Maven Repositories in JFrog Artifactory¶

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Maven is one of the most popular build tools for Java projects. JFrog Artifactory provides first-class Maven support — acting as a proxy for Maven Central, a home for your in-house JARs, and a single unified endpoint for all Maven resolution.

All steps below use JFrog SaaS at https://<company>.jfrog.io.

What You'll Build¶

By the end of this tutorial you will have:

maven-snapshots-local  [LOCAL]  → your team's SNAPSHOT builds
maven-releases-local   [LOCAL]  → your team's versioned releases
maven-central-remote   [REMOTE] → proxy of Maven Central
maven-virtual          [VIRTUAL]→ single URL aggregating all three

Step 1: Create a Local Repository — Snapshots¶

Local repositories store artifacts produced by your team.

Go to Administration → Repositories → + New Repository
Select Local
Choose Maven as the package type
Set Repository Key: maven-snapshots-local
Under Maven Settings:
Handle Releases: ❌ Off
Handle Snapshots: ✅ On
Suppress POM Consistency Checks: Off (leave default)
Click Create Local Repository

Step 2: Create a Local Repository — Releases¶

Repeat the process, this time set Repository Key: maven-releases-local
Under Maven Settings:
Handle Releases: ✅ On
Handle Snapshots: ❌ Off
Click Create Local Repository

Why Two Local Repos?¶

Repo	Contains	Redeploy Allowed?
`maven-snapshots-local`	`-SNAPSHOT` builds from dev	✅ Yes (snapshots change often)
`maven-releases-local`	Stable `1.0.0`, `2.3.1` releases	❌ No (immutable once released)

Step 3: Create a Remote Repository — Maven Central¶

A Remote Repository proxies Maven Central and caches downloaded artifacts.

Go to Administration → Repositories → + New Repository
Select Remote
Choose Maven
Set Repository Key: maven-central-remote
Set URL: https://repo1.maven.org/maven2
Leave other settings as default
Click Create Remote Repository

What happens behind the scenes?¶

Developer requests: org.springframework.boot:spring-boot:3.2.0
                         │
            JFrog checks maven-central-remote cache
                         │
                ┌────────┴──────────┐
                │ Cached?           │ Not cached?
                │                  │
                ▼                  ▼
         Return cached       Fetch from
            artifact        Maven Central
                                  │
                                  ▼
                          Cache in Artifactory
                          Return to developer

Step 4: Create a Virtual Repository¶

The Virtual Repository gives developers and CI pipelines one single URL.

Go to Administration → Repositories → + New Repository
Select Virtual
Choose Maven
Set Repository Key: maven-virtual
Under Repositories, add them in this order:
maven-releases-local
maven-snapshots-local
maven-central-remote
Set Default Deployment Repository: maven-snapshots-local (CI publishes SNAPSHOTs by default; releases need explicit config)
Click Create Virtual Repository

Step 5: Configure Maven to Use JFrog SaaS¶

Option A: `~/.m2/settings.xml` (Recommended)¶

Add this to your Maven settings.xml to route all dependency resolution through JFrog:

<settings>
  <servers>
    <server>
      <id>jfrog-artifactory</id>
      <username>your-username</username>
      <password>your-access-token</password>
    </server>
  </servers>

  <mirrors>
    <mirror>
      <id>jfrog-artifactory</id>
      <mirrorOf>*</mirrorOf>
      <url>https://<company>.jfrog.io/artifactory/maven-virtual</url>
    </mirror>
  </mirrors>

  <profiles>
    <profile>
      <id>jfrog</id>
      <repositories>
        <repository>
          <id>jfrog-artifactory</id>
          <url>https://<company>.jfrog.io/artifactory/maven-virtual</url>
        </repository>
      </repositories>
    </profile>
  </profiles>
  <activeProfiles>
    <activeProfile>jfrog</activeProfile>
  </activeProfiles>
</settings>

Option B: `pom.xml` (Per-project)¶

Add the distribution management section to publish artifacts:

<distributionManagement>
  <repository>
    <id>jfrog-artifactory</id>
    <url>https://<company>.jfrog.io/artifactory/maven-releases-local</url>
  </repository>
  <snapshotRepository>
    <id>jfrog-artifactory</id>
    <url>https://<company>.jfrog.io/artifactory/maven-snapshots-local</url>
  </snapshotRepository>
</distributionManagement>

Step 6: Publish an Artifact¶

Run the Maven deploy command:

mvn deploy

After a successful build, navigate to Application → Artifactory → Artifacts to see your JAR in maven-snapshots-local or maven-releases-local.

Repository Comparison Summary¶

Feature	Local	Remote	Virtual
Stores your builds	✅	❌	❌
Proxies Maven Central	❌	✅	❌
Single URL for devs	❌	❌	✅
Publish target for CI	✅	❌	Delegates to local
Resolve dependencies	✅	✅	✅ (best choice)
Network isolation	Partial	Full cache	Full (via remote)

Use Cases¶

Scenario	Solution
Developer pulls `spring-boot` dependency	Remote repo proxies Maven Central, caches locally
CI publishes a `1.0.0-SNAPSHOT` JAR	Deploys to `maven-snapshots-local`
CI promotes a release to `1.0.0`	Deploys to `maven-releases-local`
New developer joins — one line of config needed	Point `settings.xml` mirror to `maven-virtual`
Maven Central is down	Builds still work — all cached in remote repo

Next Steps¶

👉 Docker Repositories 👉 Build Info & Promotion 👉 JFrog CLI Basics

🧠 Quick Quiz¶

#

What is the recommended deployment target repository when using a Virtual Maven repository?

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