Spring Boot Development Patterns
Spring Boot architecture and API patterns for scalable, production-grade services.
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) {
log.info("generate_report marketId={}", marketId);
try {
// logic
} catch (Exception ex) {
log.error("generate_report_failed marketId={}", marketId, ex);
throw ex;
}
return new Report();
}
}
Middleware / Filters
@Component
public class RequestLoggingFilter extends OncePerRequestFilter {
private static final Logger log = LoggerFactory.getLogger(RequestLoggingFilter.class);
@Override
protected void doFilterInternal(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response,
FilterChain filterChain) throws ServletException, IOException {
long start = System.currentTimeMillis();
try {
filterChain.doFilter(request, response);
} finally {
long duration = System.currentTimeMillis() - start;
log.info("req method={} uri={} status={} durationMs={}",
request.getMethod(), request.getRequestURI(), response.getStatus(), duration);
}
}
}
Pagination and Sorting
PageRequest page = PageRequest.of(pageNumber, pageSize, Sort.by("createdAt").descending());
Page<Market> results = marketService.list(page);
Error-Resilient External Calls
public <T> T withRetry(Supplier<T> supplier, int maxRetries) {
int attempts = 0;
while (true) {
try {
return supplier.get();
} catch (Exception ex) {
attempts++;
if (attempts >= maxRetries) {
throw ex;
}
try {
Thread.sleep((long) Math.pow(2, attempts) * 100L);
} catch (InterruptedException ie) {
Thread.currentThread().interrupt();
throw ex;
}
}
}
}
Rate Limiting (Filter + Bucket4j)
Security Note: The X-Forwarded-For header is untrusted by default because clients can spoof it.
Only use forwarded headers when:
- •Your app is behind a trusted reverse proxy (nginx, AWS ALB, etc.)
- •You have registered
ForwardedHeaderFilteras a bean - •You have configured
server.forward-headers-strategy=NATIVEorFRAMEWORKin application properties - •Your proxy is configured to overwrite (not append to) the
X-Forwarded-Forheader
When ForwardedHeaderFilter is properly configured, request.getRemoteAddr() will automatically
return the correct client IP from the forwarded headers. Without this configuration, use
request.getRemoteAddr() directly - it returns the immediate connection IP, which is the only
trustworthy value.
@Component
public class RateLimitFilter extends OncePerRequestFilter {
private final Map<String, Bucket> buckets = new ConcurrentHashMap<>();
/*
* SECURITY: This filter uses request.getRemoteAddr() to identify clients for rate limiting.
*
* If your application is behind a reverse proxy (nginx, AWS ALB, etc.), you MUST configure
* Spring to handle forwarded headers properly for accurate client IP detection:
*
* 1. Set server.forward-headers-strategy=NATIVE (for cloud platforms) or FRAMEWORK in
* application.properties/yaml
* 2. If using FRAMEWORK strategy, register ForwardedHeaderFilter:
*
* @Bean
* ForwardedHeaderFilter forwardedHeaderFilter() {
* return new ForwardedHeaderFilter();
* }
*
* 3. Ensure your proxy overwrites (not appends) the X-Forwarded-For header to prevent spoofing
* 4. Configure server.tomcat.remoteip.trusted-proxies or equivalent for your container
*
* Without this configuration, request.getRemoteAddr() returns the proxy IP, not the client IP.
* Do NOT read X-Forwarded-For directly - it is trivially spoofable without trusted proxy handling.
*/
@Override
protected void doFilterInternal(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response,
FilterChain filterChain) throws ServletException, IOException {
// Use getRemoteAddr() which returns the correct client IP when ForwardedHeaderFilter
// is configured, or the direct connection IP otherwise. Never trust X-Forwarded-For
// headers directly without proper proxy configuration.
String clientIp = request.getRemoteAddr();
Bucket bucket = buckets.computeIfAbsent(clientIp,
k -> Bucket.builder()
.addLimit(Bandwidth.classic(100, Refill.greedy(100, Duration.ofMinutes(1))))
.build());
if (bucket.tryConsume(1)) {
filterChain.doFilter(request, response);
} else {
response.setStatus(HttpStatus.TOO_MANY_REQUESTS.value());
}
}
}
Background Jobs
Use Spring's @Scheduled or integrate with queues (e.g., Kafka, SQS, RabbitMQ). Keep handlers idempotent and observable.
Observability
- •Structured logging (JSON) via Logback encoder
- •Metrics: Micrometer + Prometheus/OTel
- •Tracing: Micrometer Tracing with OpenTelemetry or Brave backend
Production Defaults
- •Prefer constructor injection, avoid field injection
- •Enable
spring.mvc.problemdetails.enabled=truefor RFC 7807 errors (Spring Boot 3+) - •Configure HikariCP pool sizes for workload, set timeouts
- •Use
@Transactional(readOnly = true)for queries - •Enforce null-safety via
@NonNullandOptionalwhere appropriate
Remember: Keep controllers thin, services focused, repositories simple, and errors handled centrally. Optimize for maintainability and testability.