Tutorial: How to Set Up the H2 Database in Spring Boot Fast! 💽

In this instructional we’ll review an example application which is written in the Groovy Programming Language (Groovy) and which demonstrates how to use the H2 Database with Spring Boot.

The benefit from using the Groovy, in this case, is that it allows a simple Groovy script example to ship exactly one file which contains everything we need in order to run the application.

H2 Database with Spring Boot TOC

The H2 Database Engine (H2 DB / H2) is a powerful open-source relational database which is written in the Java Programming Language (Java) and which is used with some frequency in software development projects — especially when it comes to testing applications.

Using H2 with the Spring Framework and with Spring Boot, in particular, is a common use case in db dev efforts, one which we’ll demonstrate in this article.

In the next section we’ll take a look at the example and dissect, in detail, what happens in each step.

Note that in a few places I’ve added code which should not be required if we were to write this same solution using Java and a properly structured Maven project — I attempt to point this out, where appropriate.

This db development example has been updated and tested for Spring Boot 3.4.3 (February 20, 2025).

H2 Database with Spring Boot Example on GitHub

Included here is a link to the gist on GitHub pertaining to the example used to demonstrate connecting the H2 Relational Database with Spring Boot.

I’ve also added the full example in the next section, which you should be able to paste into the groovyConsole and run as-is.

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Spring Boot PostgreSQL Integration Tutorial

Follow this Spring Boot and PostgreSQL integration tutorial to connect your Spring-enabled application with the Postgres database, step-by-step.

An example pertaining to using the H2 Database Engine with Spring Boot

In this section we’ll take a look at the script in closer detail and go over what’s happening in each step.

Preconditions

In order to run this example, you will need the following:

This script can be executed using Groovy alone hence the groovyConsole is optional.

The script uses the Groovy Adaptable Packaging Engine (Groovy Grape) to pull in dependencies from Maven Central hence a connection to the Internet is required as well.

Spring Boot With H2 DB Example Maven Dependencies

The following dependencies are used in this example:

  1. Spring Boot
  2. Spring Boot AutoConfigure
  3. Spring JDBC
  4. H2 Database Engine
  5. Javax Annotation API
  6. SLF4J Simple Provider

The Groovy Grape dependency management system should find these dependencies automatically when the script is executed however for reference purposes I’ve included these here.

I’ve included an example of what the output should look like when running this script from the command line here.

Successful sample output for the H2 Database with Spring Boot example script which performs several CRUD operations.
H2 DB with Spring Boot Successful CRUD Example Output

The red arrow points to the command used to run the script, and orange arrow points to the log statement that indicates the script is starting, and the blue arrow points to the log statement that indicates that the script has finished running.

In this example, the script runs a Spring Boot application that creates a table in the H2 DB, executes several create, read, update, delete (CRUD) operations on that table, and then drops the table.

The Groovy script runs to completion successfully and then exits.

Learn how to access an H2 Database in your browser now!

Follow this quick guide to launch the H2 web console and access your local database in just a few clicks -- no complex setup required.

Step One: Declare a package.

When we define the Spring Boot Application, we’ll include the scanBasePackages setting, which requires a package name so we set that here.

Step One: Define a package for the H2 Database Spring Boot example script -- a package is required in step nine for scanning purposes so we define that here.
Step One: Define a package for this script.

Step Two: Add the Groovy Grape GrabConfig annotation.

In step two we need to add the Groovy Grape GrabConfig annotation and also set the systemClassLoader property to true — if we do not have this an exception will be thrown when the script is executed.

Annotation @GrabConfig(systemClassLoader=true) in Groovy configures the dependency manager to use the system class loader thereby ensuring that dependencies are accessible to the entire Java Virtual Machine (JVM).
Step Two: Set the systemClassLoader to true for the GrabConfig for Groovy.

Step Three: Grab dependencies and import required classes.

In step three we need to grab the dependencies necessary to run this example as well as import required classes — this includes the Spring Boot H2 Database, and other supporting classes.

Note that we’re using the Hikari database driver in this example.

Step Three: Grab dependencies and import classes, including the H2 Database, Spring Boot, and other required frameworks.

