Spring Boot Development Patterns

Spring Boot architecture and API patterns for scalable, production-grade services.

When to Activate

• Building REST APIs with Spring MVC or WebFlux
• Structuring controller → service → repository layers
• Configuring Spring Data JPA, caching, or async processing
• Adding validation, exception handling, or pagination
• Setting up profiles for dev/staging/production environments
• Implementing event-driven patterns with Spring Events or Kafka

REST API Structure

@RestController
@RequestMapping("/api/markets")
@Validated
class MarketController {
  private final MarketService marketService;

  MarketController(MarketService marketService) {
    this.marketService = marketService;
  }

  @GetMapping
  ResponseEntity<Page<MarketResponse>> list(
      @RequestParam(defaultValue = "0") int page,
      @RequestParam(defaultValue = "20") int size) {
    Page<Market> markets = marketService.list(PageRequest.of(page, size));
    return ResponseEntity.ok(markets.map(MarketResponse::from));
  }

  @PostMapping
  ResponseEntity<MarketResponse> create(@Valid @RequestBody CreateMarketRequest request) {
    Market market = marketService.create(request);
    return ResponseEntity.status(HttpStatus.CREATED).body(MarketResponse.from(market));
  }
}

Repository Pattern (Spring Data JPA)

public interface MarketRepository extends JpaRepository<MarketEntity, Long> {
  @Query("select m from MarketEntity m where m.status = :status order by m.volume desc")
  List<MarketEntity> findActive(@Param("status") MarketStatus status, Pageable pageable);
}

Service Layer with Transactions

@Service
public class MarketService {
  private final MarketRepository repo;

  public MarketService(MarketRepository repo) {
    this.repo = repo;
  }

  @Transactional
  public Market create(CreateMarketRequest request) {
    MarketEntity entity = MarketEntity.from(request);
    MarketEntity saved = repo.save(entity);
    return Market.from(saved);
  }
}

DTOs and Validation

public record CreateMarketRequest(
    @NotBlank @Size(max = 200) String name,
    @NotBlank @Size(max = 2000) String description,
    @NotNull @FutureOrPresent Instant endDate,
    @NotEmpty List<@NotBlank String> categories) {}

public record MarketResponse(Long id, String name, MarketStatus status) {
  static MarketResponse from(Market market) {
    return new MarketResponse(market.id(), market.name(), market.status());
  }
}

Exception Handling

@ControllerAdvice
class GlobalExceptionHandler {
  @ExceptionHandler(MethodArgumentNotValidException.class)
  ResponseEntity<ApiError> handleValidation(MethodArgumentNotValidException ex) {
    String message = ex.getBindingResult().getFieldErrors().stream()
        .map(e -> e.getField() + ": " + e.getDefaultMessage())
        .collect(Collectors.joining(", "));
    return ResponseEntity.badRequest().body(ApiError.validation(message));
  }

  @ExceptionHandler(AccessDeniedException.class)
  ResponseEntity<ApiError> handleAccessDenied() {
    return ResponseEntity.status(HttpStatus.FORBIDDEN).body(ApiError.of("Forbidden"));
  }

  @ExceptionHandler(Exception.class)
  ResponseEntity<ApiError> handleGeneric(Exception ex) {
    // Log unexpected errors with stack traces
    return ResponseEntity.status(HttpStatus.INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR)
        .body(ApiError.of("Internal server error"));
  }
}

Caching

Requires @EnableCaching on a configuration class.

@Service
public class MarketCacheService {
  private final MarketRepository repo;

  public MarketCacheService(MarketRepository repo) {
    this.repo = repo;
  }

  @Cacheable(value = "market", key = "#id")
  public Market getById(Long id) {
    return repo.findById(id)
        .map(Market::from)
        .orElseThrow(() -> new EntityNotFoundException("Market not found"));
  }

  @CacheEvict(value = "market", key = "#id")
  public void evict(Long id) {}
}

Async Processing

Requires @EnableAsync on a configuration class.

@Service
public class NotificationService {
  @Async
  public CompletableFuture<Void> sendAsync(Notification notification) {
    // send email/SMS
    return CompletableFuture.completedFuture(null);
  }
}

Logging (SLF4J)

@Service
public class ReportService {
  private static final Logger log = LoggerFactory.getLogger(ReportService.class);

  public Report generate(Long marketId) {

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