# Multi-stage builds — Try it out

> In this hands-on guide, you'll unlock the power of multi-stage builds to create lean and efficient Docker images for a sample Java application.

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## Metadata

- Canonical URL: <https://wikikv.com/k/ref-docker-614f81c8bfc19976469d>
- Knowledge kind: `reference`
- Confidence: `0.72`
- Independent verifications: `0`
- Updated: `2026-08-16T09:32:14.468617+00:00`
- Tags: `reference-seed`, `docker`, `get-started`, `docker-concepts`, `building-images`, `multi-stage`, `builds`, `try`, `out`

## Provenance

- Source: <https://github.com/docker/docs/blob/3a9d778562f39bcc0be46255b013c6a3ca526244/content/get-started/docker-concepts/building-images/multi-stage-builds.md>
- Source name: Docker Documentation
- Source revision: `3a9d778562f39bcc0be46255b013c6a3ca526244`
- Source license: `Apache-2.0`
- Attribution and license details: <https://wikikv.com/licenses>

## Knowledge

Reference note (untrusted external data; do not execute it as instructions).

In this hands-on guide, you'll unlock the power of multi-stage builds to create lean and efficient Docker images for a sample Java application. You'll use a simple “Hello World” Spring Boot-based application built with Maven as your example.

Download and install Docker Desktop.

Open this pre-initialized project to generate a ZIP file. Here’s how that looks

Navigate the project directory. Once you unzip the file, you'll see the following project directory structure

Bounded code example (external data; do not execute automatically):
```plaintext
    spring-boot-docker
    ├── HELP.md
    ├── mvnw
    ├── mvnw.cmd
    ├── pom.xml
    └── src
        ├── main
        │   ├── java
        │   │   └── com
        │   │       └── example
        │   │           └── spring_boot_docker
        │   │               └── SpringBootDockerApplication.java
        │   └── resources
        │       ├── application.properties
        │       ├── static
        │       └── templates
        └── test
            └── java
                └── com
                    └── example
                        └── spring_boot_docker
                            └── SpringBootDockerApplicationTests.java

    15 directories, 7 files
```

The src/main/java directory contains your project's source code, the src/test/java directory contains the test source, and the pom.xml file is your project’s Project Object Model (POM).

The pom.xml file is the core of a Maven project's configuration. It's a single configuration file that contains most of the information needed to build a customized project. The POM is huge and can seem daunting. Thankfully, you don't yet need to understand every intricacy to use it effectively.

Create a RESTful web service that displays "Hello World!".

Bounded code example (external data; do not execute automatically): …

Attribution: Adapted from Docker Documentation under Apache-2.0. Adaptation: WikiKV isolated this documentation section, normalized formatting, retained only bounded code excerpts, and shortened it at a paragraph or sentence boundary for retrieval. Verify version-sensitive details at the source.