Spring Boot 3 requires a minimum of Java 17 (up from Java 8 for Spring Boot 2.x) — unlocking record classes (concise immutable data carriers, ideal for DTOs), sealed classes/interfaces (restricting which classes can implement/extend a type), pattern matching for `instanceof`, text blocks for multi-line strings, and enhanced switch expressions, all usable throughout application code once the Spring Boot 3 baseline is adopted.

Intermediate5 min

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#Java 17#Records#Sealed Classes

What Java version does Spring Boot 3 require, and what language features does that unlock?

Records Have Meaningfully Reduced the Case for Lombok in DTO-Heavy Code

Because Java records provide an immutable data carrier with an auto-generated canonical constructor, equals/hashCode/toString, and accessor methods entirely built into the language — no annotation processor required — a lot of what Lombok's @Value/@Data was previously used for in DTO and request/response classes is now covered natively, which is part of why some teams have scaled back Lombok usage specifically for simple data-holder classes since adopting a Java 17+ baseline.

Records as DTOs

java

record UserResponse(Long id, String name, String email) {}
// Immutable, auto-generated constructor/equals/hashCode/toString — no Lombok needed for a simple DTO