# Serverless tip #1 — Deploy a standalone JVM web app with Gradle and the App Engine plugin

> Learn how to easily deploy your standalone JVM web application to Google App Engine's serverless platform using Gradle and its App Engine plugin.

Author: [Guillaume Laforge](https://glaforge.dev/) | Published: 2019-11-29 | Topics: google-cloud, app-engine, serverless, gradle, java, tips | Canonical: https://glaforge.dev/posts/2019/11/29/serverless-tip-1-deploy-a-standalone-jvm-web-app-with-gradle-and-the-app-engine-plugin/


Requirements:

-   an existing Google Cloud Platform account and project
-   a Java or alternative language web application
-   a Gradle build that creates a standalone executable JAR file

In youd `build.gradle` file, add the App Engine gradle plugin to your `buildscript` dependencies:

```groovy
buildscript {
    repositories {
        jcenter()
        mavenCentral()
    }
    dependencies {
        classpath 'com.google.cloud.tools:appengine-gradle-plugin:2.+'
    }
}
```

Apply the plugin, to make use of it:

```groovy
apply plugin: "com.google.cloud.tools.appengine-appyaml"
```

Then you can configure the `appengine` task to point at the standalone executable JAR:

```groovy
appengine {
    stage.artifact = 
            "${buildDir}/libs/${project.name}-${project.version}.jar"
    deploy {
        projectId = "YOUR-PROJECT-ID"
        version = "1"
    }
}
```

You can customize the path of the artifact, specify the project ID outside, or define an App Engine version that's dependent on your project version, a git commit, etc.

Note that the App Engine gradle plugin expects to find the `app.yaml` configuration file in `src/main/appengine`.

You can then deploy your application with:

```bash
$ ./gradlew appengineDeploy
```

More information:

-   [app.yaml](https://cloud.google.com/appengine/docs/standard/java11/config/appref)
-   [App Engine gradle plugin](https://github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/app-gradle-plugin)