Installation

Getting started with a new web framework can be a bit scary. Luckily, Scalatra is easy to install, as it has relatively few dependencies.

It can run on Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, or BSD.

1. Install a JDK

Scalatra is web micro-framework written in Scala, so you’ll need to have a Java Development Kit (JDK) installed.

Many systems come with a JDK pre-loaded.

Run java -version and javac -version in a terminal to find if yours does. The output should look something like this:

$ java -version
openjdk version "11.0.20.1" 2023-08-24 LTS
OpenJDK Runtime Environment Zulu11.66+19-CA (build 11.0.20.1+1-LTS)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM Zulu11.66+19-CA (build 11.0.20.1+1-LTS, mixed mode)

$ javac -version
javac 11.0.20.1

You need Java 11 or above (Oracle’s JDK, OpenJDK, AdoptOpenJDK and various other distributions exist), which will show up as version 11. Java 8 is no longer supported in Scalatra 3.0.

If you don’t yet have Java installed, you can find out how to install it for your system over at the Oracle’s Java download page or the OpenJDK installation page or AdoptOpenJDK download page.

2. Install sbt

Once you’re sure you’ve got Java installed, you will need to install the sbt.

sbt is a build tool for Scala, Java, and more. It can create a new project from the template repository.

In order to create a new project of Scalatra from the template, sbt 0.13.13 or later needs to be installed. To install sbt, refer to the Installing sbt page.

For example, if it is macOS, you can install it by brew command as follows.

$ brew install sbt
$ sbt
...
...
> sbtVersion
[info] 1.9.7

With installation out of the way, head over to the “first project“ page, which will show you how to generate, build, and run a Scalatra application.