Java Spring Boot MongoDB Sample MFlix Application

This is a full-stack movie browsing application built with Java Spring Boot and Next.js, demonstrating MongoDB operations using the sample_mflix dataset. The application showcases CRUD operations, aggregations, and MongoDB Search using Spring Data MongoDB.

Project Structure

├── README.md
├── client/                 # Next.js frontend (TypeScript)
└── server/                 # Java Spring Boot backend
    ├── src/
    ├── pom.xml
    ├── .env.example
    └── mvnw

Data Limitations

The sample_mflix dataset contains movies released up to 2016. Searching for movies from 2017 or later will return no results. This is a limitation of the sample dataset, not the application.

Prerequisites

• Java 21 or higher
• Node.js 20 or higher
• MongoDB Atlas cluster or local deployment with the sample_mflix dataset loaded
  • Load sample data
• Maven (included via Maven Wrapper)
• Voyage AI API key (For MongoDB Vector Search)
  • Get a Voyage AI API key

Verify Requirements

Before getting started, run the verification script to check if you have the required runtime:

./check-requirements-java.sh --pre

This checks that Java and JAVA_HOME are configured correctly. Run with --help for more options.

Getting Started

1. Configure the Backend

Navigate to the Java Spring server directory:

cd server

Create a .env file from the example:

cp .env.example .env

Edit the .env file and set your MongoDB connection string:

# MongoDB Connection
MONGODB_URI="mongodb+srv://<username>:<password>@<cluster>.mongodb.net/sample_mflix?retryWrites=true&w=majority"

# Voyage AI Configuration (optional - required for Vector Search)
VOYAGE_API_KEY=your_voyage_api_key

# Server Configuration
PORT=3001

# CORS Configuration
CORS_ORIGINS=http://localhost:3000

Note: Replace <username>, <password>, and <cluster> with your actual MongoDB Atlas credentials. Replace your_voyage_api_key with your key.

2. Start the Backend Server

From the server directory, run:

# Using Maven Wrapper (recommended)
./mvnw spring-boot:run

# Or on Windows
mvnw.cmd spring-boot:run

The server will start on http://localhost:3001. You can verify it's running by visiting:

• API root: http://localhost:3001/
• API documentation (Swagger UI): http://localhost:3001/swagger-ui.html

3. Configure and Start the Frontend

Open a new terminal and navigate to the client directory:

cd client

Install dependencies:

npm install

Start the development server:

npm run dev

The Next.js application will start on http://localhost:3000.

4. Access the Application

Open your browser and navigate to:

• Frontend: http://localhost:3000
• Backend API: http://localhost:3001
• API Documentation: http://localhost:3001/swagger-ui.html

Features

• Browse Movies: View a paginated list of movies from the sample_mflix dataset
• CRUD Operations: Create, read, update and delete movies by using the MongoDB Java driver
• Search: Search movies with filters by using MongoDB Search
• Vector Search: Search movie plots with similar search terms by using MongoDB Vector Search
• Aggregations: View data aggregations and analytics built with aggregation pipelines

Development

Backend Development

The Java Spring Boot backend uses:

• Spring Data MongoDB for database operations
• Spring Boot Web for REST API
• SpringDoc OpenAPI for API documentation
• Maven for dependency management

To run tests:

cd server
./mvnw test

Frontend Development

The Next.js frontend uses:

• React 19 with TypeScript
• Next.js 16 with App Router
• Turbopack for fast development builds

Development Mode

For active development with hot reloading and fast refresh:

cd client
npm run dev

This starts the development server on http://localhost:3000 with Turbopack for fast rebuilds.

Production Build

To create an optimized production build and run it:

cd client
npm run build  # Creates optimized production build
npm start      # Starts production server

The production build:

• Minifies and optimizes JavaScript and CSS
• Optimizes images and assets
• Generates static pages where possible
• Provides better performance for end users

Linting

To check code quality:

cd client
npm run lint

Verify Setup

After completing the setup, run the full verification to ensure everything is configured correctly:

./check-requirements-java.sh

This checks your Java environment, Maven dependencies, .env configuration, and frontend setup.

Issues

If you have problems running the sample app, please check the following:

• Verify that you have set your MongoDB connection string in the .env file.
• Verify that you have started the Java Spring server.
• Verify that you have started the Next.js client.
• Verify that you have no firewalls blocking access to the server or client ports.

If you have verified the above and still have issues, please open an issue on the source repository mongodb/docs-sample-apps.