Is building a REST API with Spring Boot really harder than Python, JavaScript, or PHP? Someone asked me this question, and I had to stop and think... because for me, it's become second nature after years of working with Spring. But let me show you just how easy it actually is to get up and running.

In this tutorial, I'll walk you through building a Spring Boot 4 REST API from scratch. We'll use the Spring Initializr, set up controllers, create records, and have a working CRUD API in minutes. But here's the thing, I'm being honest with you. This is a "parlor trick" (like the old Rails "build a blog in 5 minutes" demos). Getting something running quickly is great, but production-ready applications require more thought about architecture, testing, and configuration.

What You'll Learn:
✅ Setting up your development environment with IntelliJ IDEA and JDK
✅ Using Spring Initializr (start.spring.io) to bootstrap your project
✅ Creating REST controllers with @RestController and request mappings
✅ Building a simple domain model using Java records
✅ Implementing GET endpoints that return JSON automatically
✅ Understanding the difference between quick demos and production code

Prerequisites:
• Basic to intermediate Java knowledge
• IntelliJ IDEA installed (Community edition works great!)
• Enthusiasm for learning Spring Boot 4

🚀 Want a Full Spring Boot 4 Course?
I'm planning to create a comprehensive Spring Boot 4 course that covers everything from these basics all the way to production deployment, validation, error handling, service layers, repositories, databases, containerization, profiles, and more. If that interests you, let me know in the comments what topics you'd like covered!

📚 Resources:
GitHub Repo: https://github.com/danvega/meetup
Spring Initializr: https://start.spring.io
IntelliJ IDEA: https://www.jetbrains.com/idea/
My Website: https://danvega.dev

👋🏻Connect with me:
Website: https://www.danvega.dev
Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealdanvega
Github: https://github.com/danvega
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danvega
Newsletter: https://www.danvega.dev/newsletter

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Dan Vega

A walkthrough of building a basic REST API using Spring Boot 4, starting from project initialization via Spring Initializr through to a simple CRUD controller. Covers setting up IntelliJ IDEA, selecting dependencies (Spring Web), creating a Java Record to model data, and building a GroupController with GET endpoints. The author acknowledges this is a minimal 'parlor trick' demo and outlines plans for a full Spring Boot 4 course covering production concerns like service layers, repositories, testing, configuration, and deployment.

Build a Spring Boot 4 REST API in Minutes