Spring BootBeginner8 min read2026-03-01

Spring Boot with PostgreSQL Database

Connect Spring Boot to PostgreSQL using HikariCP connection pooling, Docker, and Liquibase migrations.

Prerequisites

PostgreSQL installed locally or running via Docker
Spring Boot basics

1. PostgreSQL Driver Dependency

Add the org.postgresql driver to pom.xml.

xml

<dependency>
    <groupId>org.postgresql</groupId>
    <artifactId>postgresql</artifactId>
    <scope>runtime</scope>
</dependency>

2. Connection Properties

Configure connection strings and Hikari pool settings in application.yml.

yaml

spring:
  datasource:
    url: jdbc:postgresql://localhost:5432/devfix_db
    username: postgres
    password: secretpassword
    driver-class-name: org.postgresql.Driver
    hikari:
      maximum-pool-size: 10
      minimum-idle: 5
  jpa:
    hibernate:
      ddl-auto: validate
    show-sql: true

Best Practices & Architecture Advice

Never use ddl-auto=create-drop in production; use Flyway or Liquibase migrations instead.
Size Hikari connection pools appropriately based on CPU cores.

Common Mistakes to Watch Out For

•Leaving default ddl-auto=update in production, which can lock tables during deployments.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I spin up a PostgreSQL instance quickly for local dev?

Run: docker run -d --name pg -e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=secretpassword -p 5432:5432 postgres:16-alpine.