When you create a new Grails 3.1.1 application in interactive mode, and using create-app a-b-c (after entering in interactive mode), we can see in application.yml generated file that default defaultPackage parameter is a-b-c. I also note that there is no a-b-c folder created. In classic mode, e.g. grails create-app a-b-c, the package is correct : a.b.c.