This is a Yeoman generator that scaffolds out a freestanding web application using:

• Angular.js, Typescript and Less for the client
• Java 8 and Dropwizard for the server
• Gulp and gradle for client dependency management
• Gradle for server dependency management

Install Yeoman via npm:

$ npm install -g yo

Once you've got Yeoman set up, install this generator:

$ npm install -g generator-dropwizard-angular-gradle

Create the directory in which your new project will live, then call Yeoman to scaffold out your project:

$ mkdir awesome
$ cd awesome
$ yo dropwizard-angular-gradle

Answer a couple of easy questions, and you'll be greeted with a ready-to-rock project. Open the directory up in your Java IDE of choice (I like IDEA myself), import the project as a Gradle project, and you're good to go.

There's no need to restart the server every time you make a front-end change. When you start your client development, run:

$ gulp watch

from inside your awesome-app directory, then make changes in your favourite editor to the HTML, Less, and Typescript source files in awesome-app/src. As you save your changes, they'll automatically be compiled down into CSS and Javascript, and any open browser tabs will be kept up to date with the latest compiled files.

Wow, that was fast! Once you're ready to deploy, run:

$ ./gradlew distZip

from the root of the project, and you'll receive a handy deployable .zip with all of your Java dependencies, compiled front-end resources, and runtime configuration:

$ ls awesome-distribution/build/distributions/
$ awesome-distribution-0.0.0.zip

Use git flow and you'll get automatically-sane version tags on your deployable artefacts, too. Ship that .zip onto your server, unzip it, and start your service as you would any Dropwizard server:

$ unzip awesome-distribution-0.0.0.zip
$ cd awesome-distribution-0.0.0
$ ./bin/awesome-distribution server var/conf/server.yml

Hit up your server in a browser (http://localhost:8000/ by default), and you should see your shiny new application, live and ready to go.