Database Initialization with Schema.sql and Data.sql in H2 Database

October 24, 2025

This guide shows how to use schema.sql and data.sql for automatic database initialization in Spring Boot with H2.

1. Add Dependencies

In pom.xml:

<dependency>
  <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
  <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-data-jpa</artifactId>
</dependency>
<dependency>
  <groupId>com.h2database</groupId>
  <artifactId>h2</artifactId>
</dependency>

2. Configure H2

In application.properties:

spring.datasource.url=jdbc:h2:mem:initdb
spring.datasource.driver-class-name=org.h2.Driver
spring.datasource.username=sa
spring.datasource.password=
spring.jpa.hibernate.ddl-auto=none
spring.h2.console.enabled=true

Set ddl-auto=none to ensure Hibernate does not override your schema.

3. Create Schema.sql

In src/main/resources/schema.sql:

CREATE TABLE employee (
    id BIGINT AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY,
    name VARCHAR(100),
    role VARCHAR(50)
);

4. Create Data.sql

In src/main/resources/data.sql:

INSERT INTO employee (name, role) VALUES ('Alice', 'Developer');
INSERT INTO employee (name, role) VALUES ('Bob', 'Tester');

5. Access Database

Start the app and open the H2 console at:

http://localhost:8080/h2-console

Use JDBC URL: jdbc:h2:mem:initdb to view tables and data.

6. Verify

Run query:

SELECT * FROM employee;

You will see Alice and Bob records preloaded into the database.