Full-Stack Simplicity Meets Agentic AI: An Introduction to Apache Grails 8

**Abstract** Join us for an introduction to Apache Grails 8, the latest major release of the high-productivity, Groovy-based web framework built on Spring Boot. Grails continues to deliver on its core promise of dramatically simplifying full-stack Java development through convention-over-configuration, expressive DSLs, powerful GORM data access across SQL and NoSQL, flexible views, a rich plugin ecosystem, and seamless Spring Boot integration, while aligning with the modern Java 21+ and Spring Boot 4 ecosystem for better performance, modularity, and developer experience. This session highlights what is new and improved in Grails 8, including key dependency upgrades, stronger alignment with the latest Spring and Gradle advancements, and the framework’s continued maturation as a Top-Level Apache project. We will take it several levels higher by weaving in advanced Agentic Engineering practices and AI-driven workflows. This is exactly how modern development happens now. See how Grails’ elegant simplicity and rapid feedback loops become a perfect multiplier for AI agents, enabling intelligent scaffolding, automated code generation and refactoring, smarter testing, documentation, and even orchestrating complex feature implementation. Whether you are using agents to explore, plan, implement, verify, or release Grails applications, you will discover practical patterns that turn vibe coding into durable, maintainable, high-velocity engineering.