See the Maven Dependencies section in this article for complete details.

Step Four: Obtain a reference to an SLF4J logger.

We’re using the SLF4J log delegation framework in this example and we’ll send messages to console output so we can watch what’s happening as the script executes.

The HikariCP dependency is one other framework that we’re using that also uses SLF4J and we’ve included this high performance connection pooling implementation in this example.

Get an instance of the SLF4J logger and assign it to the log variable.

Step Five: Configure H2 database datasource and JdbcTemplate beans.

In the fifth step we’ll configure the H2 Database datasource which utilizes the HikariCP high performance connection pool dependency as the datasource type.

Since this example demonstrates some simple CRUD operations executed against the H2 Database from a Spring Boot application, we’ll also configure an instance of JdbcTemplate here which uses this data source.

Note that we’re assigning the HikariDataSource class as the datasource type.

The H2 DB instance configured in this example will reside in-memory only — if we want to persist this information to disk then we need to change the URL.

Step Five: A configuration class for Spring Boot application defining two beans: a DataSource bean using H2 in-memory database with HikariCP connection pool, and a JdbcTemplate bean for database operations.
Step Five: Review the configuration class for setting up the H2 in-memory database with HikariCP and JdbcTemplate in this example Spring Boot application.

H2 Database URL: Key Arguments Explained

Understand the H2 DB URL arguments for Spring Boot:

  • jdbc:h2:mem: Runs h2 in-memory.
  • example-db: Names the database ‘example-db’.
  • DB_CLOSE_DELAY=-1: Keeps H2 open until JVM shutdown.
  • DB_CLOSE_ON_EXIT=FALSE: Prevents auto-close on exit.

I have another tutorial which explains in detail how to access H2 Database console from a browser which may be helpful as well.

Step Six: Create a repository class.

In this step we implement a repository that contains the CRUD operations that we can execute on the H2 Database instance via the JdbcTemplate, which is autowired in this example by Spring Boot.

Step Six: Spring repository bean for managing an H2 database table with methods to create, delete, add, update, and read (CRUD) records using the JdbcTemplate bean.
Step Six: ExampleRepository class for H2 Database operations using the JdbcTemplate in this Example Spring Boot and H2 DB application.

Step Seven: Implement a service bean.

In this step we implement a transactional service bean which has stop and start lifecycle methods along with convenience methods that delegate to the repository bean.

The start method creates the example table in H2 when Spring Boot initializes the beans that the container is managing, and the stop method drops the example table before the container stops.

Other methods defined in the ExampleService deliver convenience and hide implementation details.

Using a service aids in reuse and is also helpful when testing our code.

Step Seven: Spring service bean with transactional methods to manage H2 database operations, including creating and deleting a table and performing CRUD operations.
Step Seven: The ExampleService bean handles database operations with transaction management using the ExampleRepository in this Example Spring Boot application.

As the image has been truncated, refer to the full example below or on the GitHub Gist for the complete implementation details.

Step Eight: Implement the Spring Boot CommandLineRunner interface.

In this step we implement the Spring Boot CommandLineRunner specification.

Our implementation includes executing CRUD operations via the service created in step seven against the H2 Database.

We log some information along the way so we can see what happens as each CRUD operation completes.

Step Eight: Spring component bean that implements the CommandLineRunner specification and runs on application startup, performing database CRUD operations through the ExampleService and logging the results.
Step Eight: Spring Boot CommandLineRunner implementation that demonstrates example H2 database operations.

Step Nine: Configure Spring Boot Application for Component Scanning.

The code in the snippet defines a Spring Boot application and specifies the base package for component scanning.

Step Nine: Spring Boot and H2 database integration example application class with component scanning configured for the specified package.
Step Nine: Spring Boot and H2 DB Example Application with Custom Component Scanning.

Step Ten: Configure and then run the Spring Boot application.

