For the latest stable version, please use Spring Framework 6.2.1!

@ResponseBody

See equivalent in the Reactive stack

You can use the @ResponseBody annotation on a method to have the return serialized to the response body through an HttpMessageConverter. The following listing shows an example:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

@GetMapping("/accounts/{id}")
@ResponseBody
public Account handle() {
	// ...
}
@GetMapping("/accounts/{id}")
@ResponseBody
fun handle(): Account {
	// ...
}

@ResponseBody is also supported at the class level, in which case it is inherited by all controller methods. This is the effect of @RestController, which is nothing more than a meta-annotation marked with @Controller and @ResponseBody.

A Resource object can be returned for file content, copying the InputStream content of the provided resource to the response OutputStream. Note that the InputStream should be lazily retrieved by the Resource handle in order to reliably close it after it has been copied to the response. If you are using InputStreamResource for such a purpose, make sure to construct it with an on-demand InputStreamSource (e.g. through a lambda expression that retrieves the actual InputStream).

You can use @ResponseBody with reactive types. See Asynchronous Requests and Reactive Types for more details.

You can use the Message Converters option of the MVC Config to configure or customize message conversion.

You can combine @ResponseBody methods with JSON serialization views. See Jackson JSON for details.