Using Firebird with Hibernate in Spring Boot

January 05, 2026

#1

Firebird is a reliable SQL database that works seamlessly with Hibernate in Spring Boot. This guide shows how to set it up and perform basic operations quickly.

1. Add Dependencies

Include the Firebird JDBC driver and Hibernate dependencies in your pom.xml:

<dependency>
    <groupId>org.firebirdsql.jdbc</groupId>
    <artifactId>jaybird-jdk18</artifactId>
    <version>5.0.4</version>
</dependency>

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

This enables JPA and Firebird connectivity through Hibernate.

2. Configure Database Connection

Set up connection details in your application.properties:

spring.datasource.url=jdbc:firebirdsql://localhost:3050/C:/databases/testdb.fdb
spring.datasource.username=sysdba
spring.datasource.password=masterkey
spring.jpa.hibernate.ddl-auto=update
spring.jpa.properties.hibernate.dialect=org.hibernate.dialect.FirebirdDialect

Hibernate’s dialect helps translate JPA queries into Firebird-compatible SQL.

3. Create an Entity

Define a simple entity to map your data table:

@Entity
public class Employee {
    @Id
    @GeneratedValue(strategy = GenerationType.IDENTITY)
    private Long id;
    private String name;
    privateString position;
}

Hibernate automatically creates and maps the table structure in Firebird.

4. Build a Repository

Use Spring Data JPA for CRUD operations without writing SQL:

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

Now, Spring Boot will generate all common database methods for you.

5. Test the Integration

Create a simple REST controller to test Firebird and Hibernate together:

@RestController
@RequestMapping("/employees")
public class EmployeeController {
    @Autowired
    private EmployeeRepository repo;

    @PostMapping
    public Employee addEmployee(@RequestBody Employee e) {
        return repo.save(e);
    }

    @GetMapping
    public List<Employee> listAll() {
        return repo.findAll();
    }
}

Run the app, and you can perform CRUD operations through REST endpoints while Hibernate manages Firebird queries behind the scenes.

6. Optimize Hibernate Settings

For better performance, add these settings:

spring.jpa.properties.hibernate.jdbc.batch_size=20
spring.jpa.show-sql=true

Batching improves insert/update efficiency, while show-sql helps in debugging.