A build stage is a Quarkus extension processing unit: a method annotated with @BuildStep that consumes and produces build items during application build time. Build stages reside in deployment-side processors and form a graph of build-time actions. section 12.2.2 section 12.2.3
A build stage commonly performs these operations:
- Consumes build items supplied by Quarkus or other extensions, such as application metadata, dependency information, or the Jandex application index. section 12.2.3 section 12.3.5
- Creates application models, validates class usage, registers CDI beans, or produces integration items such as HTTP routes and request filters. section 12.2.3 section 12.3.5
- Calls a recorder when runtime behavior must be represented as generated bytecode rather than executed immediately. section 12.2.2
- Uses STATIC_INIT or RUNTIME_INIT to control when recorded bytecode runs; STATIC_INIT can execute during native image construction. section 12.3.5 section 12.6
Generating a metadata endpoint
A processor can consume application name, version, and dependency build items, assemble a metadata JSON object, pass it to a recorder, and produce a RouteBuildItem. The Vert.x HTTP extension then consumes that item to register the configured endpoint. section 12.3.5
Figure 12.1 The relationships between build-time processing components and how they translate to runtime
Trace how processors exchange build items, invoke recorders, and translate build-time processing into runtime behavior. section 12.2.3
