diff --git a/spring-bootstrap-cli/samples/runner.groovy b/spring-bootstrap-cli/samples/runner.groovy
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..a5598ac968a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spring-bootstrap-cli/samples/runner.groovy
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+package org.test
+
+class Runner implements CommandLineRunner {
+
+	void run(String... args) {
+		print "Hello World!"
+	}
+}
+
+
diff --git a/spring-bootstrap-cli/samples/runner.xml b/spring-bootstrap-cli/samples/runner.xml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..2a8f5aad1a4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spring-bootstrap-cli/samples/runner.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
+	xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
+	xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans.xsd">
+
+	<bean id="runner" class="org.test.Runner"/>
+
+</beans>
+
diff --git a/spring-bootstrap-cli/src/main/java/org/springframework/bootstrap/cli/compiler/GroovyCompiler.java b/spring-bootstrap-cli/src/main/java/org/springframework/bootstrap/cli/compiler/GroovyCompiler.java
index 2c5d30893f6..fefdbcaf947 100644
--- a/spring-bootstrap-cli/src/main/java/org/springframework/bootstrap/cli/compiler/GroovyCompiler.java
+++ b/spring-bootstrap-cli/src/main/java/org/springframework/bootstrap/cli/compiler/GroovyCompiler.java
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ import groovy.lang.GroovyClassLoader.ClassCollector;
 import java.io.File;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.List;
 
 import org.codehaus.groovy.ast.ClassNode;
@@ -81,6 +82,21 @@ public class GroovyCompiler {
 				.addCompilationCustomizers(new CompilerAutoConfigureCustomizer());
 	}
 
+	public Object[] sources(File[] files) throws CompilationFailedException, IOException {
+		List<File> compilables = new ArrayList<File>();
+		List<Object> others = new ArrayList<Object>();
+		for (File file : files) {
+			if (file.getName().endsWith(".groovy") || file.getName().endsWith(".java")) {
+				compilables.add(file);
+			} else {
+				others.add(file);
+			}
+		}
+		Class<?>[] compiled = compile(compilables.toArray(new File[compilables.size()]));
+		others.addAll(0, Arrays.asList(compiled));
+		return others.toArray(new Object[others.size()]);
+	}
+
 	/**
 	 * Compile the specified Groovy source files, applying any
 	 * {@link CompilerAutoConfiguration}s. All classes defined in the files will be
diff --git a/spring-bootstrap-cli/src/main/java/org/springframework/bootstrap/cli/runner/BootstrapRunner.java b/spring-bootstrap-cli/src/main/java/org/springframework/bootstrap/cli/runner/BootstrapRunner.java
index b5b86a1011b..b18a48032e4 100644
--- a/spring-bootstrap-cli/src/main/java/org/springframework/bootstrap/cli/runner/BootstrapRunner.java
+++ b/spring-bootstrap-cli/src/main/java/org/springframework/bootstrap/cli/runner/BootstrapRunner.java
@@ -75,13 +75,13 @@ public class BootstrapRunner {
 			stop();
 
 			// Compile
-			Class<?>[] classes = this.compiler.compile(this.files);
-			if (classes.length == 0) {
+			Object[] sources = this.compiler.sources(this.files);
+			if (sources.length == 0) {
 				throw new RuntimeException("No classes found in '" + this.files + "'");
 			}
 
 			// Run in new thread to ensure that the context classloader is setup
-			this.runThread = new RunThread(classes);
+			this.runThread = new RunThread(sources);
 			this.runThread.start();
 			this.runThread.join();
 
@@ -106,18 +106,18 @@ public class BootstrapRunner {
 	 */
 	private class RunThread extends Thread {
 
-		private final Class<?>[] classes;
+		private final Object[] sources;
 
 		private Object applicationContext;
 
 		/**
 		 * Create a new {@link RunThread} instance.
-		 * @param classes the classes to launch
+		 * @param sources the sources to launch
 		 */
-		public RunThread(Class<?>... classes) {
-			this.classes = classes;
-			if (classes.length != 0) {
-				setContextClassLoader(classes[0].getClassLoader());
+		public RunThread(Object... sources) {
+			this.sources = sources;
+			if (sources.length != 0 && sources[0] instanceof Class) {
+				setContextClassLoader(((Class<?>) sources[0]).getClassLoader());
 			}
 			setDaemon(true);
 		}
@@ -130,7 +130,7 @@ public class BootstrapRunner {
 						"org.springframework.bootstrap.SpringApplication");
 				Method method = application.getMethod("run", Object[].class,
 						String[].class);
-				this.applicationContext = method.invoke(null, this.classes,
+				this.applicationContext = method.invoke(null, this.sources,
 						BootstrapRunner.this.args);
 			} catch (Exception ex) {
 				ex.printStackTrace();
diff --git a/spring-bootstrap-cli/src/test/java/org/springframework/bootstrap/cli/SampleIntegrationTests.java b/spring-bootstrap-cli/src/test/java/org/springframework/bootstrap/cli/SampleIntegrationTests.java
index edc15b4335a..006b6a2e06b 100644
--- a/spring-bootstrap-cli/src/test/java/org/springframework/bootstrap/cli/SampleIntegrationTests.java
+++ b/spring-bootstrap-cli/src/test/java/org/springframework/bootstrap/cli/SampleIntegrationTests.java
@@ -134,4 +134,11 @@ public class SampleIntegrationTests {
 		assertTrue("Wrong output: " + output, output.contains("Hello, World"));
 	}
 
+	@Test
+	public void xmlSample() throws Exception {
+		start("samples/app.xml", "samples/runner.groovy");
+		String output = getOutput();
+		assertTrue("Wrong output: " + output, output.contains("Hello World"));
+	}
+
 }