How to Build REST API using Spring Boot (Step-by-Step Guide)

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Introduction (Story + Experience) :

When I started learning Spring Boot, I found REST APIs a bit confusing. I watched multiple tutorials, but I didn’t fully understand how backend systems actually work.

Things became clear when I tried building a simple REST API on my own. In this blog, I will share the same step-by-step process that helped me understand REST APIs in a practical way.

What is REST API?

A REST API allows communication between frontend and backend systems using HTTP methods like GET, POST, PUT, and DELETE.

In real-world applications, REST APIs are used to send and receive data between client and server.

Tools Required :

- Java

- Spring Boot

- IntelliJ / VS Code

- Postman

Step 1: Create Spring Boot Project :

Go to Spring Initializr and create a project with the following dependencies:

- Spring Web

- Spring Data JPA

- PostgreSQL Driver

Step 2: Create Controller :

@RestController

@RequestMapping("/api")

public class HelloController {

    @GetMapping("/hello")

    public String getMessage() {

        return "Hello World";

    }

}

Step 3: Run Application :

Run your Spring Boot application.

Step 4: Test API :

Open Postman and hit:

http://localhost:8080/api/hello

Output:

Hello World

What I Learned (Experience) :

By building this simple API, I understood how backend applications handle requests and send responses. This gave me confidence to build more complex APIs in my projects.

If you are a beginner, I highly recommend trying this hands-on approach instead of only watching tutorials.

Conclusion :

In this blog, I created a simple REST API using Spring Boot, which helped me understand how backend systems handle requests and responses.

While learning, I realized that building a small project gives much better clarity than just watching tutorials. This was my first step towards understanding real-world backend development, and it gave me confidence to explore more advanced concepts.

I would recommend beginners to try implementing APIs on their own to gain practical experience.

About Me :

I am a Java Full Stack Developer with experience in Spring Boot, React, and PostgreSQL. I enjoy building real-world applications and sharing my learning journey.

For more Please Follow: https://sulochanabasavala.blogspot.com/

Next Article: https://sulochanabasavala.blogspot.com/2026/04/react-basics-how-to-create-component.html

Stay tuned for more posts on Java Full Stack Development.

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