Spring Boot Code Guard

Set of Spring Boot Best Practices converted into Konsist tests. Helps you write clean and maintainable code and prevent AI slop (at least trying) in your codebase.

Each rule is a static analysis check that runs as a regular JUnit 5 test. Rules inspect your source code structure using Konsist — they look at class names, annotations, package locations, and layer dependencies without compiling or running your application. You configure which rules to enforce via a Kotlin DSL, and the test fails with a clear message identifying the exact class or method that violated the rule.

Installation

Maven Central: https://central.sonatype.com/artifact/dev.protsenko/spring-boot-code-guard/overview

Add dependency to your build.gradle.kts or build.gradle:

implementation("dev.protsenko:spring-boot-code-guard:1.0.9")

Usage

Add a Konsist test file to your project (e.g. src/test/kotlin/SpringCodeGuardTest.kt) and call springBootRules { }.verify() inside a JUnit 5 test.

All rules

Enable every available rule with a single call:

@Test
fun `spring boot rules`() {
    springBootRules {
        all()
    }.verify()
}

Selected rules

Pick only the rules relevant to your project:

@Test
fun `spring boot rules`() {
    springBootRules {
        general {
            noFieldInjection()
            // ... and other rules
        }
        jpa {
            entitiesHaveIdField()
            // ... and other rules
        }
        naming {
            serviceNamingConvention()
            // ... and other rules
        }
        packages {
            packageNamingConvention()
            // ... and other rules
        }
        web {
            properHttpMethodAnnotations()
            // ... and other rules
        }
    }.verify()
}

Suppressing Rules

When a rule fires, the violation message is prefixed with its rule ID:

CodeGuard:noFieldInjection: Found 1 field(s) with @Autowired/@Inject in: LegacyService. Use constructor injection instead.

To suppress a rule for a specific class, annotate it with @Suppress using that ID:

@Suppress("CodeGuard:noFieldInjection")
@Service
class LegacyService {
    @Autowired
    lateinit var repo: UserRepository
}

Suppression is class-level — it silences all checks from the given rule for that class and its members.

Excluding Rules

To disable a rule entirely for the whole test, use exclude() inside the DSL block with the rule's suppress key:

@Test
fun `spring boot rules`() {
    springBootRules {
        all()
        exclude("CodeGuard:noFieldInjection")
    }.verify()
}

Multiple rules can be excluded at once:

springBootRules {
    all()
    exclude(
        "CodeGuard:noFieldInjection",
        "CodeGuard:transactionalPlacement",
    )
}.verify()

exclude() can be placed anywhere in the block — before or after rule registration. Exclusions are applied at verify() time regardless of order.

Passing an unknown key throws an error listing all registered rule keys. Excluding every registered rule also throws — at least one rule must remain active.

Rule Set

General

• CodeGuard:statelessConfiguration: @Configuration classes must not declare mutable (var) properties (excluding @Value and @ConfigurationProperties fields) — configuration classes should only define beans and remain side-effect free.
• CodeGuard:beanMethodsInConfiguration: @Bean methods must be declared inside @Configuration classes; placing them in other classes bypasses Spring's scoping and CGLIB proxy mechanisms.
• CodeGuard:customExceptionStructure: Classes whose name ends with Exception must extend RuntimeException, a well-known subtype (IllegalArgumentException, IllegalStateException, ResponseStatusException, NestedRuntimeException), or another custom exception class — not the raw Exception hierarchy.
• CodeGuard:noFieldInjection: Fields must not be annotated with @Autowired or @Inject; constructor injection must be used instead to make dependencies explicit and improve testability.
• CodeGuard:loggerInsteadOfPrint: Spring bean classes must not call println or print; use SLF4J or another structured logging framework so output is observable and controllable in production.
• CodeGuard:noStackTracePrint: Spring bean classes must not call printStackTrace() directly; use structured logging so stack traces are captured by the application logging pipeline.
• CodeGuard:noProxyAnnotationsOnPrivateMethods: @Transactional, @Cacheable, @CacheEvict, @CachePut, and @Async must not be placed on private methods — Spring proxy cannot intercept private methods, so the annotation is silently ignored.

Proxy

• CodeGuard:noSelfInvocationOfProxyMethods: Methods annotated with @Transactional, @Cacheable, @CacheEvict, @CachePut, or @Async must not invoke another proxy-annotated method on the same class; Spring AOP proxy is bypassed on self-invocation, so the callee annotation is silently ignored.

JPA

• CodeGuard:entityId: Every @Entity class (or one of its parents within the same codebase) must declare a field annotated with @Id, as JPA requires a primary key to track entity identity.
• CodeGuard:noDataClassEntity: @Entity classes must not be Kotlin data class types — the final modifier prevents JPA lazy-loading proxies, and structural equals/hashCode breaks entity identity semantics.
• CodeGuard:transactionalPlacement: @Transactional must not appear on @Controller or @RestController classes or their methods; transaction boundaries belong in the service layer.
• CodeGuard:domainLayerIndependence: Classes residing in ..domain.. or ..entity.. packages must not import or use any org.springframework.* types, keeping the domain model framework-agnostic and portable.

