Spring Boot TDD Workflow

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

When to Use

New features or endpoints
Bug fixes or refactors
Adding data access logic or security rules

Workflow

Write tests first (they should fail)
Implement minimal code to pass
Refactor with tests green
Enforce coverage (JaCoCo)

Unit Tests (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 for variants

Web Layer Tests (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 Tests (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 Tests (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 containers for Postgres/Redis to mirror production
Wire via @DynamicPropertySource to inject JDBC URLs into Spring context

Coverage (JaCoCo)

Maven 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

Prefer AssertJ (assertThat) for readability
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.

springboot-tdd