The Spring Cache Abstraction Fundamentals
Use @Cacheable, @CachePut, and @CacheEvict to add caching without touching business logic.
Why a Cache Abstraction?
Caching stores the result of an expensive operation so the next identical call returns instantly. The naive approach scatters if (map.containsKey(key)) ... logic across your service methods, mixing caching with business logic.
Spring's Cache Abstraction solves this. You declare caching with annotations, and Spring weaves the logic in via AOP proxies. Your method body stays focused on the actual work.
- @Cacheable — return cached value if present, else run the method and store the result
- @CachePut — always run the method, then update the cache
- @CacheEvict — remove entries from the cache
Enabling Caching
The abstraction is opt-in. Add @EnableCaching to a configuration class (or your main application class). This tells Spring to scan for caching annotations and create the proxies that intercept your method calls.
Without a CacheManager bean, Spring Boot auto-configures a simple in-memory ConcurrentMapCacheManager — fine for development, but you'll swap it for Caffeine or Redis in production.
@SpringBootApplication
@EnableCaching
public class StoreApplication {
public static void main(String[] args) {
SpringApplication.run(StoreApplication.class, args);
}
}All lessons in this course
- The Spring Cache Abstraction Fundamentals
- In-Memory Caching with Caffeine Tuning
- Distributed Caching with Redis and TTLs
- Cache Stampede, Invalidation, and Consistency