📘 Must Know Spring Boot Modules for Java Developers

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📘 Essential Spring Boot Modules for Java Developers

A curated list of Spring Boot modules every developer should master — with real-world uses and implementation steps for scalable, secure, production-ready apps.



🚀 1. Spring Boot Starter Web

💡 Purpose:
Build RESTful APIs and web applications easily.
📦 Includes:
Spring MVC, Jackson for JSON, Embedded Tomcat.
🔍 Real-Time Use:
Used for creating REST APIs, CRUD applications, or traditional MVC web portals.
🌟 Must-Know:
@RestController, @RequestMapping, @PathVariable, @RequestBody

🛠️ Implementation Steps:
  1. Add dependency: spring-boot-starter-web
  2. Create controller classes annotated with @RestController
  3. Use @GetMapping, @PostMapping, etc., to expose endpoints
  4. Test using Postman or Swagger UI


🔐 2. Spring Boot Starter Security

💡 Purpose:
Secure your apps with login, role-based access, JWT, OAuth2, etc.
📦 Includes:
Spring Security Core
🔍 Real-Time Use:
Protect sensitive endpoints, build login flows, or integrate with OAuth2 providers.
🌟 Must-Know:
WebSecurityConfigurerAdapter, security filters, JWT-based authentication

🛠️ Implementation Steps:
  1. Add dependency: spring-boot-starter-security
  2. Extend WebSecurityConfigurerAdapter or use SecurityFilterChain in newer versions
  3. Customize authentication, authorization, and password encoders
  4. Secure routes using http.authorizeRequests()


🔄 3. Spring Boot Starter Data JPA

💡 Purpose:
Interact with relational databases using JPA and Hibernate.
📦 Includes:
Hibernate, Spring Data JPA
🔍 Real-Time Use:
Connect to MySQL/PostgreSQL and manage database operations easily.
🌟 Must-Know:
@Entity, @Repository, @Query, pagination, transactions

🛠️ Implementation Steps:
  1. Add dependency: spring-boot-starter-data-jpa
  2. Define @Entity models
  3. Create interfaces that extend JpaRepository
  4. Use Spring Data queries for CRUD & custom logic


🌐 4. Spring Boot Starter WebFlux

💡 Purpose:
Develop reactive, non-blocking APIs with high throughput.
📦 Includes:
Reactor, WebClient
🔍 Real-Time Use:
Great for chat apps, streaming data, or real-time dashboards.
🌟 Must-Know:
Mono, Flux, WebClient, reactive controller design

🛠️ Implementation Steps:
  1. Add dependency: spring-boot-starter-webflux
  2. Use @RestController with Mono and Flux
  3. Inject and configure WebClient for calling downstream services
  4. Test with Postman or browser (GET requests)


🧪 5. Spring Boot Starter Test

💡 Purpose:
Simplify writing unit and integration tests.
📦 Includes:
JUnit, Mockito, Spring Test, Hamcrest
🔍 Real-Time Use:
Automated testing of REST APIs, services, and DB layers.
🌟 Must-Know:
@WebMvcTest, @DataJpaTest, @MockBean, MockMvc

🛠️ Implementation Steps:
  1. Add dependency: spring-boot-starter-test
  2. Use @SpringBootTest for full-stack tests
  3. Mock dependencies using @MockBean
  4. Run tests with Maven/Gradle or JUnit in IDE


💾 6. Spring Boot Actuator

💡 Purpose:
Expose application health, metrics, and monitoring endpoints.
📦 Includes:
Actuator endpoints like /actuator/health, custom metrics, loggers
🔍 Real-Time Use:
Expose metrics to Prometheus/Grafana or health checks for Kubernetes.
🌟 Must-Know:
Custom health indicators, securing endpoints, Prometheus integration

🛠️ Implementation Steps:
  1. Add dependency: spring-boot-starter-actuator
  2. Enable desired endpoints in application.yml
  3. Add custom health indicators if needed
  4. Secure endpoints with Spring Security


☁️ 7. Spring Cloud Modules

💡 Purpose:
Empower distributed microservices with discovery, config, communication, and tracing.
📦 Includes:
Eureka, Config Server, Gateway, Sleuth, OpenFeign
🔍 Real-Time Use:
Dynamic discovery, load balancing, externalized configs for scalable microservice architecture.
🌟 Must-Know:
@EnableEurekaClient, @FeignClient, @LoadBalanced

🛠️ Implementation Steps:
  1. Add individual dependencies like spring-cloud-starter-netflix-eureka-client
  2. Set up config server and Eureka registry
  3. Use Feign to simplify REST communication
  4. Integrate Sleuth for distributed tracing


🪄 8. Spring Boot DevTools

💡 Purpose:
Speed up development by enabling hot-reload and auto-restart.
📦 Includes:
LiveReload, automatic restart, dev-friendly configs
🔍 Real-Time Use:
Instant reload of code changes without restarting the app manually.
🌟 Must-Know:
Just add DevTools dependency — it works automatically during development!

🛠️ Implementation Steps:
  1. Add to pom.xml: spring-boot-devtools
  2. Ensure you’re running in dev mode
  3. Make code changes — app reloads automatically
  4. Optional: Enable browser LiveReload extension



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