The code in this snippet configures and then runs the Spring Boot application with the following configuration:

    1. Initialize SpringApplicationBuilder: Creates a builder for the Spring Boot application using H2SpringBootExampleApplication.
    2. Set Profiles and Web Application Type: Configures the application to use the default profile and disables the web environment (this is not a web application so we don’t need this).
    3. Set Parent Context: Specifies the BeanConfiguration, ExampleRepository, ExampleService, and ExampleCommandLineRunner classes as components in the parent context.
    4. Run the Application: Execute the application with the provided arguments.
    5. Close the Context: Closes the application context — this step ensures that the stop lifecycle method in the service (see step six) is called before the Spring Boot example application has exited resulting in the names table in the H2 DB being dropped.

Finally, the script logs a completion message and then exits.

Step Ten: Configure and run a Spring Boot application with a specific profile and components, then close the context and log completion.
Step Ten: Set up and run the Example Spring Boot application with specified components, profiles, and configurations, then close the application context and log completion.

The next section includes the complete Spring Boot with H2 Database example script.

Spring Boot With The H2 Database Engine Complete Example

Here I’ve included a copy of the entire script, which you should be able to run either using the groovyConsole or via the command line with the groovy shell.

				
					/*
 * Precondition:
 *
 * - Java version "22.0.1" 2024-04-16
 * - Groovy version 4.0.17
 */
package com.thospfuller.examples.h2.database.spring.boot

@GrabConfig(systemClassLoader=true)

@Grab(group='org.springframework.boot', module='spring-boot', version='3.4.3')
@Grab(group='org.springframework.boot', module='spring-boot-autoconfigure', version='3.4.3')
import org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.SpringBootApplication
import org.springframework.boot.builder.SpringApplicationBuilder
import org.springframework.context.annotation.Configuration
import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired
import org.springframework.stereotype.Repository
import org.springframework.stereotype.Component
import org.springframework.boot.jdbc.DataSourceBuilder

@Grab(group='org.springframework', module='spring-jdbc', version='6.2.3')
import org.springframework.jdbc.core.JdbcTemplate
import org.springframework.jdbc.core.ParameterizedPreparedStatementSetter
import org.springframework.transaction.annotation.Transactional
import org.springframework.context.annotation.Bean
import org.springframework.boot.CommandLineRunner
import org.springframework.boot.WebApplicationType
import org.springframework.stereotype.Service

@Grab(group='com.h2database', module='h2', version='2.3.232')
@Grab(group='com.zaxxer', module='HikariCP', version='6.2.1')
import com.zaxxer.hikari.HikariDataSource
import javax.sql.DataSource
import java.sql.PreparedStatement

@Grab(group='javax.annotation', module='javax.annotation-api', version='1.3.2')
import javax.annotation.PostConstruct
import javax.annotation.PreDestroy

@Grab(group='org.slf4j', module='slf4j-simple', version='2.0.17')
import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory

def log = LoggerFactory.getLogger(this.class)

log.info "H2 Database with Spring Boot example begins; args: $args"

@Configuration
class BeanConfiguration {

  @Bean
  DataSource getDataSource () {

    return DataSourceBuilder
      .create()
      .driverClassName("org.h2.Driver")
      .type(HikariDataSource)
      .url("jdbc:h2:mem:example-db;DB_CLOSE_DELAY=-1;DB_CLOSE_ON_EXIT=FALSE")
      .username("sa")
      .password("sa")
    .build()
  }

  @Bean  
  JdbcTemplate getJdbcTemplate (DataSource dataSource) {
    return new JdbcTemplate (dataSource)
  }
}

@Repository
class ExampleRepository {

  private static final def log = LoggerFactory.getLogger(ExampleRepository)

  static final def TABLE_NAME = "NAMES"

  @Autowired
  private JdbcTemplate jdbcTemplate

  void createExampleTable () {

    log.info "createExampleTable: method begins."

    jdbcTemplate.execute("CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS ${TABLE_NAME} (id INT GENERATED ALWAYS AS IDENTITY PRIMARY KEY, name VARCHAR(255));")

    log.info "createExampleTable: method ends."
  }

  def deleteExampleTable () {

    log.info "deleteExampleTable: method begins."

