You can add Class-Path attr to your app jar manifest, this is how we do it in Maven
<plugin> <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId> <artifactId>maven-jar-plugin</artifactId> ... <configuration> <archive> <manifest> <addClasspath>true</addClasspath> </manifest> </archive> </configuration> ... </plugin> this way there's no limit for classpath length