

Use the reload command to reflect the change in build.sbt.

List all subprojects 

sbt:Hello> projects
[info] In file:/tmp/foo-build/
[info]   * hello
[info]     helloCore

Compile the subproject 

sbt:Hello> helloCore/compile

Add toolkit-test to the subproject 

Change build.sbt as follows:

ThisBuild / scalaVersion := "2.13.12"
ThisBuild / organization := "com.example"

val toolkitTest = "org.scala-lang" %% "toolkit-test" % "0.1.7"

lazy val hello = project
  .in(file("."))
  .settings(
    name := "Hello",
    libraryDependencies ++= Seq(
      "org.scala-lang" %% "toolkit" % "0.1.7",
      toolkitTest % Test
    )
  )

lazy val helloCore = project
  .in(file("core"))
  .settings(
    name := "Hello Core",
    libraryDependencies += toolkitTest % Test
  )

Broadcast commands 

Set aggregate so that the command sent to hello is broadcast to helloCore too:

ThisBuild / scalaVersion := "2.13.12"
ThisBuild / organization := "com.example"

val toolkitTest = "org.scala-lang" %% "toolkit-test" % "0.1.7"

lazy val hello = project
  .in(file("."))
  .aggregate(helloCore)
  .settings(
    name := "Hello",
    libraryDependencies ++= Seq(
      "org.scala-lang" %% "toolkit" % "0.1.7",
      toolkitTest % Test
    )
  )

lazy val helloCore = project
  .in(file("core"))
  .settings(
    name := "Hello Core",
    libraryDependencies += toolkitTest % Test
  )

After reload, ~testQuick now runs on both subprojects:

sbt:Hello> ~testQuick

Press Enter to exit the continuous test.

Make hello depend on helloCore 

Use .dependsOn(...) to add a dependency on other subprojects. Also let’s move the toolkit dependency to helloCore.

ThisBuild / scalaVersion := "2.13.12"
ThisBuild / organization := "com.example"

val toolkitTest = "org.scala-lang" %% "toolkit-test" % "0.1.7"

lazy val hello = project
  .in(file("."))
  .aggregate(helloCore)
  .dependsOn(helloCore)
  .settings(
    name := "Hello",
    libraryDependencies += toolkitTest % Test
  )

lazy val helloCore = project
  .in(file("core"))
  .settings(
    name := "Hello Core",
    libraryDependencies += "org.scala-lang" %% "toolkit" % "0.1.7",
    libraryDependencies += toolkitTest % Test
  )

Parse JSON using uJson 

Let’s use uJson from the toolkit in helloCore.

ThisBuild / scalaVersion := "2.13.12"
ThisBuild / organization := "com.example"

val toolkitTest = "org.scala-lang" %% "toolkit-test" % "0.1.7"

lazy val hello = project
  .in(file("."))
  .aggregate(helloCore)
  .dependsOn(helloCore)
  .settings(
    name := "Hello",
    libraryDependencies += toolkitTest % Test
  )

lazy val helloCore = project
  .in(file("core"))
  .settings(
    name := "Hello Core",
    libraryDependencies += "org.scala-lang" %% "toolkit" % "0.1.7",
    libraryDependencies += toolkitTest % Test
  )

After reload, add core/src/main/scala/example/core/Weather.scala:

package example.core

import sttp.client4.quick._
import sttp.client4.Response

object Weather {
  def temp() = {
    val response: Response[String] = quickRequest
      .get(
        uri"https://api.open-meteo.com/v1/forecast?latitude=40.7143&longitude=-74.006&current_weather=true"
      )
      .send()
    val json = ujson.read(response.body)
    json.obj("current_weather")("temperature").num
  }
}

Next, change src/main/scala/example/Hello.scala as follows:

package example

import example.core.Weather

object Hello {
  def main(args: Array[String]): Unit = {
    val temp = Weather.temp()
    println(s"Hello! The current temperature in New York is $temp C.")
  }
}

Let’s run the app to see if it worked:

sbt:Hello> run
[info] compiling 1 Scala source to /tmp/foo-build/core/target/scala-2.13/classes ...
[info] compiling 1 Scala source to /tmp/foo-build/target/scala-2.13/classes ...
[info] running example.Hello
Hello! The current temperature in New York is 22.7 C.

