Optional Locations

By default, when a specified config data location does not exist, Spring Boot will throw a ConfigDataLocationNotFoundException and your application will not start.

If you want to specify a location, but you do not mind if it does not always exist, you can use the optional: prefix. You can use this prefix with the spring.config.location and spring.config.additional-location properties, as well as with spring.config.import declarations.

For example, a spring.config.import value of optional:file:./myconfig.properties allows your application to start, even if the myconfig.properties file is missing.

If you want to ignore all ConfigDataLocationNotFoundExceptions and always continue to start your application, you can use the spring.config.on-not-found property. Set the value to ignore using SpringApplication.setDefaultProperties(…​) or with a system/environment variable.