Using H2 Database for CI/CD Pipelines in Spring Boot Projects

October 26, 2025

This guide shows how to use H2 database in Spring Boot for automated testing in CI/CD pipelines.

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>
  <scope>test</scope>
</dependency>

Use <scope>test</scope> so H2 is used only during testing.

2. Configure H2

In application-test.properties:

spring.datasource.url=jdbc:h2:mem:ci_db;DB_CLOSE_DELAY=-1
spring.datasource.driver-class-name=org.h2.Driver
spring.datasource.username=sa
spring.datasource.password=
spring.jpa.hibernate.ddl-auto=create-drop

This ensures a fresh in-memory database for every test run.

3. Example Entity

@Entity
public class Employee {
  @Id @GeneratedValue
  private Long id;
  private String name;
  private String role;
}

4. Repository

public interface EmployeeRepository extends JpaRepository<Employee, Long> {}

5. Write a Test

@SpringBootTest
class EmployeeRepositoryTest {
  @Autowired
  private EmployeeRepository repo;

  @Test
  void testSave() {
    Employee emp = new Employee();
    emp.setName("Alice");
    emp.setRole("Developer");
    repo.save(emp);

    assertEquals(1, repo.findAll().size());
  }
}

6. Integrate in CI/CD

In Jenkins/GitHub Actions/GitLab CI, run:
```
mvn test
```
H2 ensures tests run fast without external DB.
Every pipeline execution starts with a clean DB state.