springboot-tdd

Spring Boot TDD Workflow

TDD guidance for Spring Boot services with over 80% coverage (unit tests + integration tests).

When to Use

• New feature or API endpoint development
• Bug fixing or refactoring
• Adding data access logic or security rules

Workflow

1. Write the test first (the test should fail)
2. Implement the minimal code to make the test pass
3. Refactor the code while the tests pass
4. Enforce coverage checks (JaCoCo)

Unit Testing (JUnit 5 + Mockito)

@ExtendWith(MockitoExtension.class)
class MarketServiceTest {
  @Mock MarketRepository repo;
  @InjectMocks MarketService service;

  @Test
  void createsMarket() {
    CreateMarketRequest req = new CreateMarketRequest("name", "desc", Instant.now(), List.of("cat"));
    when(repo.save(any())).thenAnswer(inv -> inv.getArgument(0));

    Market result = service.create(req);

    assertThat(result.name()).isEqualTo("name");
    verify(repo).save(any());
  }
}

Patterns:

• Arrange-Act-Assert
• Avoid partial mocks; prefer explicit stubbing
• Use @ParameterizedTest to handle case variants

Web Layer Testing (MockMvc)

@WebMvcTest(MarketController.class)
class MarketControllerTest {
  @Autowired MockMvc mockMvc;
  @MockBean MarketService marketService;

  @Test
  void returnsMarkets() throws Exception {
    when(marketService.list(any())).thenReturn(Page.empty());

    mockMvc.perform(get("/api/markets"))
        .andExpect(status().isOk())
        .andExpect(jsonPath("$.content").isArray());
  }
}

Integration Testing (SpringBootTest)

@SpringBootTest
@AutoConfigureMockMvc
@ActiveProfiles("test")
class MarketIntegrationTest {
  @Autowired MockMvc mockMvc;

  @Test
  void createsMarket() throws Exception {
    mockMvc.perform(post("/api/markets")
        .contentType(MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON)
        .content("""
          {"name":"Test","description":"Desc","endDate":"2030-01-01T00:00:00Z","categories":["general"]}
        """))
      .andExpect(status().isCreated());
  }
}

Persistence Layer Testing (DataJpaTest)

@DataJpaTest
@AutoConfigureTestDatabase(replace = AutoConfigureTestDatabase.Replace.NONE)
@Import(TestContainersConfig.class)
class MarketRepositoryTest {
  @Autowired MarketRepository repo;

  @Test
  void savesAndFinds() {
    MarketEntity entity = new MarketEntity();
    entity.setName("Test");
    repo.save(entity);

    Optional<MarketEntity> found = repo.findByName("Test");
    assertThat(found).isPresent();
  }
}

Testcontainers

• Use reusable Postgres/Redis containers to mirror the production environment
• Inject the JDBC URL into the Spring context via @DynamicPropertySource Inject the JDBC URL into the Spring context

Test Coverage (JaCoCo)

Maven configuration snippet:

<plugin>
  <groupId>org.jacoco</groupId>
  <artifactId>jacoco-maven-plugin</artifactId>
  <version>0.8.14</version>
  <executions>
    <execution>
      <goals><goal>prepare-agent</goal></goals>
    </execution>
    <execution>
      <id>report</id>
      <phase>verify</phase>
      <goals><goal>report</goal></goals>
    </execution>
  </executions>
</plugin>

Assertions

• For better readability, prefer AssertJ (assertThat)
• For JSON responses, use jsonPath
• For exceptions:assertThatThrownBy(...)

Test Data Builders

class MarketBuilder {
  private String name = "Test";
  MarketBuilder withName(String name) { this.name = name; return this; }
  Market build() { return new Market(null, name, MarketStatus.ACTIVE); }
}

CI Commands

• Maven: mvn -T 4 test or mvn verify
• Gradle: ./gradlew test jacocoTestReport

Remember: Keep tests fast, isolated, and deterministic. Test behavior, not implementation details.