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The Brautcloud backend is a Spring Boot 4.0.2 application that requires Java 25, PostgreSQL database, and AWS S3 for image storage.

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Prerequisites

1

Install Java 25

The backend requires Java 25 to run. Verify your installation:
java -version
You should see output indicating Java 25 is installed.
2

Install Maven

Apache Maven is required to build the application:
mvn -version
3

Set up PostgreSQL

Ensure you have a PostgreSQL database running and accessible. See the database setup guide for details.
4

Configure AWS S3

You’ll need an AWS S3 bucket or S3-compatible storage for image uploads. Obtain your access credentials before proceeding.

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Environment variables

The backend requires several environment variables to be configured. Create these before running the application: 
export POSTGRES_URL="jdbc:postgresql://localhost:5432/brautcloud"
export POSTGRES_USER="your_db_user"
export POSTGRES_PW="your_db_password"
export JWT_SECRET="your-secret-key-min-256-bits"
export AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID="your_aws_access_key"
export AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY="your_aws_secret_key"
export AWS_ENDPOINT="https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com"

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Configuration details

VariableDescriptionExample
POSTGRES_URLJDBC connection string to your PostgreSQL databasejdbc:postgresql://localhost:5432/brautcloud
POSTGRES_USERDatabase usernamebrautcloud_user
POSTGRES_PWDatabase passwordsecure_password
JWT_SECRETSecret key for JWT token signing (minimum 256 bits)Generated using openssl rand -base64 32
AWS_ACCESS_KEY_IDAWS access key for S3From AWS IAM
AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEYAWS secret key for S3From AWS IAM
AWS_ENDPOINTS3 endpoint URLhttps://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com
The JWT secret should be a strong, randomly generated string. You can generate one using:
openssl rand -base64 32
Never commit environment variables or secrets to version control. Use environment-specific configuration management.

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Build the application

Navigate to the backend directory and build the application using Maven: 
cd brautcloud-backend
mvn clean package
This will:
  1. Compile the Java source code
  2. Run all tests
  3. Create an executable JAR file in the target/ directory
The build process includes the Spring Java Format plugin that validates code formatting during the build.
If you want to skip tests during the build, use mvn clean package -DskipTests

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Run the application

After building, you can run the application in several ways: 
mvn spring-boot:run
The application will start on port 8080 by default (Spring Boot default). You should see output indicating:
  • Database connection established
  • JPA entities mapped to database tables
  • Application started successfully

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Application configuration

The backend uses the following key configurations from application.properties: 
# Application name
spring.application.name=brautcloud

# Database initialization
spring.sql.init.mode=always

# File upload limits
spring.servlet.multipart.max-file-size=10MB
spring.servlet.multipart.max-request-size=10MB

# AWS S3 configuration
aws.s3.region=us-east-1
aws.s3.bucket=brautcloud

# JWT token configuration
jwt.token.expires=86400000
jwt.token.refreshExpires=30d

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Key settings

  • File upload limit: 10MB per file
  • JWT access token expiry: 24 hours (86400000ms)
  • JWT refresh token expiry: 30 days
  • S3 bucket: brautcloud in us-east-1 region
You can override any property using environment variables or command-line arguments:
java -jar target/brautcloud-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar --spring.servlet.multipart.max-file-size=20MB

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Health checks

The application includes Spring Boot Actuator for monitoring. Once running, you can check the application health: 
curl http://localhost:8080/actuator/health
Expected response: 
{
  "status": "UP"
}

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Production considerations

1

Use production database

Configure a production PostgreSQL instance with proper backups and high availability.
2

Secure environment variables

Use a secrets management service (AWS Secrets Manager, HashiCorp Vault, etc.) instead of plain environment variables.
3

Enable HTTPS

Configure SSL/TLS certificates for secure communication. Use a reverse proxy like Nginx or deploy behind a load balancer.
4

Configure logging

Set up centralized logging and reduce debug logging:
logging.level.org.springframework.security=WARN
5

Set up monitoring

Configure actuator endpoints for production monitoring and integrate with monitoring tools.

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Troubleshooting

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Database connection failed

If you see database connection errors:
  1. Verify PostgreSQL is running
  2. Check the POSTGRES_URL format is correct
  3. Ensure the database exists
  4. Verify user credentials and permissions

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S3 upload errors

If image uploads fail:
  1. Verify AWS credentials are correct
  2. Check S3 bucket exists and is accessible
  3. Ensure bucket permissions allow PUT operations
  4. Verify the endpoint URL matches your region

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JWT token errors

If authentication fails:
  1. Ensure JWT_SECRET is set and is at least 256 bits
  2. Check token expiry settings
  3. Verify the secret is consistent across restarts

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Next steps

Frontend deployment

Deploy the Angular frontend application

Database setup

Configure PostgreSQL database and schema

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