Where to Go Next

Resources and next steps.

Thymeleaf Extras

The core Thymeleaf library covers most use cases, but there are official extras that extend its capabilities. These are maintained by the Thymeleaf team and integrate cleanly with Spring Boot.


# Common extras to add to your pom.xml

# Security integration
<dependency>
    <groupId>org.thymeleaf.extras</groupId>
    <artifactId>thymeleaf-extras-springsecurity5</artifactId>
</dependency>

# Java 8 time formatting
<dependency>
    <groupId>org.thymeleaf.extras</groupId>
    <artifactId>thymeleaf-extras-java8time</artifactId>
</dependency>

The security extras give you tags like sec:authorize for role-based rendering. The Java 8 time extras add support for the #temporals utility with modern date/time types.

Spring WebFlux Integration

If you're building reactive applications with Spring WebFlux, Thymeleaf has you covered. The reactive integration works almost identically to the servlet-based version.


# pom.xml
<dependency>
    <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
    <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-thymeleaf</artifactId>
</dependency>
<dependency>
    <groupId>org.thymeleaf</groupId>
    <artifactId>thymeleaf-reactor</artifactId>
</dependency>

The key difference is that you return Mono<String> from your handlers instead of plain strings. Thymeleaf integrates with Reactor so template rendering happens reactively, which is great for non-blocking I/O.

Try it Yourself →

Thymeleaf Layouts

The Thymeleaf Layout Dialect lets you create page layouts with decorators. It's perfect for applications that share a common structure across many pages.


# pom.xml
<dependency>
    <groupId>nz.net.ultraq.thymeleaf</groupId>
    <artifactId>thymeleaf-layout-dialect</artifactId>
</dependency>

# layout.html (decorator)
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html xmlns:th="http://www.thymeleaf.org"
      xmlns:layout="http://www.ultraq.net.nz/thymeleaf/layout">
<head>
    <title layout:title-pattern="$CONTENT_TITLE - My App">My App</title>
</head>
<body>
    <header>Common header</header>
    <div layout:fragment="content"></div>
    <footer>Common footer</footer>
</body>
</html>

# child page.html
<div layout:decorate="~{layout}" layout:fragment="content">
    <h1>Page-specific content</h1>
</div>

With layouts, you write your page content once, and the decorator wraps it with the common header, footer, and navigation. It's the DRY principle applied to page structure.

Community Resources

The Thymeleaf community is active and helpful. Here are the best places to learn more and get help.


# Official documentation
https://www.thymeleaf.org/doc/tutorials/3.0/usingthymeleaf.html

# Spring Boot + Thymeleaf guide
https://spring.io/guides/gs/serving-web-content

# Thymeleaf on GitHub
https://github.com/thymeleaf/thymeleaf

# Stack Overflow tag
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/thymeleaf

The official documentation is thorough and well-written. The Spring guides are great for getting started quickly. And Stack Overflow has answers to almost every Thymeleaf question you'll encounter.

Next Steps

You've covered the essentials of Thymeleaf — from basic expressions to building a complete blog. Now it's time to build something real. Pick a project, apply what you've learned, and don't be afraid to dig into the documentation when you need to.


# Ideas for your next project

1. Build a portfolio site with dynamic project pages
2. Create a dashboard with charts and real-time data
3. Make a multi-language site with Thymeleaf i18n
4. Add WebSocket-powered notifications to your templates
5. Build a form-heavy application with complex validation

Thymeleaf rewards practice. The more you use it, the more natural it becomes. And with Spring Boot handling the heavy lifting, you can focus on what matters — building great user experiences.

← Best Practices