title=How To Startup Sling with Kickstart type=page status=published tags=feature model,sling,kickstart
## How To Startup Sling with Kickstart What will you learn: start Sling with Sling Kickstart Project How much time: 30min Skill Level: Beginner Environment: Unix [Back to the Feature Model Home](/documentation/feature-model/feature-model-overview.md) ### Prerequisites In order to follow through this HowTo you need the following on your computer: * Java 8 * Maven 3 * Command Line with Bash ### Download the Kickstart JAR File The Sling Kickstart Project JAR file can be downloaded here: [Sling Kickstart Snapshots](https://repository.apache.org/content/groups/snapshots/org/apache/sling/org.apache.sling.kickstart/0.0.1-SNAPSHOT/) Select the latest version, download it and then rename it to **org.apache.sling.kickstart-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar**. Then place the file inside the **Project Root Folder** of your choice and then open a Terminal and change to that folder: $ cd <project root folder> ### Run and Access Sling We start Sling by just executing the JAR file: $ java -jar org.apache.sling.kickstart-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar Wait a moment for Sling to launch fully then head over to the [Sling Home Page](http://localhost:8080/):  Click **Login** link and log in with **admin/admin** and then click on **browse Content** to bring up Composum to see the JCR node tree. ### Run a Service We first will stop Sling by hitting **Ctrl-C** on the command line to exit the process and then launch it with the **start** command: First check if Sling process has ended $ ps -ef | grep java Then let Sling start as service: $ java -jar org.apache.sling.kickstart-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar start & **Note**: the **&** at the end will put the process into the background. Let's check if that process is still running: $ ps -ef | grep java This should return a line like this: 501 5498 5008 0 1:10PM ttys001 0:20.17 /usr/bin/java -jar org.apache.sling.kickstart-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar start You can now use a browser to work with Sling. To get a status on the Sling service then do: $ java -jar org.apache.sling.kickstart-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar status Which should return: /127.0.0.1:52516>status /127.0.0.1:52516<OK Sent 'status' to /127.0.0.1:52481: OK Terminate VM, status: 0 To stop it do: $ java -jar org.apache.sling.kickstart-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar stop This will then show the status of the process and unix will also print then termination of the process: /127.0.0.1:52520>stop /127.0.0.1:52520<OK Stop Application Sent 'stop' to /127.0.0.1:52481: OK Terminate VM, status: 0 mac:sling-kickstart-run schaefa$ [INFO] Framework stopped [1]+ Done java -jar org.apache.sling.kickstart-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar start ### Kickstart Launch options Finally let's have a look at the launch options: $ java -jar org.apache.sling.kickstart-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar -h This will print this: Usage: java -jar <Sling Kickstarter JAR File> [-hnv] [-a=<address>] [-c=<slingHome>] [-f=<logFile>] [-i=<launcherHome>] [-j=<controlAddress>] [-l=<logLevel>] [-p=<port>] [-r=<contextPath>] [-s=<mainFeatureFile>] [-af=<additionalFeatureFile>]... [-D=<String=String>]... [COMMAND] Apache Sling Kickstart [COMMAND] Optional Command for Server Instance Interaction, can be one of: 'start', 'stop', 'status' or 'threads' -a, --address=<address> the interface to bind to (use 0.0.0.0 for any) -af, --additionalFeature=<additionalFeatureFile> additional feature files -c, --slingHome=<slingHome> the sling context directory (default sling) -D, --define=<String=String> sets property n to value v. Make sure to use this option *after* the jar filename. The JVM also has a -D option which has a different meaning -f, --logFile=<logFile> the log file, "-" for stdout (default logs/error.log) -h, --help Display the usage message. -i, --launcherHome=<launcherHome> the launcher home directory (default launcher) -j, --control=<controlAddress> host and port to use for control connection in the format '[host:]port' (default 127.0.0.1:0) -l, --logLevel=<logLevel> the initial loglevel (0..4, FATAL, ERROR, WARN, INFO, DEBUG) -n, --noShutdownHook don't install the shutdown hook -p, --port=<port> the port to listen to (default 8080) -r, --context=<contextPath> the root servlet context path for the http service (default is /) -s, --mainFeature=<mainFeatureFile> main feature file (file path or URL) replacing the provided Sling Feature File -v, --verbose the feature launcher is verbose on launch Copyright(c) 2020 The Apache Software Foundation. Most of the options are the same as for the **Sling Starter** project with these two additional options: * **-s**: allows to specify your own Sling Feature Model / Archive * **-af**: allows to add additional Feature Model / Archives (repeat for each feature file) ### Conclusion This was s short introduction into the **Sling Kickstart** project to launch Sling on your local computer to check it out, develop of test Sling applications. [Back to the Feature Model Home](/documentation/feature-model/feature-model-overview.md) ## Addendum: Build from Source To build the Kickstart project from code you need to clone and build both the Sling Kickstart Maven Plugin as well as the Sling Kickstart project. ### Clone and Build Kickstart Maven Plugin First we need to build the Maven plugin because it is needed to run the IT test in the Kickstart Project. So we clone it from GitHub: $ cd <project root folder> $ git clone git@github.com:apache/sling-kickstart-maven-plugin.git $ cd sling-kickstart-maven-plugin Now we can build the project: $ mvn clean install ### Clone and Build Kickstart Project Now we can clone the Kickstart Project: $ git clone git@github.com:apache/sling-org-apache-sling-kickstart.git $ cd sling-org-apache-sling-kickstart Now we are ready to build it and then finally run Sling. mvn clean install This will build the project but also run Sling as IT to run the Smoke IT test to make sure it is working. At the end you will find the file **org.apache.sling.kickstart-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar** in the **target** folder of our project. We could run it there but that would wipe Sling away whenever we clean the project. To avoid this will go back to the project root folder and create folder **sling-kickstart-run** folder next to folder **sling-org-apache-sling-kickstart** and copy the JAR file there: cd .. mkdir sling-kickstart-run cd sling-kickstart-run cp ../sling-org-apache-sling-kickstart/target/org.apache.sling.kickstart-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar .