Spring Batch

Spring Boot 4.x ships Spring Batch 6. The API changed significantly from 5.x (and drastically from 4.x) — most online examples are wrong. The rules that break the most agent-generated code:

1. Do NOT add @EnableBatchProcessing. Boot auto-configures the JobRepository, JobOperator, and transaction manager. Adding @EnableBatchProcessing disables that auto-configuration and you lose all the wired beans.
2. Metadata is in-memory by default. Batch 6's JobRepository is resourceless — nothing is persisted. Restartability and the BATCH_* audit tables require the spring-boot-starter-batch-jdbc starter (plain spring-boot-starter-batch = no restart after a crash).
3. JobLauncher and JobExplorer are consolidated into JobOperator (which extends both). Inject JobOperator and call start(job, params).
4. JobBuilderFactory/StepBuilderFactory are long gone, and chunk(500, txManager) is the old Batch 5 style — Batch 6 takes the size alone, with an optional .transactionManager(...).

Dependencies

<dependency>
    <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
    <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-batch-jdbc</artifactId> <!-- persistent BATCH_* metadata -->
</dependency>
<!-- spring-boot-starter-batch alone = resourceless in-memory repository:
     fine for run-and-forget jobs, but no restart-on-failure, no audit trail -->

Job & Step (Spring Batch 6 API)

@Configuration
@RequiredArgsConstructor
public class OrderExportJobConfig {

    @Bean
    public Job orderExportJob(JobRepository jobRepository, Step exportStep) {
        return new JobBuilder("orderExportJob", jobRepository)
            .incrementer(new RunIdIncrementer()) // lets the same job be re-run; see "Idempotency"
            .start(exportStep)
            .build();
    }

    @Bean
    public Step exportStep(JobRepository jobRepository,
                           PlatformTransactionManager txManager, // Boot's, injected — do NOT new one up
                           ItemReader<Order> reader,
                           ItemProcessor<Order, OrderRow> processor,
                           ItemWriter<OrderRow> writer) {
        return new StepBuilder("exportStep", jobRepository)
            .<Order, OrderRow>chunk(500)        // chunk size is the commit interval — and a TX boundary
            .transactionManager(txManager)      // optional in Batch 6 — but set it for JDBC-backed steps
            .reader(reader)
            .processor(processor)
            .writer(writer)
            .faultTolerant()
            .skip(FlatFileParseException.class)
            .skipLimit(50)
            .build();
    }
}

chunk(500) means: read 500 items, process each, hand the list of 500 to the writer, commit one transaction, repeat. The chunk is the unit of restart and the unit of rollback. The Batch 5 form chunk(500, txManager) is deprecated — size and transaction manager are now separate builder calls.

Idempotency & Restartability — the #1 operational gotcha

A JobInstance is identified by its identifying JobParameters. Launch the same job with the same identifying parameters twice and you get:

JobInstanceAlreadyCompleteException: A job instance already exists and is complete

This is by design — Batch refuses to re-run completed work. Two ways to handle it:

// Option A — RunIdIncrementer on the job (above) + JobLauncherApplicationRunner bumps run.id each launch.
// Option B — add a unique identifying parameter yourself when launching:
JobParameters params = new JobParametersBuilder()
    .addString("status", "COMPLETED")              // identifying — part of the instance key
    .addLong("run.id", System.currentTimeMillis()) // identifying & unique — makes each run a new instance
    .toJobParameters();

Mark a parameter non-identifying with the false flag when it's metadata that shouldn't change the instance identity (e.g. a request id you log but don't key on):

.addString("requestId", requestId, false) // non-identifying — excluded from the instance key

(In Batch 6 JobParameter is an immutable record that carries its own name — JobParameters holds a Set<JobParameter> — but the builder above is unchanged.)

A failed job, by contrast, is resumed when relaunched with the same parameters — it skips completed steps and restarts the failed step from the last committed chunk. That is the point of the metadata tables — and it only works with the JDBC job repository; the default resourceless repository forgets everything when the JVM exits. Don't defeat it by always passing a unique parameter if you want resume-on-failure.