Add sbt-native-packager plugin 

Using an editor, create project/plugins.sbt:

addSbtPlugin("com.github.sbt" % "sbt-native-packager" % "1.9.4")

Next change build.sbt as follows to add JavaAppPackaging:

ThisBuild / scalaVersion := "2.13.12"
ThisBuild / organization := "com.example"

val toolkitTest = "org.scala-lang" %% "toolkit-test" % "0.1.7"

lazy val hello = project
  .in(file("."))
  .aggregate(helloCore)
  .dependsOn(helloCore)
  .enablePlugins(JavaAppPackaging)
  .settings(
    name := "Hello",
    libraryDependencies += toolkitTest % Test,
    maintainer := "A Scala Dev!"
  )

lazy val helloCore = project
  .in(file("core"))
  .settings(
    name := "Hello Core",
    libraryDependencies += "org.scala-lang" %% "toolkit" % "0.1.7",
    libraryDependencies += toolkitTest % Test
  )

Reload and create a .zip distribution 

sbt:Hello> reload
...
sbt:Hello> dist
[info] Wrote /private/tmp/foo-build/target/scala-2.13/hello_2.13-0.1.0-SNAPSHOT.pom
[info] Main Scala API documentation to /tmp/foo-build/target/scala-2.13/api...
[info] Main Scala API documentation successful.
[info] Main Scala API documentation to /tmp/foo-build/core/target/scala-2.13/api...
[info] Wrote /tmp/foo-build/core/target/scala-2.13/hello-core_2.13-0.1.0-SNAPSHOT.pom
[info] Main Scala API documentation successful.
[success] All package validations passed
[info] Your package is ready in /tmp/foo-build/target/universal/hello-0.1.0-SNAPSHOT.zip

Here’s how you can run the packaged app:

$ /tmp/someother
$ cd /tmp/someother
$ unzip -o -d /tmp/someother /tmp/foo-build/target/universal/hello-0.1.0-SNAPSHOT.zip
$ ./hello-0.1.0-SNAPSHOT/bin/hello
Hello! The current temperature in New York is 22.7 C.

Dockerize your app 

Note that a Docker daemon will need to be running in order for this to work.

sbt:Hello> Docker/publishLocal
....
[info] Built image hello with tags [0.1.0-SNAPSHOT]

Here’s how to run the Dockerized app:

$ docker run hello:0.1.0-SNAPSHOT
Hello! The current temperature in New York is 22.7 C.

Set the version 

Change build.sbt as follows:

ThisBuild / version := "0.1.0"
ThisBuild / scalaVersion := "2.13.12"
ThisBuild / organization := "com.example"

val toolkitTest = "org.scala-lang" %% "toolkit-test" % "0.1.7"

lazy val hello = project
  .in(file("."))
  .aggregate(helloCore)
  .dependsOn(helloCore)
  .enablePlugins(JavaAppPackaging)
  .settings(
    name := "Hello",
    libraryDependencies += toolkitTest % Test,
    maintainer := "A Scala Dev!"
  )

lazy val helloCore = project
  .in(file("core"))
  .settings(
    name := "Hello Core",
    libraryDependencies += "org.scala-lang" %% "toolkit" % "0.1.7",
    libraryDependencies += toolkitTest % Test
  )

Switch scalaVersion temporarily 

sbt:Hello> ++3.3.1!
[info] Forcing Scala version to 3.3.1 on all projects.
[info] Reapplying settings...
[info] Set current project to Hello (in build file:/tmp/foo-build/)

Check the scalaVersion setting:

sbt:Hello> scalaVersion
[info] helloCore / scalaVersion
[info]  3.3.1
[info] scalaVersion
[info]  3.3.1

This setting will go away after reload.

Inspect the dist task 

To find out more about dist, try help and inspect.

sbt:Hello> help dist
Creates the distribution packages.
sbt:Hello> inspect dist

To call inspect recursively on the dependency tasks use inspect tree.

sbt:Hello> inspect tree dist
[info] dist = Task[java.io.File]
[info]   +-Universal / dist = Task[java.io.File]
....

Batch mode 

You can also run sbt in batch mode, passing sbt commands directly from the terminal.

$ sbt clean "testOnly HelloSuite"

Note: Running in batch mode requires JVM spinup and JIT each time, so your build will run much slower. For day-to-day coding, we recommend using the sbt shell or a continuous test like ~testQuick.

sbt new command 

You can use the sbt new command to quickly setup a simple “Hello world” build.

$ sbt new scala/scala-seed.g8
....
A minimal Scala project.

name [My Something Project]: hello

Template applied in ./hello

When prompted for the project name, type hello.

This will create a new project under a directory named hello.

Credits 

This page is based on the Essential sbt tutorial written by William “Scala William” Narmontas.