Flamewing

Status: Experimental

Java Version: 17+

Learning Curve: Easy

Last Release: Active (February 2026)

Flamewing is a modern, high-performance server-side template engine designed specifically for Spring and Spring Boot applications. Using a minimal, Java-centric syntax built around a single special character (@), Flamewing lets developers embed Java directly in HTML templates without learning a new language or DSL. Templates are compiled into Java classes at build time rather than interpreted at runtime, which makes Flamewing significantly faster than interpreted engines — benchmark results show it renders pages over 30× faster than Thymeleaf and slightly faster than Rocker.

Key features include component-based development with reusable fragments, reverse routing (Flamewing resolves controller URLs at runtime so template links stay valid even when endpoint paths change), null-safety operators, @with scoped variable blocks, content blocks, CSRF helpers for Spring Security integration, and full support for standard Java for/if/else syntax. Flamewing is fully open source (free for commercial use) and currently in early but active development. It is an ideal choice for Spring Boot teams that want the safety and speed of server-side rendering with minimal new syntax to learn.

Code Example


            // ProductController.java
            @Controller
            public class ProductController {
            
                @GetMapping("/products")
                public View products(Model model) {
                    List<String> items = List.of("Widget", "Gadget", "Doohickey");
                    return View.of("products", model.addAttribute("items", items));
                }
            }


            <!-- products.flamewing -->
            @import java.util.List;
            
            @args(List<String> items)
            <html>
            <body>
                <h1>Product List</h1>
                @if (items.isEmpty()) {
                    <p>No products found.</p>
                } else {
                    <ul>
                    @for (String item : items) {
                        <li>@item</li>
                    }
                    </ul>
                }
                <a href="@routes.ProductController.products()">Refresh</a>
            </body>
            </html>