Spring Data R2DBC

Quick Start

<!-- pom.xml -->
<dependencies>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-data-r2dbc</artifactId>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.postgresql</groupId>
        <artifactId>r2dbc-postgresql</artifactId>
        <scope>runtime</scope>
    </dependency>
</dependencies>

# application.yml
spring:
  r2dbc:
    url: r2dbc:postgresql://localhost:5432/mydb
    username: ${DB_USERNAME}
    password: ${DB_PASSWORD}
    pool:
      enabled: true
      initial-size: 5
      max-size: 20

Entity Definition

import org.springframework.data.annotation.Id;
import org.springframework.data.annotation.CreatedDate;
import org.springframework.data.annotation.LastModifiedDate;
import org.springframework.data.relational.core.mapping.Table;
import org.springframework.data.relational.core.mapping.Column;

@Table("products")
public class Product {

    @Id
    private Long id;

    @Column("product_name")
    private String name;

    private String description;
    private BigDecimal price;

    @Column("category_id")
    private Long categoryId;

    @CreatedDate
    private Instant createdAt;

    @LastModifiedDate
    private Instant updatedAt;

    private boolean active;

    // Constructors, getters, setters...
}

// For immutable entities with records (Java 17+)
@Table("orders")
public record Order(
    @Id Long id,
    @Column("customer_id") Long customerId,
    BigDecimal total,
    OrderStatus status,
    @CreatedDate Instant createdAt
) {
    public Order withStatus(OrderStatus newStatus) {
        return new Order(id, customerId, total, newStatus, createdAt);
    }
}

Repository Interface

import org.springframework.data.r2dbc.repository.R2dbcRepository;
import org.springframework.data.r2dbc.repository.Query;
import reactor.core.publisher.Flux;
import reactor.core.publisher.Mono;

public interface ProductRepository extends R2dbcRepository<Product, Long> {

    // Automatic derived queries
    Flux<Product> findByActiveTrue();
    Flux<Product> findByNameContainingIgnoreCase(String name);
    Flux<Product> findByCategoryId(Long categoryId);
    Flux<Product> findByPriceBetween(BigDecimal min, BigDecimal max);
    Mono<Product> findByNameIgnoreCase(String name);

    // Ordering and limiting
    Flux<Product> findTop10ByActiveTrueOrderByCreatedAtDesc();

    // Count and Exists
    Mono<Long> countByActiveTrue();
    Mono<Boolean> existsByName(String name);

    // Custom query
    @Query("SELECT * FROM products WHERE category_id = :categoryId AND price < :maxPrice")
    Flux<Product> findByCategoryWithMaxPrice(Long categoryId, BigDecimal maxPrice);

    @Query("UPDATE products SET active = false WHERE id = :id")
    @Modifying
    Mono<Integer> deactivateProduct(Long id);

    // Projection with DTO
    @Query("SELECT id, product_name as name, price FROM products WHERE active = true")
    Flux<ProductSummary> findAllSummaries();
}

public record ProductSummary(Long id, String name, BigDecimal price) {}

Full Reference: See database-client.md for complex queries with DatabaseClient.

Service Layer

@Service
@RequiredArgsConstructor
@Slf4j
public class ProductService {

    private final ProductRepository productRepository;

    // Create
    public Mono<Product> createProduct(CreateProductRequest request) {
        Product product = Product.create(request.name(), request.description(), request.price());
        product.setCategoryId(request.categoryId());
        return productRepository.save(product)
            .doOnSuccess(p -> log.info("Created product: {}", p.getId()));
    }

    // Read
    public Mono<Product> getProduct(Long id) {
        return productRepository.findById(id)
            .switchIfEmpty(Mono.error(new ProductNotFoundException(id)));
    }

    public Flux<Product> getAllActiveProducts() {
        return productRepository.findByActiveTrue();
    }

    // Update
    public Mono<Product> updateProduct(Long id, UpdateProductRequest request) {
        return productRepository.findById(id)
            .switchIfEmpty(Mono.error(new ProductNotFoundException(id)))
            .map(product -> {
                if (request.name() != null) product.setName(request.name());
                if (request.price() != null) product.setPrice(request.price());
                return product;
            })
            .flatMap(productRepository::save);
    }

    // Delete (soft delete)
    public Mono<Void> deactivateProduct(Long id) {
        return productRepository.deactivateProduct(id)
            .filter(count -> count > 0)
            .switchIfEmpty(Mono.error(new ProductNotFoundException(id)))
            .then();
    }
}

Reactive Transactions

@Service
@RequiredArgsConstructor
public class OrderService {

    private final OrderRepository orderRepository;
    private final OrderItemRepository orderItemRepository;

    @Transactional
    public Mono<Order> createOrder(CreateOrderRequest request) {
        return validateProducts(request.items())
            .then(calculateTotal(request.items()))
            .flatMap(total -> {
                Order order = new Order(null, request.customerId(), total, OrderStatus.PENDING, null);
                return orderRepository.save(order);
            })
            .flatMap(order -> saveOrderItems(order.id(), request.items())
                .then(Mono.just(order)));
    }

    private Mono<BigDecimal> calculateTotal(List<OrderItemRequest> items) {
        return Flux.fromIterable(items)
            .flatMap(item -> productRepository.findById(item.productId())
                .map(p -> p.getPrice().multiply(BigDecimal.valueOf(item.quantity()))))
            .reduce(BigDecimal.ZERO, BigDecimal::add);
    }
}

Full Reference: See transactions.md for TransactionalOperator and relation handling.

Best Practices

When NOT to Use This Skill

• Blocking applications - Use spring-data-jdbc or spring-data-jpa
• Complex ORM features - R2DBC is simple, use JPA for lazy loading
• Not using WebFlux - R2DBC is for reactive stack
• MongoDB reactive - Use spring-data-mongodb reactive repositories

Common Pitfalls

Anti-Patterns

Quick Troubleshooting

Reference Files

External Documentation

• Spring Data R2DBC
• R2DBC Specification