How to use the Spring Boot Patterns agent skill

What does the springboot-patterns skill make the agent do?

An agent skill is a folder containing instructions that an AI agent reads when a request matches the skill's description. This skill's description covers Spring Boot architecture patterns, REST API design, layered services, data access, caching, async processing and logging, for Java Spring Boot backend work.

The skill gives the agent a consistent set of recommended code patterns. It shows a REST controller with a request mapping and paged list endpoint, a Spring Data JPA repository with a query, a service with transactions, validated record DTOs, a global exception handler, caching with @Cacheable and @CacheEvict, @Async processing, SLF4J logging, a request logging filter, pagination and sorting, and a rate limiting filter built on Bucket4j.

How do you install the springboot-patterns skill?

Download the ZIP file from this page and unzip it. The skill is in a folder with a SKILL.md file. Put the folder in one of these locations: ~/.claude/skills/ to make it available to you across projects, or a project's .claude/skills/ folder to make it available only to that project.

You can also upload the skill in the Claude apps. Go to Settings → Capabilities → Skills and upload the skill there.

• Personal install: unzip into ~/.claude/skills/
• Project install: unzip into the project's .claude/skills/ folder
• Claude apps: Settings → Capabilities → Skills

How do you trigger the skill with a natural request?

You do not need a special command. The skill is meant to activate when your request is about Spring Boot backend work. Ask in plain language that names Spring Boot and the task, for example a REST endpoint, a service layer, caching or rate limiting.

The skill's guidance applies when you are building REST APIs with Spring MVC or WebFlux, structuring controller, service and repository layers, configuring Spring Data JPA, caching or async processing, adding validation, exception handling or pagination, setting up profiles for dev, staging and production, or implementing event-driven patterns with Spring Events or Kafka.

• Build a paginated GET endpoint for markets in Spring Boot using the layered pattern.
• Add validation and consistent error responses to my Spring Boot create-order endpoint.
• Add caching to my Spring Boot product lookup service.
• Add per-client rate limiting to my Spring Boot API behind a reverse proxy.

What examples does the skill give?

The examples are code to adapt, not code the agent runs. For instance, the validation example uses a Java record with @NotBlank, @Size, @NotNull, @FutureOrPresent and @NotEmpty annotations, and the exception handler maps validation failures to a 400 response and unexpected errors to a 500 response with the message Internal server error.

The caching example needs @EnableCaching on a configuration class. The async example needs @EnableAsync on a configuration class. The rate limiting example is a filter that identifies clients by request.getRemoteAddr().

What does the skill need before you use it?

The skill assumes a Java and Spring Boot project. The source lists Spring MVC or WebFlux, Spring Data JPA and Bean Validation as the expected stack. The skill does not run scripts and does not use the network. Its single file is SKILL.md.

• Java
• A Spring Boot project using Spring MVC or WebFlux
• Spring Data JPA
• Bean Validation

What safety points should you know?

The skill is a text guide. It shapes the agent's suggestions and code but does not perform actions on your system. Review everything it writes before you run it.

Forwarded headers need care. The skill states that X-Forwarded-For is untrusted by default because clients can spoof it. Only rely on forwarded headers when your app is behind a trusted reverse proxy, you have registered ForwardedHeaderFilter as a bean, you have set server.forward-headers-strategy to NATIVE or FRAMEWORK, and your proxy overwrites rather than appends to X-Forwarded-For. Otherwise use request.getRemoteAddr() directly.

The examples are simplified. The generic retry helper and the placeholder async notification method are not production-ready. The skill recommends Resilience4j or Spring Retry for production retry logic with circuit breakers, metrics and configurable policies.

• Review generated code before deploying it.
• Do not trust X-Forwarded-For unless the proxy setup above is in place.
• Use Resilience4j or Spring Retry for production retries.