An Xbean is a software component that takes XML as input, processes it in some fashion and then passes XML on to the next Xbean. Xbeans are Java Beans. Java Bean technology supports the packaging, reuse, connection and customization of Java code. With the appropriate set of Xbeans and a Java Bean design tool, it is possible to build useful XML-based distributed applications with little or no programming.

This paper describes how Xbeans can be easily composed into distributed applications, including data exchange, business to business, work flow and web channel applications. Xbeans.org is an open-source project to build a freely available repository of Xbeans.