Quarkus is a Kubernetes-native Java framework designed for microservices and cloud-native applications. It offers fast startup times, low memory footprint, and excellent developer experience. In this blog, we will explore how to build a CRUD API using Quarkus, leveraging Hibernate ORM with Panache for database operations. Additionally, we will compare Quarkus with Spring Boot and explain Quarkus-specific annotations relevant to the CRUD API implementation.
To begin building your CRUD API, create a new Quarkus project using the following command:
mvn io.quarkus.platform:quarkus-maven-plugin:3.19.1:create \
-DprojectGroupId=org.quarkus \
-DprojectArtifactId=quarkus-crud-operations \
-DclassName="org.quarkus.resource.EmployeeResource" \
-Dpath="/employees"This generates a basic Quarkus project with RESTEasy dependencies.
pom.xml
<dependencies>
<dependency>
<groupId>io.quarkus</groupId>
<artifactId>quarkus-arc</artifactId>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>io.quarkus</groupId>
<artifactId>quarkus-hibernate-orm-panache</artifactId>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>io.quarkus</groupId>
<artifactId>quarkus-jdbc-postgresql</artifactId>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>io.quarkus</groupId>
<artifactId>quarkus-rest-jackson</artifactId>
</dependency>
</dependencies>application.properties
quarkus.datasource.db-kind=postgresql
quarkus.datasource.username=postgres
quarkus.datasource.password=postgres
quarkus.datasource.jdbc.url=jdbc:postgresql://localhost:5432/company_db
quarkus.hibernate-orm.database.generation=updateThis configuration connects our Quarkus application to a PostgreSQL database.
Related read: Mastering GraphQL Server Integration with Node.js and PostgreSQL
We use Hibernate ORM with Panache to define our Employee entity. Panache simplifies entity management compared to traditional JPA.
package org.quarkus.entity;
import jakarta.persistence.*;
import jakarta.validation.constraints.*;
import lombok.*;
@Entity
@Data
@NoArgsConstructor
@AllArgsConstructor
public class Employee {
@Id
@GeneratedValue(strategy = GenerationType.IDENTITY)
public Long id;
public String name;
public String department;
public double salary;
}Annotations Used:
▪️@Entity – Marks the class as a JPA entity.
▪️@Id – Identifies the primary key.
▪️@GeneratedValue(strategy = GenerationType.IDENTITY) – Uses an auto-incrementing primary key.
Quarkus allows defining repositories using Panache, making queries more concise.
package org.quarkus.repository;
import io.quarkus.hibernate.orm.panache.PanacheRepository;
import jakarta.enterprise.context.ApplicationScoped;
import org.quarkus.entity.Employee;
import java.util.List;
@ApplicationScoped
public class EmployeeRepository implements PanacheRepository<Employee> {
public List<Employee> findByDepartment(String department) {
return find("department", department).list();
}
}Annotations Used:
▪️@ApplicationScoped – Marks the bean as application-wide.
▪️PanacheRepository – Simplifies JPA repository operations.
This layer contains business logic and transactional operations.
package org.quarkus.service;
import jakarta.enterprise.context.ApplicationScoped;
import jakarta.transaction.Transactional;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.Optional;
import org.quarkus.entity.Employee;
import org.quarkus.repository.EmployeeRepository;
@ApplicationScoped
public class EmployeeService {
private final EmployeeRepository employeeRepository;
public EmployeeService(EmployeeRepository employeeRepository) {
this.employeeRepository = employeeRepository;
}
public List<Employee> getAllEmployees() {
return employeeRepository.listAll();
}
public Optional<Employee> getEmployeeById(Long id) {
return employeeRepository.findByIdOptional(id);
}
public List<Employee> getEmployeesByDepartment(String department) {
return employeeRepository.findByDepartment(department);
}
@Transactional
public Employee addEmployee(Employee employee) {
employeeRepository.persist(employee);
return employee;
}
@Transactional
public boolean updateEmployee(Long id, Employee updatedEmployee) {
Employee employee = employeeRepository.findById(id);
if (employee != null) {
employee.name = updatedEmployee.name;
employee.department = updatedEmployee.department;
employee.salary = updatedEmployee.salary;
return true;
}
return false;
}
@Transactional
public boolean deleteEmployee(Long id) {
return employeeRepository.deleteById(id);
}
}Annotations Used:
▪️@Transactional – Marks methods as part of a transaction.
This exposes CRUD operations using JAX-RS.
package org.quarkus.resource;
import jakarta.ws.rs.*;
import jakarta.ws.rs.core.MediaType;
import jakarta.ws.rs.core.Response;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.Optional;
import org.quarkus.entity.Employee;
import org.quarkus.service.EmployeeService;
@Path("/employees")
@Produces(MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON)
@Consumes(MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON)
public class EmployeeResource {
private final EmployeeService employeeService;
public EmployeeResource(EmployeeService employeeService) {
this.employeeService = employeeService;
}
@GET
public List<Employee> getAllEmployees() {
return employeeService.getAllEmployees();
}
@GET
@Path("/{id}")
public Response getEmployeeById(@PathParam("id") Long id) {
Optional<Employee> employee = employeeService.getEmployeeById(id);
return employee.isPresent() ? Response.ok(employee.get()).build()
: Response.status(Response.Status.NOT_FOUND).build();
}
@POST
public Response addEmployee(Employee employee) {
employeeService.addEmployee(employee);
return Response.status(Response.Status.CREATED).build();
}
@PUT
@Path("/{id}")
public Response updateEmployee(@PathParam("id") Long id, Employee employee) {
boolean updated = employeeService.updateEmployee(id, employee);
return updated ? Response.ok().build() : Response.status(Response.Status.NOT_FOUND).build();
}
@DELETE
@Path("/{id}")
public Response deleteEmployee(@PathParam("id") Long id) {
boolean deleted = employeeService.deleteEmployee(id);
return deleted ? Response.ok().build() : Response.status(Response.Status.NOT_FOUND).build();
}
}Annotations Used:
▪️@Path – Defines the REST endpoint.
▪️@GET, @POST, @PUT, @DELETE – Define HTTP operations.
▪️@Produces & @Consumes – Specify data formats.
▪️@PathParam – Extracts path variables.
To start the Quarkus application, use the following command:
mvn quarkus:devThis runs the application in development mode with live reload enabled.
curl -X POST "http://localhost:8080/employees" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"name": "John Doe", "department": "IT", "salary": 75000}'curl -X GET "http://localhost:8080/employees"curl -X PUT "http://localhost:8080/employees/1" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"name": "Jane Doe", "department": "HR", "salary": 80000}'curl -X DELETE "http://localhost:8080/employees/1"
Quarkus provides a powerful alternative to Spring Boot, especially for microservices and cloud-native applications. With features like Panache, fast startup times, and lower resource consumption, it is an excellent choice for modern Java applications.
By following this guide, you will have a working Quarkus-based CRUD API ready to build on and extend for real-world use cases.
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