Summary

A web-based Groovy console for interactive runtime application management and debugging

Installation

The 1.X version is for Grails 2.

The 2.0.X version is for Grails 3.0 - 3.2.

The 2.1.X version is for Grails 3.3+.

Grails 2

Add a dependency in BuildConfig.groovy:

grails.project.dependency.resolution = {
  // ...
  plugins {
    runtime ':console:1.5.12'
    // ...
  }
}

Grails 3+

Note: If using Grails 3.0.4, you need to update the asset-pipeline dependency in build.gradle to 3.0.6 or greater. 3.0.5 is used by default and has a bug that prevents the console page from rendering.

Note: If using Grails 3.0.12, you will need to add this to your configuration: grails.resources.pattern = '/**'. There is a bug related to resource paths.

Add a dependency in build.gradle

runtime 'org.grails.plugins:grails-console:2.1.1'

Usage

Use a browser to navigate to the /console page of your running app, e.g. http://localhost:8080/{app-name}/console

Type any Groovy commands in the console text area, then click on the execute button. The console plugin relies on Groovy Shell. Lookup Groovy Shell documentation for more information. The Groovy Shell uses the Grails classloader, so you can access any class or artifact (e.g. domain classes, services, etc.) just like in your application code.

Saving/loading scripts

Click on the Save button to save the current script.

Use the Storage pane to navigate existing files. Click on a file to load it into the editor.

There are currently two storage options available:

Local Storage

Local Storage uses HTML5 Web Storage. The files are serialized and stored in the browser as a map under the key gconsole.files.

Remote Storage

Remote Storage uses the filesystem of the server on which the application is running.

Writing to the browser console

Calls made to the implicit console variable will be executed on the browser's console. The arguments are serialized as JSON and the calls are queued to run after the script completes.

Example:

Implicit variables

The following implicit variables are available:

• ctx - the Spring ApplicationContext
• grailsApplication - the GrailsApplication instance
• config - the Grails configuration
• request - the current HTTP request
• session - the current HTTP session
• out - the output PrintStream

See Script Examples for example usage.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Configuration

The following configuration options are available:

Security

By default (as of v1.5.0) the console plugin is only enabled in the development environment. You can enable or disable it for any environment with the grails.plugin.console.enabled config option in Config.groovy / application.groovy (Grails 3). If the plugin is enabled in non-development environments, be sure to guard access using a security plugin like Spring Security Core or Shiro. For Grails 2.x, the paths /console/** and /plugins/console*/** should be secured. For Grails 3.x, the paths /console/** and /static/console/** should be secured.

Spring Security Core example:

grails.plugin.springsecurity.controllerAnnotations.staticRules = [
    [pattern:"/console/**",          access:['ROLE_ADMIN']],
    [pattern:"/plugins/console*/**", access:['ROLE_ADMIN']],  // Grails 2.x
    [pattern:"/static/console/**",   access:['ROLE_ADMIN']], // Grails 3.x
]

Another example restricting access to localhost IPs:

grails.plugin.springsecurity.controllerAnnotations.staticRules = [
    [pattern:"/console/**",          access:["hasRole('ROLE_ADMIN') && (hasIpAddress('127.0.0.1') || hasIpAddress('::1'))"]],
    [pattern:"/plugins/console*/**", access:["hasRole('ROLE_ADMIN') && (hasIpAddress('127.0.0.1') || hasIpAddress('::1'))"]], // Grails 2.x
    [pattern:"/static/console/**",   access:["hasRole('ROLE_ADMIN') && (hasIpAddress('127.0.0.1') || hasIpAddress('::1'))"]], // Grails 3.x
]

Authors

• Siegfried Puchbauer
• Mingfai Ma
• Burt Beckwith
• Matt Sheehan
• Mike Hugo

Development

Please see CONTRIBUTING.md