Getting Started

Prerequisites

Java 21+ on PATH
An agentic CLI installed and authenticated (e.g., Claude Code, Gemini CLI, Codex)
An ACP-compatible IDE — JetBrains 2026.1+, Zed, VS Code, or any editor with ACP support

Install from Release

Download the fat JAR from the v0.4.0 release:

bud-acp-server-0.4.0-jar-with-dependencies.jar — the ACP agent

Install from Source

git clone https://github.com/markpollack/bud.git
cd bud
./mvnw package -DskipTests

This produces:

bud-acp-server/target/bud-acp-server-*-jar-with-dependencies.jar

Configure JetBrains

Create or edit ~/.jetbrains/acp.json:

{
  "agent_servers": {
    "Bud": {
      "command": "java",
      "args": [
        "-jar",
        "/path/to/bud-acp-server-0.4.0-jar-with-dependencies.jar"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Replace /path/to with the absolute path where you saved the JAR.

Restart your JetBrains IDE after editing the config.

Your First Project

Open any project in IntelliJ
Open AI Chat tool window
Select “Bud” from the agent dropdown
Type: create a REST app called hello-api in /tmp

Bud will scaffold a complete Spring Boot REST project with:

GreetingController with GET endpoint
GreetingService with business logic
ProblemDetail error handling
Working tests
Maven wrapper

Verify

cd /tmp/hello-api
./mvnw test

What You Can Ask

Bud understands natural language and routes your request to the right approach. Here are tested prompts organized by what Bud does with them.

Known patterns (instant, no LLM code gen)

These match one of Bud’s 9 reference projects — Bud uses proven, working code directly:

Prompt	Reference Project
”create a simple spring boot app”	`spring-boot-minimal`
”create a basic spring boot application”	`spring-boot-minimal`
”create a greeting api”	`spring-boot-rest`
”create a hello world rest service”	`spring-boot-rest`
”spring boot app with actuator”	`spring-boot-actuator`
”create an app with health checks”	`spring-boot-actuator`
”create a batch job”	`spring-boot-batch`
”build a CSV processing batch application”	`spring-boot-batch`
”create a scheduled task processor”	`spring-boot-scheduling`
”rest api with security”	`spring-boot-security`
”create a secure web application”	`spring-boot-security`
”create a spring boot app with JPA”	`spring-boot-jpa`
”create a rest api without database”	`spring-boot-rest`
”build an api with no database”	`spring-boot-rest`

Domain apps (LLM-expanded with real business code)

These have specific business entities — Bud scaffolds a base project and expands it with domain models, repositories, services, and controllers:

Prompt	Domain
”build a todo api”	Todo CRUD
”build a customer management system”	Customer entities
”create a customer tracking system”	Customer tracking
”create an inventory management api”	Inventory
”build an order processing system with JPA”	Order processing
”create an employee directory application”	Employee directory
”build a product catalog service”	Product catalog
”build a hotel reservation and booking system”	Reservations
”build an e-commerce backend with payments”	E-commerce

Edge cases (handled gracefully)

Prompt	Behavior
”spring boot management system”	Too vague — builds minimal app, no over-expansion
”create a spring boot app with JPA and security”	Multi-capability — picks best match

How It Works

When you send a message to Bud in AI Chat:

JetBrains sends the prompt to Bud’s ACP agent over stdio
Bud’s LLM classifier (Sonnet, running on your approved CLI) analyzes the intent — capabilities, domain entities, best-fit reference project
The execution planner routes to the right tier:
- CACHE — matches a reference project, uses working code directly
- INITIALIZR — generates via start.spring.io (Boot 3.x, Gradle)
- EXPAND — starts from a reference project, then AI generates domain-specific code
Tools execute deterministically — no LLM in the actual scaffolding. Your CLI is only used for classification and domain code generation.
Results stream back through ACP to your chat window

The first prompt may take 30-60 seconds (CLI startup + classification + MCP server startup). Subsequent prompts in the same session are faster.

Projects

AgentWorks

Agento

Supporting Projects

Migration

Prerequisites

Install from Release

Install from Source

Configure JetBrains

Your First Project

Verify

What You Can Ask

Known patterns (instant, no LLM code gen)

Domain apps (LLM-expanded with real business code)

Edge cases (handled gracefully)

How It Works

​Prerequisites

​Install from Release

​Install from Source

​Configure JetBrains

​Your First Project

​Verify

​What You Can Ask

​Known patterns (instant, no LLM code gen)

​Domain apps (LLM-expanded with real business code)

​Edge cases (handled gracefully)

​How It Works

Prerequisites

Install from Release

Install from Source

Configure JetBrains

Your First Project

Verify

What You Can Ask

Known patterns (instant, no LLM code gen)

Domain apps (LLM-expanded with real business code)

Edge cases (handled gracefully)

How It Works