Spring Boot 4 Observability Options: Boot UI, Spring Boot Admin, and Ostara
A practical comparison of three observability tools for Spring Boot 4 applications
Robin Tegg
Java Developer by trade, AI Explorer by choice, and a Spring Boot Wizard at heart. I specialize in building robust, scalable applications and systems while actively integrating the power of Generative AI into modern software workflows. Beyond the IDE, I'm a firm believer in sharing knowledge and fostering the developer community. I thrive at the intersection of enterprise reliability and cutting-edge automation, always looking for the next challenge that requires a mix of clean code and creative…
Latest posts
Adopting Agent plugin standards in ai-toolkit
I updated ai-toolkit to follow the new Agent plugin standard, rewired the installer, and added a Javadoc Central plugin.
July 2026 AI Retrospective
Skills, MCPs, and feedback loops took the centre of my July AI work.
Screaming Architecture for Agents
AI agents default to three-layer codebases because that's what most public projects use. Here's why that matters and how a reusable skill fixes it.
June 2026 AI Retrospective
Claude certification, Copilot cost pressure, and why local-first AI experiments moved up my list in June.
From YouTube Videos to 5-Minute Blog Articles with AI
A workflow that turns any YouTube URL into a 5-minute readable article using AI, with commentary on the tools and techniques along the way.
Hypermedia APIs for Autonomous Agents
An extended write-up of the hypermedia API hypothesis for agent workflows with Spring HATEOAS and HAL-FORMS.
May 2026 AI Retrospective
Discovery-first workflows, toolkit curation and Copilot still rules.
Curating Your Own AI Toolkit Repository
Why I created ai-toolkit to manage prompts, agents, skills, and instructions, and how a published catalog plus JBang installer helps me start faster.
A Discovery Agent for Your VSCode Workflow
How a dedicated discovery agent bridges the gap between VSCode Copilot's Plan and Ask modes, mapping scope before you commit to a solution.
April 2026 AI Retrospective
Consolidation, knowledge bases, and trying out the new wave of harness tools, a personal retrospective on April 2026.
Exploring MCP with Spring AI
MCP gives your LLM access to external systems via your agent. Spring AI makes it straightforward to build MCP servers in Java using annotations.
Why a Consistent Voice Matters (and How a Writing Skill Helps)
A short note on why voice consistency matters as content output grows, and how a writing skill plus an agent-driven quiz loop keeps posts aligned.
March 2026 AI Retrospective
Harnesses, orchestrators, and the growing ecosystem of AI workflow tooling, a personal retrospective on March 2026.
Getting Started with the Java Copilot SDK
Using the Java Copilot SDK to write programmable agentic workflows on top of GitHub Copilot instead of relying on Markdown instructions.
AI Feedback: Close the Loop
How to close the AI feedback loop after every ticket, using a reusable Copilot prompt to update instructions and tests so the AI improves over time.
Orchestrating AI Workflows with Copilot Agents, Prompts, and Skills
A mental model for AI orchestration that mirrors clean code: Agents define the workflow, Prompts execute a phase, and Skills perform the atomic actions.
Introducing awesome-java-ui.com
How a popular guide to Java UI frameworks became a dedicated website, and what awesome-java-ui.com aims to do for the community.
February 2026 AI Retrospective
A personal journey through AI tools, skills, and agent workflows in February 2026.
Java UI in 2026: The Complete Guide
A comprehensive overview of Java UI frameworks across desktop, web, mobile, and terminal platforms in 2026.
January 2026 AI Retrospective
A personal journey through AI tools, skills, and agent workflows in January 2026.
Bring your Java skills to AI Agent Skills with JBang
Learn how to build GitHub Copilot skills using Java and JBang instead of Python or JavaScript.
Leveraging AI to Build Your Own Custom Tooling
Using AI coding assistants to create custom scripts and tools that automate workflow friction points and repetitive tasks.
Introducing the Feeds Page: Taking Back Control of Your Content
A new RSS feeds page showcasing curated sources for Java development, architecture, and software engineering without algorithmic filtering.
Podcast List Update for 2026
Curating and managing podcast subscriptions for 2026, featuring REWORK and Tech Lead Journal.
Self-Contained Systems for AI Coding Agents
How the Self-Contained Systems architecture pattern provides optimal code structure for AI coding agents to understand and modify.
JReleaser - Practice makes perfect
Getting started with JReleaser for automated Java project releases to Maven Central and multiple distribution channels.
The Changelog\: Software Development, Open Source [New Podcast]
Engineering Culture by InfoQ [New Podcast]
AWS Podcast [New Podcast]
The Stack Overflow Podcast [New Podcast]
Pragmatism in Practice [New Podcast]
Foojay.io, the Friends Of OpenJDK! [New Podcast]
REWORK [New Podcast]
The AWS Developers Podcast [New Podcast]
Decoder with Nilay Patel [New Podcast]
airhacks.fm podcast with adam bien [New Podcast]
Tech Lead Journal [New Podcast]
Thoughtworks Technology Podcast [New Podcast]
Software Engineering Radio - the podcast for professional software developers [New Podcast]
The InfoQ Podcast [New Podcast]
Chrome Extensions Make Great Developer Tools
Why Chrome extensions are powerful for building custom developer tools and automating web-based workflows.
Exposing Spring Shell to MCP Clients
Expose Spring Shell commands as MCP tools for GitHub Copilot and other AI assistants using Spring AI server integration.
Easy Maven Publishing with JitPack.io
Publish Java libraries to JitPack from GitHub without Maven Central setup—just tag and push to deploy.
j2html Extensions 0.0.3 Released
Release announcement for j2html Extensions 0.0.3 with Maven BOM support for managing Bootstrap, HTMX, and Spring Boot starter artifacts.
Create iPhone shortcut for sharing links
Building an iOS shortcut to share links from any app directly to a custom web service without a dedicated app.
Pretty Maven unit test output
Improve Maven Surefire test output with the JUnit 5 Tree Reporter plugin for hierarchical test visualization.
Maven 4 incoming
Key changes coming in Maven 4 including Java 17 requirement, subproject terminology, and new BOM package type.
Pretty command line apps with added JBang.
Discovering ConsoleUI and AsciiTable libraries for building interactive and professional command-line applications with JBang.