Spring Shell Application Exits Immediately Without Starting Interactive Mode

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Description

Spring Shell application completes startup successfully but exits immediately instead of entering interactive mode. The application context starts, all beans are created, and the application reaches ACCEPTING_TRAFFIC readiness state, but then the shutdown hook is triggered immediately.

Configuration

application.yml

spring:
  application:
    name: mudis
    version: 0.0.1
  profiles:
    active: dev
  shell:
    interactive:
      enabled: true
    command:
      script:
        enabled: false
    context:
      close: false
  main:
    banner-mode: console
  banner:
    location: banner.txt

mudis:
  server:
    port: 8888
    host: localhost

Main Application Class

package io.mudis.mudis;

import org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication;
import org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.SpringBootApplication;

@SpringBootApplication(
        proxyBeanMethods = false,
        scanBasePackages = {
                "io.mudis.mudis.client",
                "io.mudis.mudis.server",
                "io.mudis.mudis.command",
        })
public class MudisCLI {

    static void main(String... args) {
        SpringApplication.run(MudisCLI.class, args);
    }
}

Relevant Log Sections

Successful Startup

2026-02-04T16:58:39.723+04:00  INFO 42718 --- [mudis] [           main] io.mudis.mudis.MudisCLI                  : Started MudisCLI in 1.642 seconds (process running for 2.027)
2026-02-04T16:58:39.726+04:00 DEBUG 42718 --- [mudis] [           main] o.s.b.a.ApplicationAvailabilityBean      : Application availability state LivenessState changed to CORRECT
2026-02-04T16:58:39.730+04:00 DEBUG 42718 --- [mudis] [           main] o.s.b.a.ApplicationAvailabilityBean      : Application availability state ReadinessState changed to ACCEPTING_TRAFFIC

Immediate Shutdown

2026-02-04T16:58:39.732+04:00 DEBUG 42718 --- [mudis] [ionShutdownHook] s.c.a.AnnotationConfigApplicationContext : Closing org.springframework.context.annotation.AnnotationConfigApplicationContext@74589991, started on Wed Feb 04 16:58:38 GMT+04:00 2026

Conditional Matches (Shell Configuration)

ShellRunnerAutoConfiguration#systemShellRunner matched:
   - @ConditionalOnMissingClass did not find unwanted class 'org.springframework.shell.jline.DefaultJLineShellConfiguration' (OnClassCondition)
   - @ConditionalOnProperty (spring.shell.interactive.enabled=true) matched (OnPropertyCondition)

ShellRunnerAutoConfiguration#springShellApplicationRunner matched:
   - @ConditionalOnMissingBean (types: org.springframework.boot.ApplicationRunner; SearchStrategy: all) did not find any beans (OnBeanCondition)

Expected Behavior

The application should:

1. Complete startup
2. Display the Spring Shell prompt
3. Wait for user input in interactive mode
4. Remain running until the user exits

Actual Behavior

The application:

1. Completes startup successfully
2. Immediately triggers the shutdown hook
3. Exits with code 0 without entering interactive mode

Additional Context

The logs show that:

• spring.shell.interactive.enabled=true is properly configured
• systemShellRunner bean is created successfully
• springShellApplicationRunner bean is created successfully
• consoleInputProvider bean is created successfully
• All auto-configuration conditions match correctly

However, there's a warning about Netty's sun.misc.Unsafe being unavailable on Java 25, though this appears to be handled gracefully:

2026-02-04T16:58:39.313+04:00 DEBUG 42718 --- [mudis] [           main] i.n.util.internal.PlatformDependent0     : sun.misc.Unsafe: unavailable (io.netty.noUnsafe=true by default on Java 25+)

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After adding the JLine dependency, the issue was resolved.

 <dependency>
     <groupId>org.springframework.shell</groupId>
     <artifactId>spring-shell-jline</artifactId>
 </dependency>

For the @SpringBootApplication starter to work, the JLine dependency must be added. I went through the migration guide but couldn't find this detail mentioned.

It would be helpful if this information were included in the documentation.