ItemReader — sort key and thread-safety

@Bean
@StepScope // required: late-binds jobParameters at step execution, not context startup
public JpaPagingItemReader<Order> orderReader(
        EntityManagerFactory emf,
        @Value("#{jobParameters['status']}") String status) {
    return new JpaPagingItemReaderBuilder<Order>()
        .name("orderReader")
        .entityManagerFactory(emf)
        .queryString("SELECT o FROM Order o WHERE o.status = :status ORDER BY o.id") // ORDER BY is MANDATORY
        .parameterValues(Map.of("status", OrderStatus.valueOf(status)))
        .pageSize(500) // keep pageSize == chunk size
        .build();
}

• Paging readers require a deterministic ORDER BY on a unique column. Without it the DB returns rows in arbitrary order across pages → rows get skipped or processed twice. This is silent data corruption, not an error.
• JdbcCursorItemReader is NOT thread-safe. JdbcPagingItemReader / JpaPagingItemReader are safe for multi-threaded steps. For a non-thread-safe reader in a multi-threaded step, wrap it in SynchronizedItemStreamReader.
• Don't mutate the column you page on inside the same job. If the writer flips status from PENDING to DONE while the reader pages WHERE status = 'PENDING' ORDER BY id, the result set shifts under you and pages are missed. Read into a stable snapshot, page by immutable id, or use a cursor reader.

ItemProcessor — returning null filters

@Component
public class OrderProcessor implements ItemProcessor<Order, OrderRow> {
    @Override
    public OrderRow process(Order order) {
        if (order.getTotal().isZero()) {
            return null; // ⚠️ null = FILTER this item; it is NOT written and NOT an error
        }
        return OrderRow.from(order);
    }
}

Returning null silently drops the item from the chunk. That's a feature (filtering) but a footgun if you returned null by accident expecting it to pass through.

ItemWriter — Chunk, not List

Since Batch 5 the writer receives a Chunk<? extends T>, not List<? extends T>:

@Override
public void write(Chunk<? extends OrderRow> chunk) { // was List<? extends T> in 4.x
    repository.saveAll(chunk.getItems());
}

For SQL writes, prefer the batched JDBC writer over per-row saves — it uses one addBatch():

@Bean
public JdbcBatchItemWriter<OrderRow> orderWriter(DataSource dataSource) {
    return new JdbcBatchItemWriterBuilder<OrderRow>()
        .dataSource(dataSource)
        .sql("INSERT INTO order_export (id, total) VALUES (:id, :total)")
        .beanMapped()
        .build();
}

The writer runs inside the chunk transaction. Never fire emails, publish to Kafka, or call webhooks from a writer — if the chunk rolls back you've already sent it. Bind side effects to the job completion instead (see [[transactional-patterns]] and the listener below).

Launching jobs

Boot runs every Job bean on startup by default. For scheduled or on-demand jobs, turn that off and launch explicitly:

spring:
  batch:
    job:
      enabled: false           # don't run jobs on app startup; we trigger them ourselves
    jdbc:
      initialize-schema: never # (batch-jdbc starter) manage BATCH_* tables with Flyway in prod

@Component
@RequiredArgsConstructor
public class OrderExportScheduler {

    private final JobOperator jobOperator; // Batch 6: replaces JobLauncher AND JobExplorer
    private final Job orderExportJob;

    @Scheduled(cron = "0 0 2 * * *")
    public void runNightly() throws JobExecutionException {
        JobParameters params = new JobParametersBuilder()
            .addString("status", "COMPLETED")
            .addLong("run.id", System.currentTimeMillis())
            .toJobParameters();
        jobOperator.start(orderExportJob, params);
    }
}

Use start(Job, JobParameters) — the old start(String jobName, Properties) overload is deprecated for removal. The default JobOperator is synchronous — start(...) blocks the @Scheduled thread until the whole job finishes. For fire-and-forget, configure it with an async TaskExecutor (or annotate a @Bean method with @BatchTaskExecutor), or trigger from a request thread only if you accept the block.

