You can also shut down your application by using the /shutdown endpoint. But by default, this endpoint is disabled, so first, you have to enable the /shutdown endpoint, and then you can use it as follows:

endpoints.shutdown.enabled=true

Let's enable it by using the application.yml file:

endpoints:
   shutdown:
         enabled: true 

Let's invoke the /shutdown endpoint and see what happens:

POST http://localhost:8080/shutdown

The preceding is a POST request. It returns the following response:

{
    "message": "Shutting down, bye..."
} 

This /shutdown endpoint can kill your application, so you have to take care with this endpoint.

Spring Boot's Actuator provides most of the insight you require concerning your running application in production, but sometimes it is not enough for your needs. That is why Spring Boot also allows you to customize the Actuator endpoints.

Let's see in the next section how to customize the endpoints of Spring Boot's Actuator.