4128/25, 2:55 PM Using Spring Boot with PostgreSQL. | Medium Openinapp 7” amas) Slonin Medium © search F write Using Spring Boot with PostgreSQL for Data Persistence PY srexander ooreg0n ‘Tmin read - 14hours ago spring Boot Image Source When building backend systems in Java, saving and retrieving data is one of the most routine but important tasks. Spring Boot helps cut down on the hitps:imedium com/@AlexandeObregon/using-spring-boot-with-posigresq-or-dta-persstence-49e843ab46ie wna412825, 2.55 PM Using Spring Boot wih PostgreSQL | Medium setup work, and PostgreSQL is a steady open-source choice for handling the data itself. Getting them to work together means more than just plugging in a few annotations. It sets off a chain of actions like loading configuration files, mapping Java objects to database tables, and generating repository code behind the scenes. This article will go through how that connection is made, what happens in the background, and how to put together a working setup. You'll see how to connect the database, create entities that define the structure of your data, and use Spring Data JPA to handle the actual reads and writes. Connecting Spring Boot to PostgreSQL and Loading Configuration Getting Spring Boot to talk to a PostgreSQL database starts with the project setup, but what actually happens once you wire things together is more involved than it looks on the surface. From detecting database drivers to creating beans for connection handling, Spring Boot pieces together everything it needs during the early stages of startup. Adding the PostgreSQL driver To begin, your project needs the PostgreSQL JDBC driver added as a dependency. This is how Spring knows which database it’s dealing with. Without it, the auto-configuration process won't have the pieces it needs to prepare a connection. If you're using Maven, this goes in your pom.xml : org.postgresql hitps:imedium com/@AlexanderObregon/using-spring-boot-with-posigresq-or-dta-persstence-49e843ab46fe ana«n8i2s, 255 PM Using Spring Boot wih PostgreSQL. | Medium postgresql For Gradl ‘implementation ‘org.postgresql:postgresql’ After the application starts, Spring Boot detects this dependency during its component scan and begins setting up the connection pipeline. Configuration values and how Spring uses them Spring Boot reads configuration values from application.properties or application.yml . These values describe how to connect to your database and what behaviors Hibernate should follow during schema generation and query execution. Here's a typical application.properties example for a PostgreSQL setup: spring.datasource.url=jdbc: postgresql: //Localhost:5432/mydatabase spr'ing.datasource.username=myuser spring. datasource. password=mypassword spring. datasource. driver-class-name=org.postgresql.Driver # Spring Boot can infe spring. jpa.hibernate.ddl-auto=update spring. jpa.show-sql=true spring. jpa.properties.hibernate.dialect-org. hibernate. dialect. PostgresQLDialect Each line tells Spring something specific: htips:medium com/@AlexanderObregon using-spring-boot with posigresql-for-date-persistence-49e843ab46"— ana4128/25, 2:55 PM Using Spring Boot with PostgreSQL. | Medium * The JDBC URL tells it where the database is running. The username and password provide credentials for the database connection. The driver class helps Spring identify which connection class to use. The ddi-auto setting determines how the schema is created or updated. show-sql=true allows you to see SQL statements in the console, which can be helpful while developing or debugging. The dialect tells Hibernate to use PostgreSQL-specific SQL syntax when building queries. What happens behind the scenes when the app starts As the Spring Boot application starts, it begins scanning the classpath to find configuration files, annotated classes, and any dependencies it needs. During this scan, it detects the PostgreSQL driver and sees that Spring Data JPA is included in the build, which signals that JPA configuration should be initialized. It then reads the values from your application.properties file and binds them to internal configuration objects. One of the first things it sets up is a DataSource , which serves as the connection point to the PostgreSQL. database. Next, Spring creates a LocaicontainerEntityManagerFactoryBean , Which hands off control to Hibernate as the JPA provider. Hibernate loads its configuration, checks for any annotated entity classes in the project, and prepares itself to handle database interactions. If the ddi-auto setting is set to update , Hibernate compares your entity classes to the actual schema in the database. If something is missing or out of sync, it updates the tables to match your Java definitions. This is convenient during development, but it can be risky in production since unexpected schema changes might occur hitps:imedium com/@AlexandeObregon/using-spring-boot-with-posigresq-or-dta-persstence-49e843ab46ie ana412825, 2.55 PM Using Spring Boot wih PostgreSQL | Medium when the app starts. Alongside this, Spring wires up a Plat formTransact ionManager , Which is responsible for handling transaction boundaries whenever you annotate methods with Transactional . All of this setup happens automatically when the application starts, without needing to write manual connection logic. Spring handles the coordination between these pieces using the configuration it found and the components it created during the boot process. PostgreSQL-specific behaviors worth knowing Spring Boot can work with many databases, but PostgreSQL brings its own behaviors to the table. For example, PostgreSQL supports sequences and identity columns differently than some other databases. When you set @GeneratedValue(strategy = GenerationType. IDENTITY) , Hibernate tells PostgreSQL to use an identity column (GENERATED AS IDENTITY in modern PostgreSQL; older releases used the serial / B1GSERIAL shorthand) These types auto-increment but are not exactly the same as auto-increment in databases like MySQL. You can also tune PostgreSQL-specific settings, such as connection pool sizes or timeout behavior, by adding extra properties. While the defaults work for most setups, larger projects often need to fine-tune these details later. Creating Entities, Tables, and Repositories That Work with PostgreSQL When the connection is in place and Spring has booted up the infrastructure for working with JPA, the next step is defining what data should actually be stored. This happens through Java classes called entities, which map directly to database tables. These classes are paired with repositories that act as the interface between your application and the database. Even though you won't hitps:imedium com/@AlexandeObregon/using-spring-boot-with-posigresq-or-dta-persstence-49e843ab46ie sasee a single SQL statement in your code, Spring and Hibernate handle all of it under the hood by working from these definitions. Writing a basic JPA entity At the heart of it all is the entity class. This is just a plain Java class that gets marked with annotations telling Hibernate how to treat it. Each field in the class corresponds to a column in the database, and Spring uses these annotations to figure out how to map your Java object to an actual database row. Here's a simple example: ‘import jakarta.persistence.