Spring Boot + PostgreSQL

Key Features

• Spring Boot auto-configuration automatically detects PostgreSQL on the classpath and configures DataSource, JPA, and transaction management
• Hibernate DDL auto-generation creates and updates database schemas based on JPA entity annotations
• PostgreSQL JSONB column support through JPA @Column annotations for storing semi-structured data alongside relational tables
• Spring Data JPA repositories provide automatic CRUD operations and query method generation from method names
• PostgreSQL connection pooling via HikariCP (Spring Boot's default) optimizes database connection management
• Spring Boot Actuator health checks automatically monitor PostgreSQL connectivity at /actuator/health
• PostgreSQL full-text search capabilities accessible through native queries in Spring Data repositories
• Spring's @Transactional annotation leverages PostgreSQL's MVCC for concurrent transaction handling

Common Use Cases

• 1E-commerce platforms requiring inventory management, order processing, and financial transaction integrity
• 2Content management systems needing structured metadata storage with flexible JSON content fields
• 3Financial applications demanding ACID compliance for accounting, payment processing, and audit trails
• 4SaaS applications with multi-tenant data isolation using PostgreSQL row-level security features
• 5Analytics dashboards combining relational reporting with PostgreSQL's window functions and CTEs
• 6Geographic applications leveraging PostGIS extension with Spring Boot's REST APIs for location services
• 7Enterprise applications requiring complex business logic with JPA entity relationships and PostgreSQL foreign key constraints

Prerequisites

• Docker and Docker Compose installed with minimum 2GB available RAM for PostgreSQL and JVM heap space
• Java development knowledge including Maven/Gradle build tools for creating the Spring Boot application Dockerfile
• Port 8080 available for Spring Boot web server and port 5432 free for PostgreSQL connections
• Understanding of JPA/Hibernate entity mapping and Spring Data repository patterns
• Basic PostgreSQL knowledge for writing custom queries and understanding connection parameters
• Environment file (.env) configured with DB_NAME, DB_USER, and DB_PASSWORD variables

docker-compose.yml

1services: 
2  app: 
3    build: .
4    container_name: spring-boot
5    environment: 
6      SPRING_DATASOURCE_URL: jdbc:postgresql://postgres:5432/${DB_NAME}
7      SPRING_DATASOURCE_USERNAME: ${DB_USER}
8      SPRING_DATASOURCE_PASSWORD: ${DB_PASSWORD}
9    ports: 
10      - "8080:8080"
11    depends_on: 
12      - postgres
13    networks: 
14      - spring
15
16  postgres: 
17    image: postgres:16-alpine
18    container_name: postgres
19    environment: 
20      POSTGRES_DB: ${DB_NAME}
21      POSTGRES_USER: ${DB_USER}
22      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: ${DB_PASSWORD}
23    volumes: 
24      - postgres_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
25    networks: 
26      - spring
27
28volumes: 
29  postgres_data: 
30
31networks: 
32  spring: 
33    driver: bridge

.env Template

1DB_NAME=springboot
2DB_USER=spring
3DB_PASSWORD=changeme

Usage Notes

Individual Services(2 services)

Copy individual services to mix and match with your existing compose files.

app:
  build: .
  container_name: spring-boot
  environment:
    SPRING_DATASOURCE_URL: jdbc:postgresql://postgres:5432/${DB_NAME}
    SPRING_DATASOURCE_USERNAME: ${DB_USER}
    SPRING_DATASOURCE_PASSWORD: ${DB_PASSWORD}
  ports:
    - "8080:8080"
  depends_on:
    - postgres
  networks:
    - spring

postgres:
  image: postgres:16-alpine
  container_name: postgres
  environment:
    POSTGRES_DB: ${DB_NAME}
    POSTGRES_USER: ${DB_USER}
    POSTGRES_PASSWORD: ${DB_PASSWORD}
  volumes:
    - postgres_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
  networks:
    - spring

Quick Start

1# 1. Create the compose file
2cat > docker-compose.yml << 'EOF'
3services:
4  app:
5    build: .
6    container_name: spring-boot
7    environment:
8      SPRING_DATASOURCE_URL: jdbc:postgresql://postgres:5432/${DB_NAME}
9      SPRING_DATASOURCE_USERNAME: ${DB_USER}
10      SPRING_DATASOURCE_PASSWORD: ${DB_PASSWORD}
11    ports:
12      - "8080:8080"
13    depends_on:
14      - postgres
15    networks:
16      - spring
17
18  postgres:
19    image: postgres:16-alpine
20    container_name: postgres
21    environment:
22      POSTGRES_DB: ${DB_NAME}
23      POSTGRES_USER: ${DB_USER}
24      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: ${DB_PASSWORD}
25    volumes:
26      - postgres_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
27    networks:
28      - spring
29
30volumes:
31  postgres_data:
32
33networks:
34  spring:
35    driver: bridge
36EOF
37
38# 2. Create the .env file
39cat > .env << 'EOF'
40DB_NAME=springboot
41DB_USER=spring
42DB_PASSWORD=changeme
43EOF
44
45# 3. Start the services
46docker compose up -d
47
48# 4. View logs
49docker compose logs -f

One-Liner

Run this command to download and set up the recipe in one step:

1curl -fsSL https://docker.recipes/api/recipes/spring-boot-postgres/run | bash

Troubleshooting