In the rapidly evolving landscape of software development, managing complexity is crucial. As systems grow, maintaining a clear structure and ensuring high cohesion while minimizing coupling becomes increasingly challenging. Enter Spring Modulith, a paradigm that aims to combine the benefits of modular architecture with the familiarity and robustness of the Spring framework. In this detailed blog, we will explore what Spring Modulith is, its key features, benefits, and how you can implement it in your projects.

What is Spring Modulith?

Spring Modulith is an architectural approach that advocates for the modularization of a monolithic application. Instead of splitting an application into microservices, Spring Modulith emphasizes dividing the application into cohesive, independent modules within a single deployable unit. This allows developers to reap the benefits of modularity while avoiding the complexities and overheads associated with microservices.

Key Features of Spring Modulith

1. Modular Boundaries

Spring Modulith promotes the clear definition of module boundaries. Each module encapsulates its own domain logic and communicates with other modules through well-defined interfaces. This segregation ensures that modules remain loosely coupled and highly cohesive.

2. Spring Integration

Leveraging the Spring framework, Spring Modulith seamlessly integrates with Spring Boot and other Spring projects. This integration allows developers to use familiar tools and practices while adopting a modular architecture.

3. Independent Development and Testing

Modules in Spring Modulith can be developed and tested independently. This autonomy facilitates parallel development, faster iteration, and more straightforward debugging and testing processes.

4. Dependency Management

Spring Modulith enforces clear dependency management, preventing cyclic dependencies and ensuring that each module only depends on the necessary components. This structure promotes a cleaner and more maintainable codebase.

5. Domain-Driven Design (DDD)

Spring Modulith aligns well with Domain-Driven Design principles, encouraging developers to model their system based on the business domain. Each module can represent a specific bounded context, enhancing the alignment between the technical and business aspects of the application.

6. Scalability

While Spring Modulith focuses on modularizing a monolith, it also facilitates scalability. Individual modules can be scaled independently based on the application's needs, providing a balanced approach to scalability without the complexities of a fully distributed system.

Benefits of Spring Modulith

1. Simplified Architecture

By maintaining a single deployable unit, Spring Modulith avoids the operational overhead associated with managing multiple microservices. This simplification leads to easier deployment, monitoring, and management.

2. Improved Maintainability

The clear separation of concerns and well-defined module boundaries enhance the maintainability of the codebase. Changes to one module have minimal impact on others, reducing the risk of unintended side effects.

3. Enhanced Team Productivity

Teams can work on different modules simultaneously without stepping on each other's toes. This parallel development capability accelerates the development process and improves overall productivity.

4. Better Performance

Since all modules reside within the same monolith, inter-module communication is more efficient compared to microservices, which rely on network calls. This can lead to better performance and reduced latency.

5. Easier Transition to Microservices

Spring Modulith serves as an excellent stepping stone for organizations considering a move to microservices. The modular structure makes it easier to identify and extract individual modules into microservices if and when needed.

Implementing Spring Modulith

1. Setting Up the Project

Start by setting up a Spring Boot project. You can use Spring Initializr to bootstrap your project with the necessary dependencies.

curl https://start.spring.io/starter.zip -d dependencies=web,data-jpa,h2 -d name=spring-modulith-demo -o spring-modulith-demo.zip
unzip spring-modulith-demo.zip
cd spring-modulith-demo

2. Defining Modules

Create separate packages for each module to define clear boundaries. For example:

src/main/java/com/example/springmodulithdemo/
    ├── customer
    └── order

3. Configuring Module Dependencies

Ensure that each module has its own Spring configuration class. This setup helps in managing dependencies and module-specific beans.

// src/main/java/com/example/springmodulithdemo/customer/CustomerConfig.java
package com.example.springmodulithdemo.customer;

import org.springframework.context.annotation.Bean;
import org.springframework.context.annotation.Configuration;

@Configuration
public class CustomerConfig {

    @Bean
    public CustomerService customerService() {
        return new CustomerService();
    }
}

// src/main/java/com/example/springmodulithdemo/order/OrderConfig.java
package com.example.springmodulithdemo.order;

import org.springframework.context.annotation.Bean;
import org.springframework.context.annotation.Configuration;

@Configuration
public class OrderConfig {

    @Bean
    public OrderService orderService() {
        return new OrderService();
    }
}

4. Implementing Services

Create service classes for each module, encapsulating the module's business logic.

// src/main/java/com/example/springmodulithdemo/customer/CustomerService.java
package com.example.springmodulithdemo.customer;

public class CustomerService {

    public String getCustomerDetails(Long customerId) {
        // Logic to get customer details
        return "Customer details for ID: " + customerId;
    }
}

// src/main/java/com/example/springmodulithdemo/order/OrderService.java
package com.example.springmodulithdemo.order;

public class OrderService {

    public String createOrder(Long customerId) {
        // Logic to create an order
        return "Order created for customer ID: " + customerId;
    }
}

5. Managing Inter-Module Communication

Use Spring's dependency injection to manage communication between modules.

// src/main/java/com/example/springmodulithdemo/order/OrderService.java
package com.example.springmodulithdemo.order;

import com.example.springmodulithdemo.customer.CustomerService;
import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
import org.springframework.stereotype.Service;

@Service
public class OrderService {

    private final CustomerService customerService;

    @Autowired
    public OrderService(CustomerService customerService) {
        this.customerService = customerService;
    }

    public String createOrder(Long customerId) {
        String customerDetails = customerService.getCustomerDetails(customerId);
        return "Order created for customer: " + customerDetails;
    }
}

6. Testing Modules

Write unit tests for each module independently to ensure they function correctly in isolation.

// src/test/java/com/example/springmodulithdemo/customer/CustomerServiceTest.java
package com.example.springmodulithdemo.customer;

import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.*;

class CustomerServiceTest {

    @Test
    void testGetCustomerDetails() {
        CustomerService customerService = new CustomerService();
        String result = customerService.getCustomerDetails(1L);
        assertEquals("Customer details for ID: 1", result);
    }
}

// src/test/java/com/example/springmodulithdemo/order/OrderServiceTest.java
package com.example.springmodulithdemo.order;

import com.example.springmodulithdemo.customer.CustomerService;
import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
import static org.mockito.Mockito.*;
import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.*;

class OrderServiceTest {

    @Test
    void testCreateOrder() {
        CustomerService customerService = mock(CustomerService.class);
        when(customerService.getCustomerDetails(1L)).thenReturn("Customer details for ID: 1");

        OrderService orderService = new OrderService(customerService);
        String result = orderService.createOrder(1L);
        assertEquals("Order created for customer: Customer details for ID: 1", result);
    }
}

Conclusion

Spring Modulith offers a balanced approach to building scalable and maintainable applications by modularizing monoliths. It leverages the strengths of the Spring ecosystem, making it an attractive choice for developers familiar with Spring. By clearly defining module boundaries, managing dependencies, and ensuring independent development and testing, Spring Modulith provides a robust framework for building well-structured, modular applications.

Whether you're starting a new project or refactoring an existing monolith, Spring Modulith can help you achieve a cleaner, more maintainable architecture while avoiding the pitfalls and complexities of microservices. Give it a try in your next project and experience the benefits of modularity within the Spring ecosystem.

Spring Modulith : A Comprehensive Guide