Creating Executable Java Archives Written for Maven <build> <plugins> <plugin> <!-- Build an executable JAR --> <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId> <artifactId>maven-jar-plugin</artifactId> <version>3.1.0</version> <configuration> <archive> <manifest> <addClasspath>true</addClasspath> <classpathPrefix>lib/</classpathPrefix> <mainClass>com.mypackage.MyClass</mainClass> </manifest> </archive> </configuration> </plugin> </plugins> </build> Written for Ant <jar destfile="build/main/checksites.jar"> <fileset dir="build/main/classes"/> <zipfileset includes="**/*.class" src="lib/main/some.jar"/> <manifest> <attribute name="Main-Class" value="com.acme.checksites.Main"/> </manifest> </jar> Written for Gradle plugins { id 'java' } jar { manifest { attributes( 'Main-Class': 'com.mypackage.MyClass' ) } }