Terminal
Unable to find a @SpringBootConfiguration,
you need to use @ContextConfiguration or @SpringBootTest(classes=...) with your test
The Spring Boot tests @SpringBootTest
or @DataJpaTest
need to find the @SpringBootConfiguration
application class to launch the entire application and do the tests. And if Spring Boot can’t find the SpringBootConfiguration
, it throws errors and stops the tests.
A test class.
HelloControllerTest.java
package com.favtuts; import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test; import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired; import org.springframework.boot.test.context.SpringBootTest; import org.springframework.boot.test.web.client.TestRestTemplate; import org.springframework.http.ResponseEntity; import static org.assertj.core.api.AssertionsForClassTypes.assertThat; @SpringBootTest(webEnvironment = SpringBootTest.WebEnvironment.RANDOM_PORT) public class HelloControllerTest { @Autowired private TestRestTemplate template; @Test public void hello_ok() throws Exception { ResponseEntity<String> response = template.getForEntity("/", String.class); assertThat(response.getBody()).isEqualTo("Hello World, Spring Boot!"); } }
A @SpringBootApplication
class.
MyWebApplication.java
package com.favtuts.app; import org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication; import org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.SpringBootApplication; @SpringBootApplication public class MyWebApplication { public static void main(String[] args) { SpringApplication.run(MyWebApplication.class, args); } }
1. Solution – Redesign the directory structure
Spring Boot finds @SpringBootConfiguration
annotation in the current package, and if they cannot find it there, they find it by traversing up the directory (package) hierarchy until they find it.
Review the below project structure. The MyWebApplication
or @SpringBootConfiguration
class is at the package com.favtuts.app
; and the test HelloControllerTest
is at the package com.favtuts
, different package level.

If we run the test, Spring Boot first try to find the @SpringBootConfiguration
class at the package com.favtuts
and if the file is not there, it finds at package com
, and keeps traversing up the directory hierarchy until they find it; In this case, Spring Boot can’t find the @SpringBootConfiguration
and throw the error Unable to find a @SpringBootConfiguration
.
Terminal
Unable to find a @SpringBootConfiguration,
you need to use @ContextConfiguration or @SpringBootTest(classes=...) with your test
The solution is to redesign the directory structure or package so that the tests can find the @SpringBootConfiguration
.
For examples:
Move com.favtuts.app.MyWebApplication
to com.favtuts.MyWebApplication
; both application and tests are at the same package level.
com.favtuts.MyWebApplication
com.favtuts.HelloControllerTest

Or, we can move the test class com.favtuts.HelloControllerTest
to com.favtuts.app.HelloControllerTest
.
com.favtuts.app.MyWebApplication
com.favtuts.app.HelloControllerTest
2. Solution – @SpringBootTest(classes =…)
Alternatively, if we can’t move the @SpringBootConfiguration
or test classes, we can tell the test where to find the @SpringBootConfiguration
class via @SpringBootTest(classes = MyWebApplication.class)
.
HelloControllerTest.java
package com.favtuts; import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test; import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired; import org.springframework.boot.test.context.SpringBootTest; import org.springframework.boot.test.web.client.TestRestTemplate; import org.springframework.http.ResponseEntity; import static org.assertj.core.api.AssertionsForClassTypes.assertThat; @SpringBootTest(classes = MyWebApplication.class, webEnvironment = SpringBootTest.WebEnvironment.RANDOM_PORT) //@SpringBootTest(webEnvironment = SpringBootTest.WebEnvironment.RANDOM_PORT) public class HelloControllerTest { @Autowired private TestRestTemplate template; @Test public void hello_ok() throws Exception { ResponseEntity<String> response = template.getForEntity("/", String.class); assertThat(response.getBody()).isEqualTo("Hello World, Spring Boot!"); } }
Download Source Code
$ git clone https://github.com/favtuts/java-spring-boot-tutorials
$ cd spring-boot-hello-world
$ mvn spring-boot:run