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Publish a Component

Learn how to publish your component add-on to Maven Central and the Vaadin Directory.

This article covers how to publish a packaged component add-on so others can use it. Make sure you have packaged your component before proceeding.

Versioning

Follow semantic versioning for your add-on releases:

  • Major — breaking API changes (1.0.0 to 2.0.0)

  • Minor — new features, backward compatible (1.0.0 to 1.1.0)

  • Patch — bug fixes, backward compatible (1.0.0 to 1.0.1)

When releasing a new version:

  1. Update the version in pom.xml.

  2. Build and test the add-on.

  3. Deploy to Maven Central and/or upload to the Vaadin Directory.

For automating releases, consider using the Maven Release Plugin, which handles version bumping, tagging, and deployment in a single command.

If your add-on supports multiple Vaadin major versions, consider maintaining separate branches for each — for example, main for the latest version and a dedicated branch for each older major version. This keeps each branch focused and simplifies testing.

Publishing to Maven Central

Publishing to Maven Central is the recommended way to distribute your add-on. It allows users to add it as a standard Maven dependency without any special repository configuration. For better visibility in the Vaadin community, you should still list add-ons distributed via Maven Central in the Vaadin Directory.

Publishing to Maven Central requires:

  • A Central Portal account

  • GPG signing of artifacts

  • The central-publishing-maven-plugin in your POM

This process is not Vaadin-specific. Follow the Central Portal Maven publishing guide for detailed instructions.

Publishing to the Vaadin Directory

The Vaadin Directory is Vaadin’s marketplace for add-ons. Publishing there gives your component visibility within the Vaadin community and makes it discoverable alongside other Vaadin components.

Build the Add-on ZIP

Build your add-on with the directory Maven profile:

Source code
terminal
mvn clean install -Pdirectory

This produces a ZIP file in the target/ directory containing your JAR and its manifest.

Upload to the Directory

  1. Go to vaadin.com/directory and sign in.

  2. Click Publish your add-on.

  3. Upload the ZIP file from your target/ directory.

  4. Fill in the add-on details: name, description, and category.

  5. Click Publish.

After review, your add-on appears in the directory and other developers can find it.

Writing a Good Overview

The directory listing is the first thing developers see. A good overview helps them decide whether to use your add-on.

Include the following:

Screenshots or GIFs — show what the component looks like in action. A visual preview is worth more than paragraphs of description.

Supported Vaadin versions — state which versions of Vaadin the add-on supports and the minimum version required.

Minimal usage example — a short code snippet showing how to add the component to a view:

Source code
Java
StatusBadge badge = new StatusBadge("Active", Status.SUCCESS);
add(badge);

Features and limitations — list what the component does and what it doesn’t do. This saves developers time and sets expectations.

Browser support — mention any browser-specific limitations if applicable.

Updating the Manifest

The assembly/MANIFEST.MF file contains metadata that the Vaadin Directory uses to display your add-on:

Source code
Vaadin-Package-Version: 1
Implementation-Title: My Status Badge Component
Implementation-Version: 1.0.0
Vaadin-Addon-Name: Status Badge
Vaadin-Addon-License: Apache-2.0

Update this file before each release to reflect the current version and any changes to the add-on metadata.