*} @entity @Table(name = “products") public class Product { aud @GeneratedValue(strategy = GenerationType. IDENTITY) private Long id; private String names private Double price; // Getters and setters The eentity annotation tells Hibernate that this class should be tracked as a table. The @Table annotation provides the table name, though it’s optional if you're fine with it using the class name by default. The etd and @GeneratedValue annotations are used to define the primary key, and GenerationType. IDENTITY instructs Hibernate to use PostgreSQL’s seRTAL hitps:imedium com/@AlexandeObregon/using-spring-boot-with-posigresq-or-dta-persstence-49e843ab46ie enabehavior or an equivalent column that auto-increments. Each of the fields will be treated as a column, and unless you specify column names yourself, Hibernate will generate them using field names. When the application starts, Hibernate inspects this class and either creates the products table or checks that it matches your class definition, depending on what the ddt-auto setting is. The structure of the table is fully based on this class, field types, primary key strategy, and even the table name all come from it. You don't need to write any SQL schema yourself if you're using auto-generation. Creating a repository for database access To actually use the entity in your application, you'll need a repository. This is where Spring Data JPA comes in. Instead of writing your own data access logic, you create an interface that extends one of the base repository types. The most common one is 3parepository , which gives you out-of-the-box methods for inserting, finding, updating, and deleting records. Here's an example that works with the product entity: ‘import org.springframework.data.jpa.repository. JpaRepository; public interface ProductRepository extends JpaRepository { Product findByName(String name); } This interface doesn’t have any method implementations. Spring generates them for you at runtime. It looks at the method names and uses naming conventions to build SQL queries. For example, findByName(String name) gets hitps:imedium com/@AlexandeObregon/using-spring-boot-with-posigresq-or-dta-persstence-49e843ab46ie ma«eras, 255 PM Using Spring Boot wih PostgreSQL | Medium translated into something like select * FROM products WHERE name = ?. You don't need to write the SQL yourself or even tell it what query to run. Spring handles it by parsing the method name. You can also add other query methods like findByPriceLessThan (Double price) OF findAlLByNameContaining (String keyword) , and Spring will create matching queries automatically. For more complex logic, you can write custom queries using the equery annotation, but for most basic CRUD use cases, method names are enough. What happens when you call a repository method When your code calls something like productRepository. findById(19L) , Spring doesn't just reach straight into the database. There’s a full chain of behavior happening behind that single method call. The repository is actually a proxy generated at runtime. When the method is invoked, the proxy captures the call and forwards it to Spring Data’s internal handler. That handler builds a query based on the method signature and parameters, passing the final SQL to Hibernate. Hibernate prepares the query, talks to the database using the patasource , and maps the result back into a product object using reflection. If no matching row is found, it returns an empty optionat . Ifa match exists, the database returns the result, and Hibernate reconstructs the Java object using the entity definition. The result is returned to your controller or service just like any normal method call, but everything underneath has gone through database communication, result parsing, and object mapping, all without writing any JDBC code. This process applies to any repository method, not just simple queries. Even custom queries written with equery follow this same pattern. It all routes hitps:imedium com/@AlexandeObregon/using-spring-boot-with-posigresq-or-dta-persstence-49e843ab46ie anathrough Spring Data's handler and Hibernate’s internal logic, using the PostgreSQL JDBC driver to execute the final query. Conclusion Getting Spring Boot to work with PostgreSQL involves more than just adding a database driver and writing a few classes. From the moment the application starts, Spring pulls in configuration, builds the data access layer, hands off work to Hibernate, and sets up the pieces needed to store and retrieve data. Entities and repositories may look simple on the surface, but each method call passes through a chain of logic that maps objects to tables and fields to columns. After it’s all connected, the process of saving and querying data feels like part of the code itself, even though there’s a lot happening underneath. ing Boot Reference Documentation 2. PostgreSQL JDBC Driver 3. Spring Data JPA Documentation 4, Hibern Di ti 5. Jakarta Persistence (JPA) Thank you for reading! If you find this article helpful, please consider highlighting, clapping, or responding. I also share weekly recaps and extra content on Substack, and subscribing there helps me keep my content here free for everyone to read. hitps:imedium com/@AlexandeObregon/using-spring-boot-with-posigresq-or-dta-persstence-49e843ab46ie ana4128125, 255 PM Using Spring Boot wih PostgreSQL | Medium ‘Spring Boot icon by Icons8 Spring Boot = Java Postgresql Programming Software Development Some rights reserved ® Written by Alexander Obregon 25K Followers - 15 Following | post daily about programming topics and share what | learn as | go. For recaps, exclusive content, and to support me: httpsi/alexanderobregon.substack.com No responses yet 9 Write a response htips:medium com/@AlexanderObregon using-spring-boot with posigresql-for-date-persistence-49e843ab46"— 01134128125, 255 PM Using Spring Boot wih PostgreSQL | Medium What are your thoughts? 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