Getting Started with the OfficeFloor Spring Boot Plugin

July 5, 2026 · View on GitHub

This gets you from zero to a running REST endpoint. Add one dependency to your pom.xml, write one YAML file, and your endpoint is live. No controllers, no @RequestMapping, no Spring MVC configuration.

Full tutorial source: SpringRestGettingStartedHttpServer

1. Add the Maven dependency

The starter is published to Maven Central, so no extra repository configuration is needed. Add the single dependency that matches your Spring Boot generation:

<!-- Spring Boot 4.x -->
<dependency>
  <groupId>net.officefloor.springboot</groupId>
  <artifactId>officefloor-rest-spring-boot-4-starter</artifactId>
  <version>4.0.2</version>
</dependency>

<!-- Spring Boot 3.x -->
<dependency>
  <groupId>net.officefloor.springboot</groupId>
  <artifactId>officefloor-rest-spring-boot-3-starter</artifactId>
  <version>4.0.2</version>
</dependency>

2. Application class — standard Spring Boot

The entry point is an ordinary @SpringBootApplication class with no OfficeFloor-specific code:

@SpringBootApplication
public class SpringRestGettingStartedApplication {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        SpringApplication.run(SpringRestGettingStartedApplication.class, args);
    }
}

3. Your first endpoint

An endpoint is a YAML file placed under src/main/resources/officefloor/rest/. The file name encodes the HTTP method and the URL path:

officefloor/rest/
└── greeting.GET.yml     →  GET  /greeting

The YAML file names the Java class that handles the request:

service:
  class: net.officefloor.tutorial.springrestgettingstarted.GetGreetingLogic

Here service is a developer-chosen step name — it is not a keyword. The handler is a plain Java class with no framework annotations on the class itself:

public class GetGreetingLogic {

    public void service(GreetingService greetingService, ObjectResponse<GreetingResponse> response) {
        response.send(new GreetingResponse(greetingService.greet("World")));
    }
}

OfficeFloor registers every Spring bean in the application context as a managed object. GreetingService is a plain Spring @Service, injected automatically by type into any service method parameter whose type matches:

@Service
public class GreetingService {

    public String greet(String name) {
        return "Hello, " + name + "!";
    }
}

ObjectResponse<T> serialises the object to JSON and writes it to the HTTP response — no @ResponseBody or @RestController is needed.

4. Path parameters

A path variable in the URL is expressed by a curly-brace file or directory name:

officefloor/rest/
└── greeting/
    └── {name}.GET.yml   →  GET  /greeting/{name}

service:
  class: net.officefloor.tutorial.springrestgettingstarted.GetNamedGreetingLogic

The handler receives the path variable as a @PathVariable parameter. Always use the name = attribute form. The shorthand @PathVariable("name") sets the value attribute; OfficeFloor resolves arguments from raw Java reflection where @AliasFor synthesis is not applied, so the shorthand silently produces an empty name and the binding fails.

public class GetNamedGreetingLogic {

    public void service(
            @PathVariable(name = "name") String name,
            GreetingService greetingService,
            ObjectResponse<GreetingResponse> response) {
        response.send(new GreetingResponse(greetingService.greet(name)));
    }
}

5. Run it

Because the application is standard Spring Boot, it can be run directly:

mvn spring-boot:run

curl http://localhost:8080/greeting
{"message":"Hello, World!"}

curl http://localhost:8080/greeting/OfficeFloor
{"message":"Hello, OfficeFloor!"}

6. Testing

The application is a standard Spring Boot application, so tests use MockMvc, or @SpringBootTest(webEnvironment = RANDOM_PORT) with TestRestTemplate for real HTTP calls against an embedded server.

Next