Metadata schema in production

With the JDBC repository, Spring Batch needs its BATCH_JOB_INSTANCE, BATCH_JOB_EXECUTION, BATCH_STEP_EXECUTION, … tables. initialize-schema: always is fine for dev/embedded DBs but don't let Batch DDL your production database on startup. Set initialize-schema: never and ship the schema as a versioned [[flyway-migrations]] migration (the canonical DDL lives in org/springframework/batch/core/schema-*.sql inside spring-batch-core). Upgrading an existing Boot 3 database? Batch 6 renamed the BATCH_JOB_SEQ sequence to BATCH_JOB_INSTANCE_SEQ — the project ships migration scripts; add one to your Flyway history.

Listeners — work that must run after the job, not per chunk

@Bean
public Job orderExportJob(JobRepository jobRepository, Step exportStep) {
    return new JobBuilder("orderExportJob", jobRepository)
        .incrementer(new RunIdIncrementer())
        .listener(new JobExecutionListener() {
            @Override public void afterJob(JobExecution exec) {
                if (exec.getStatus() == BatchStatus.COMPLETED) {
                    notifier.notifyExportReady(exec.getJobParameters()); // safe: all chunks committed
                }
            }
        })
        .start(exportStep)
        .build();
}

Don't reach for Batch when you don't need it

Spring Batch earns its complexity (metadata tables, restart, chunking) on large, restartable, auditable bulk jobs. For a quick one-off async task, @Async or a @Scheduled loop is lighter. For durable background jobs with retry, a job queue is a better fit. Match the tool to the scale.

Gotchas

• Agent adds @EnableBatchProcessing — on Boot it disables auto-config; remove it, just inject JobRepository
• Agent uses plain spring-boot-starter-batch and expects restart/audit — Batch 6's default repository is resourceless (in-memory); use spring-boot-starter-batch-jdbc for the BATCH_* tables
• Agent uses JobBuilderFactory / StepBuilderFactory — removed in Batch 5; use new JobBuilder(name, repo) / new StepBuilder(name, repo)
• Agent calls .chunk(500, txManager) — Batch 5 style, deprecated in 6; use .chunk(500) + .transactionManager(txManager)
• Agent injects JobLauncher or JobExplorer — consolidated into JobOperator in Batch 6; inject JobOperator and call start(job, params)
• Agent calls jobOperator.start("jobName", properties) — deprecated for removal; use start(Job, JobParameters)
• Agent writes manual config @EnableBatchProcessing(dataSourceRef = ...) — split in Batch 6: @EnableBatchProcessing(taskExecutorRef = ...) + @EnableJdbcJobRepository(dataSourceRef = ...)
• Agent reuses a Boot 3 Flyway baseline for BATCH_* — Batch 6 renamed BATCH_JOB_SEQ to BATCH_JOB_INSTANCE_SEQ; add the migration script
• Agent writes write(List<? extends T> items) — the signature is write(Chunk<? extends T> chunk) since Batch 5
• Agent expects batch metrics to just appear — Batch 6 dropped Micrometer's global static registry; declare an ObservationRegistry bean wired to your MeterRegistry
• Agent re-runs a job with identical parameters and hits JobInstanceAlreadyCompleteException — add RunIdIncrementer or a unique identifying param
• Agent adds a unique param every run on a job that should resume-on-failure — kills restartability; only add it when you want a fresh instance
• Agent writes a paging reader query with no ORDER BY (or a non-unique one) — pages skip/duplicate rows silently; order by a unique column
• Agent uses JdbcCursorItemReader in a multi-threaded step — not thread-safe; use a paging reader or SynchronizedItemStreamReader
• Agent pages on a column the writer mutates in the same job — result set shifts; page on an immutable id
• Agent returns null from a processor expecting pass-through — null filters (drops) the item
• Agent sends email / publishes events from the ItemWriter — runs inside the chunk TX; do it in an afterJob listener
• Agent forgets @StepScope on a reader that reads jobParameters — @Value("#{jobParameters[...]}") only binds in step scope
• Agent leaves jobs running on startup in a web app — set spring.batch.job.enabled=false and launch explicitly
• Agent lets initialize-schema: always DDL the prod DB — use never + a Flyway migration for the BATCH_* tables