Naming

• CodeGuard:serviceNaming: Classes annotated with @Service must have names ending in Service.
• CodeGuard:repositoryNaming: Classes and interfaces annotated with @Repository must have names ending in Repository.
• CodeGuard:controllerNaming: Classes annotated with @Controller or @RestController must have names ending in Controller.
• CodeGuard:exceptionHandlerNaming: Classes annotated with @RestControllerAdvice or @ControllerAdvice must have names ending in ExceptionHandler or Advice.
• CodeGuard:configurationPropertiesNaming: Classes annotated with @ConfigurationProperties must have names ending in Properties.

Packages

• CodeGuard:packageNaming: All package names must be fully lowercase — mixed-case packages break Java/Kotlin conventions and cause issues with tooling.
• CodeGuard:servicePackage: @Service classes must reside in a ..service.. package segment.
• CodeGuard:controllerPackage: @Controller and @RestController classes must reside in a ..controller.. or ..web.. package segment.
• CodeGuard:configurationPackage: @Configuration classes must reside in a ..config.. or ..configuration.. package segment.
• CodeGuard:propertiesValidation: @ConfigurationProperties classes must reside in a ..property.. package segment.
• CodeGuard:configurationPropertiesPrefixKebabCase: @ConfigurationProperties prefixes must use lowercase kebab-case segments separated by dots, such as app.mail or app-mail.client.
• CodeGuard:entityPackage: @Entity classes must reside in a ..domain.. or ..entity.. package segment.
• CodeGuard:onlyServicesInServicePackage: Only @Service classes may reside in a ..service.. package segment — other stereotypes (@Component, @Repository, etc.) and plain classes must not be placed there. Exception: non-@Service classes declared in the same file as a @Service class are treated as file-level helpers and are permitted; nested helper classes are ignored.
• CodeGuard:onlyEntitiesInEntityPackage: Only @Entity classes may reside in ..domain.. or ..entity.. package segments — non-entity stereotypes and plain classes must not be placed there. Exception: JPA @MappedSuperclass and @Embeddable types are also permitted, classes referenced from an entity's @IdClass are permitted, and non-@Entity classes declared in the same file as an @Entity class or a class inheriting from @Entity are treated as file-level helpers and are permitted.
• CodeGuard:onlyControllersInControllerPackage: Only @Controller/@RestController classes may reside in ..controller.. or ..web.. package segments — other stereotypes and plain classes must not be placed there. Exception: non-controller classes declared in the same file as a controller are treated as file-level helpers and are permitted.
• CodeGuard:onlyConfigurationsInConfigPackage: Only @Configuration, @ControllerAdvice, and @RestControllerAdvice classes may reside in ..config.. or ..configuration.. package segments — other stereotypes and plain classes must not be placed there. Exception: other classes declared in the same file as one of these allowed types are treated as file-level helpers and are permitted.
• CodeGuard:onlyPropertiesInPropertyPackage: Only @ConfigurationProperties classes may reside in ..property.. package segments — other stereotypes and plain classes must not be placed there. Exception: non-@ConfigurationProperties classes declared in the same file as a @ConfigurationProperties class are treated as file-level helpers and are permitted.
• CodeGuard:repositoryPackage: @Repository classes and Spring Data repository interfaces (e.g. extending JpaRepository) must reside in a ..repository.. package segment.
• CodeGuard:onlyRepositoriesInRepositoryPackage: Only @Repository classes may reside in ..repository.. package segments — other stereotypes and plain classes must not be placed there. Exception: non-@Repository classes declared in the same file as a @Repository class are treated as file-level helpers and are permitted.

Web

• CodeGuard:httpMethodAnnotation: Methods in @RestController classes must use specific HTTP method annotations (@GetMapping, @PostMapping, @PutMapping, etc.) instead of the generic @RequestMapping, which requires an explicit method attribute to be unambiguous.
• CodeGuard:noTrailingSlash: URL path values in HTTP mapping annotations must not end with a trailing slash — inconsistent paths lead to unexpected 404s and routing ambiguity.
• CodeGuard:restControllerReturnType: GET handler methods in @RestController classes must not return Unit/void; every GET endpoint must produce a meaningful response body.
• CodeGuard:dtoSeparation: @RestController methods must not accept or return @Entity classes directly — use dedicated DTOs to decouple the API contract from the persistence model.
• CodeGuard:controllerRepository: @Controller and @RestController classes must not declare repository types as constructor parameters or properties; controllers should depend only on services, leaving data access to the service layer.