    jdbcTemplate.execute("DROP TABLE IF EXISTS ${TABLE_NAME};")

    log.info "deleteExampleTable: method ends."
  }

  def addNames (String... names) {
    return addNames (names as List<String>)
  }

  def addNames (List<String> nameList) {

    return jdbcTemplate.batchUpdate(
      "INSERT INTO ${TABLE_NAME} (name) VALUES (?);",
      nameList,
      nameList.size (),
      { PreparedStatement preparedStatement, String name ->
        preparedStatement.setString(1, name)
      } as ParameterizedPreparedStatementSetter<String>
    )
  }

  def updateName (int id, String newName) {

    return jdbcTemplate.update(
      "UPDATE ${TABLE_NAME} SET NAME = ? WHERE ID = ?;",
      newName,
      id
    )
  }

  def deleteName (int id) {

    return jdbcTemplate.update(
      "DELETE FROM ${TABLE_NAME} WHERE ID = ?;",
      id
    )
  }

  def readNames () {
    return jdbcTemplate.queryForList ("select name from ${TABLE_NAME}")
  }
}

@Service
@Transactional
class ExampleService {

  private static final def log = LoggerFactory.getLogger(ExampleService)

  @Autowired
  def exampleRepository

  @PostConstruct
  def start () {

    log.info "start: method begins."

    exampleRepository.createExampleTable ()

    log.info "start: method ends."
  }

  @PreDestroy
  def stop () {

    log.info "stop: method begins."

    exampleRepository.deleteExampleTable ()

    log.info "stop: method ends."
  }

  def addNames (String... nameList) {
    return exampleRepository.addNames (nameList)
  }

  def updateName (int id, String newName) {
    return exampleRepository.updateName (id, newName)
  }

  def deleteName (int id) {
    return exampleRepository.deleteName (id)
  }

  def readNames () {
    return exampleRepository.readNames ()
  }
}

@Component
class ExampleCommandLineRunner implements CommandLineRunner {

  private static final def log = LoggerFactory.getLogger(H2SpringBootExampleApplication)

  @Autowired
  private def exampleService

  @Override
  public void run (String... args) {

    log.info "run: method begins; args: $args"

    def namesAdded = exampleService.addNames ("aaa", "bbb", "ccc", "ddd")

    log.info "namesAdded: $namesAdded"

    def updateResult = exampleService.updateName (2, "ZZZ")

    def names = exampleService.readNames ()

    log.info "updateResult: $updateResult, names after update: $names"

    def deletedNames = exampleService.deleteName (2)

    names = exampleService.readNames ()

    log.info "deletedNames: $deletedNames, names after deletion: $names"

    log.info "run: method ends."
  }
}

@SpringBootApplication(scanBasePackages = ["com.thospfuller.examples.h2.database.spring.boot"])
class H2SpringBootExampleApplication {}

def springApplicationBuilder = new SpringApplicationBuilder(H2SpringBootExampleApplication)

def context = springApplicationBuilder
  .profiles("default")
  .web(WebApplicationType.NONE)
  .parent (
    BeanConfiguration,
    ExampleRepository,
    ExampleService,
    ExampleCommandLineRunner
  )
  .run(args)

context.close ()

log.info "...done!"

return
				
			

The tutorial conclusion follows.

How to Use The H2 CREATE TRIGGER Command: Full Walkthrough

Learn how to implement an H2 trigger example in this tutorial.

Conclusion

I hope that this instructional has provided adequate guidance as well as a useful example regarding how to use the H2 Database with Spring Boot.

Learn more about database change notifications — a hidden software engineering gem supported by some relational databases.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

What is HikariCP?

HikariCP is an open-source high-performance and reliable connection pooling library written in the Java Programming Language.

The HikariCP dependency is available on the MvnRepository website.

In Spring Boot where do we need to specify the h2 database URL?

In Spring Boot, the H2 database URL is usually specified in the one of the following files:

  • application.properties — for example:

    spring.datasource.url=jdbc:h2:mem:testdb

  • application.yml — for example:

    spring:
      datasource:
        url: jdbc:h2:mem:testdb

See the Spring Boot / SQL Databases / Datasource Configuration documentation for more information.

Note that in step five of the the Spring Boot h2 tutorial we set the database URL by calling the url method on the DataSourceBuilder class.

author avatar
ThosPFuller
I am a software engineer based in Northern Virginia (USA) and this website focuses on content engineering, web development, Technical SEO, Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

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