name: Spring Framework Vocabulary
description: >-
  Domain vocabulary for the Spring Framework ecosystem covering core concepts,
  Spring Boot, Spring Data, Spring Security, Spring Cloud, and Spring AI.
version: '1.0'
created: '2026-05-02'
modified: '2026-05-02'
url: https://spring.io
terms:
  - term: Spring Boot
    definition: >-
      An opinionated module for building production-ready Spring applications
      with auto-configuration, embedded servers, and starter dependencies that
      minimize boilerplate configuration.
    tags:
      - Core
      - Framework
  - term: Spring Initializr
    definition: >-
      A web service and API at start.spring.io that generates Spring Boot
      project scaffolding with configurable dependencies, build system, and
      language support. Used by IDEs and CLI tools.
    tags:
      - Tooling
      - Developer Tools
  - term: Actuator
    definition: >-
      A Spring Boot module that provides production-ready management endpoints
      for monitoring health, metrics, environment, loggers, thread dumps,
      beans, and HTTP request mappings.
    tags:
      - Monitoring
      - Operations
  - term: Spring Data REST
    definition: >-
      A Spring Data module that automatically exports repository interfaces
      as HATEOAS/HAL REST endpoints without writing controller code.
    tags:
      - Data
      - REST
      - Hypermedia
  - term: Spring Security
    definition: >-
      The de facto standard security framework for Spring applications,
      providing authentication, authorization, CSRF protection, OAuth2,
      and OpenID Connect integration.
    tags:
      - Security
      - Authentication
  - term: Spring Cloud Gateway
    definition: >-
      A reactive API gateway built on Spring WebFlux that provides routing,
      filtering, load balancing, circuit breaking, and rate limiting capabilities.
    tags:
      - API Gateway
      - Cloud
      - Routing
  - term: Spring AI
    definition: >-
      A Spring framework for building AI-powered applications with a unified
      ChatClient API supporting multiple LLM providers (OpenAI, Anthropic,
      Gemini, Ollama) with prompt templates and vector store integration.
    tags:
      - AI
      - LLM
      - GenAI
  - term: Starter
    definition: >-
      A curated set of dependency descriptors packaged for a specific purpose
      (e.g., spring-boot-starter-web). Starters simplify build configuration
      by pulling in all necessary transitive dependencies.
    tags:
      - Dependency Management
      - Build
  - term: Auto-Configuration
    definition: >-
      Spring Boot's mechanism for automatically configuring Spring beans
      based on classpath contents and property settings, reducing the need
      for explicit Java or XML configuration.
    tags:
      - Configuration
      - Spring Boot
  - term: Bean
    definition: >-
      A Spring-managed object registered in the application context (IoC container).
      Beans are instantiated, assembled, and managed by the Spring container.
    tags:
      - Core
      - IoC
  - term: ApplicationContext
    definition: >-
      The central interface to the Spring IoC container, providing configuration
      information, bean definitions, and lifecycle management for the application.
    tags:
      - Core
      - IoC
  - term: HATEOAS
    definition: >-
      Hypermedia as the Engine of Application State — a REST constraint where
      API responses include links to related resources and actions. Used by
      Spring Data REST via the HAL media type.
    tags:
      - REST
      - Hypermedia
      - API Design
  - term: Spring MVC
    definition: >-
      The model-view-controller web framework in Spring for building servlet-based
      REST APIs and web applications using @Controller and @RestController annotations.
    tags:
      - Web
      - REST
      - MVC
  - term: WebFlux
    definition: >-
      The reactive web framework in Spring for building non-blocking REST APIs
      and streaming applications using Project Reactor and Netty.
    tags:
      - Reactive
      - Web
      - Non-Blocking
  - term: Spring Authorization Server
    definition: >-
      An official Spring project implementing the OAuth 2.1 and OpenID Connect 1.0
      authorization server specification for issuing and managing access tokens.
    tags:
      - OAuth2
      - Security
      - Authorization
  - term: Profile
    definition: >-
      A named configuration set (e.g., dev, prod, test) that activates specific
      beans and properties. Enabled via spring.profiles.active property or
      environment variable.
    tags:
      - Configuration
      - Spring Boot
  - term: Spring Boot DevTools
    definition: >-
      Development-time tools providing automatic restart on class changes,
      LiveReload integration, and property overrides for developer productivity.
    tags:
      - Developer Tools
      - Development