Engineering a Full-Stack Blogging Platform with React, Redux, and Spring Boot

If you’re looking to build a scalable, modern full-stack web application using ReactJS, Redux, and Java Spring Boot, this project is a complete blueprint. I engineered a blogging platform that demonstrates clean architecture, RESTful API integration, CI/CD automation, and frontend-backend decoupling—all while using the latest versions of popular frameworks and tools. The system is modular, testable, and CI/CD-ready—ideal for both learning and production-grade experimentation. So let us take a deep dive into how to build a blogging Platform with React Redux and Spring Boot.

What I Built (Blogging Platform with React Redux and Spring Boot)

At its core, the platform enables users to:

• 📰 View blog posts with metadata (title, author, date, content)
• 🗑️ Delete posts instantly via frontend interaction
• ✍️ (Coming soon) Create and edit posts
• 🔄 Manage state globally using Redux
• ⚙️ Run backend services with Spring Boot and H2
• ✅ Automate builds and tests via GitHub Actions

The project is split into two main directories:

root/
├── blog-frontend/   # React + Redux SPA
└── blog-backend/    # Spring Boot REST API

Frontend: React + Redux + Router

The frontend is a single-page application built with:

• React 18: Functional components and hooks (useEffect, useDispatch, useSelector) drive the UI logic.
• Redux 5: Centralized state management for blog posts. Actions and reducers handle data flow and mutations.
• React Router 6: Enables client-side routing between views (e.g., post list, post detail).
• Jest + React Testing Library: Ensures UI components behave as expected.

Key Components

• PostList.js: Fetches and displays all posts.
• PostItem.js: Renders individual post cards with delete functionality.
• store.js: Configures Redux store and middleware.
• actions/postActions.js: Defines async actions for fetching and deleting posts.
• reducers/postReducer.js: Handles state transitions based on dispatched actions.

The frontend runs on http://localhost:3000 and proxies API calls to the backend.

Backend: Java Spring Boot + Java 21 + H2

The backend is a Spring Boot 3.4 application written in Java 21, exposing RESTful endpoints for blog post operations. It uses:

• Spring Data JPA: Simplifies database access via repository interfaces.
• H2 Database: Lightweight, in-memory database for fast development and testing.
• REST Controller: PostController.java handles HTTP requests like GET /posts and DELETE /posts/{id}.
• Entity Mapping: Post.java defines the blog post schema with annotations like @Entity, @Id, and @GeneratedValue.

Backend Features

• 🔄 RESTful API for blog post CRUD operations
• 🧪 JUnit-based unit tests for service and repository layers
• 🧰 Maven Wrapper for consistent builds across environments
• 🧵 DataLoader for seeding initial blog post data

Key Modules

• Post.java: Entity class representing blog posts.
• PostRepository.java: JPA repository for CRUD operations.
• PostController.java: REST controller exposing endpoints:
  • GET /posts: Fetch all posts
  • DELETE /posts/{id}: Delete a post by ID
• DataLoader.java: Preloads sample data into H2 on startup.

The backend runs on http://localhost:8080, and the H2 console is available at /h2-console.

CI/CD: GitHub Actions for Automated Builds and Tests

Both frontend and backend are integrated with GitHub Actions for continuous integration:

• Frontend Workflow:
  • npm install
  • npm test
  • npm run build
• Backend Workflow:
  • ./mvnw test
  • ./mvnw package

This ensures that every code push triggers automated testing and build validation, making the project production-ready.

Testing Strategy

• Frontend: Unit tests for components and Redux logic using Jest.
• Backend: JUnit tests for service and repository layers.

All tests are triggered automatically via CI pipelines.

Roadmap

Planned upgrades (if time permits for me) include:

• ✍️ Blog post creation and editing via React forms
• 🔐 JWT authentication for secure API access
• 🧾 Persistent storage with PostgreSQL or MySQL
• 🚀 Deployment via GitHub Pages (frontend) and Render/Heroku (backend)

If you are a developer reading this post and would like to contribute, then please feel free to do so, by making the changes and then raising a pull request.

Engineering Philosophy

This project reflects a commitment to:

• Separation of concerns: UI, state, and data layers are decoupled.
• Rapid iteration: In-memory DB and CI pipelines accelerate development.
• Scalability: Modular design supports future enhancements.

Whether you’re exploring full-stack development or building a portfolio project, this repository offers a solid foundation for modern web engineering.

Summary

You can find the full source code for this post on Github. Until then if you have any questions that drop me a line and we can work towards resolving your query.

While you are here, maybe try one of my apps for the iPhone.

Snap! I was there on the App Store

Listed below are the links to the first two parts of this series

How to build a blog engine with React & Spring Boot – Part 1 – My Day To-Do (mydaytodo.com)

How to build a blog engine with React & Spring Boot – Part 2 – My Day To-Do (mydaytodo.com)

Here are some of my other bloposts,

How to unit test react-redux app – My Day To-Do (mydaytodo.com)

How to build a Spring Reactive API