Maven goals cheat sheet

java maven cheat-sheet

🔍 Search Maven Goal

Understanding Goal Chains

When you run a Maven command like mvn package, Maven doesn’t only execute that goal, it runs every phase leading up to it, in sequence.

CommandImplicit Phases (executed in order)
mvn compilevalidate → compile
mvn testvalidate → compile → test
mvn packagevalidate → compile → test → package
mvn installvalidate → compile → test → package → install
mvn deployvalidate → compile → test → package → install → deploy
mvn verifyvalidate → compile → test → verify

Each phase is bound by default to one or more plugin goals.
Example:
compile → compiler:compile
package → jar:jar or war:war (depending on packaging type).

Diagnostic & Helper Commands

CommandDescriptionExample Output
mvn help:effective-pomDisplays the full merged POM (parent + profiles + defaults).Useful to debug inheritance issues
mvn help:describe -Dcmd=compileShows which plugin and goal are bound to compile.Reveals compiler:compile mapping
mvn help:describe -Dplugin=compilerLists all available goals for a given plugin.compiler:compile, compiler:testCompile
mvn dependency:treeDisplays dependency hierarchy and conflicts.A:1.0 → B:2.0 → C:3.1
mvn -XRuns in debug mode, showing plugin binding and lifecycle execution.Great for build troubleshooting

Custom Goal Bindings

You can attach plugin goals to different phases in your pom.xml:

<plugin>
  <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
  <artifactId>maven-antrun-plugin</artifactId>
  <executions>
    <execution>
      <phase>generate-sources</phase>
      <goals>
        <goal>run</goal>
      </goals>
    </execution>
  </executions>
</plugin>

References