JWT vs session-based decision in Spring Boot - Hands-On Comparison

JWT vs Session-Based Authentication Decision in Spring Boot

📖 Scenario: You are building a Spring Boot web application that needs user authentication. You want to decide whether to use JWT (JSON Web Tokens) or session-based authentication based on the app's needs.This project will guide you through setting up data and logic to choose the best authentication method.

🎯 Goal: Build a simple Spring Boot configuration that holds user data, a setting for authentication type, and logic to decide between JWT and session-based authentication.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a user data map with exact usernames and roles

Add a configuration variable to select authentication type

Write logic to check the authentication type and print the chosen method

Complete the Spring Boot component with the final annotation

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Choosing the right authentication method is important for web apps to balance security, scalability, and user experience.

💼 Career

Understanding how to configure and decide between JWT and session-based authentication is a key skill for backend developers working with Spring Boot.

1

Create user data map

Create a Map<String, String> called users with these exact entries: "alice" : "USER", "bob" : "ADMIN", and "carol" : "USER".

Spring Boot

// Your code here

Need a hint?

Use Map.of() to create a small map with usernames as keys and roles as values.

2

Add authentication type configuration

Add a String variable called authType and set it to the exact value "JWT".

Spring Boot

Map users = Map.of(
    "alice", "USER",
    "bob", "ADMIN",
    "carol", "USER"
);
// Your code here

Need a hint?

Just create a string variable named authType and assign it the value "JWT".

3

Write decision logic for authentication

Write an if statement that checks if authType equals "JWT". Inside the if, assign "Using JWT authentication" to a String variable called decision. Otherwise, assign "Using session-based authentication" to decision.

Spring Boot

Map users = Map.of(
    "alice", "USER",
    "bob", "ADMIN",
    "carol", "USER"
);

String authType = "JWT";
// Your code here

Need a hint?

Use authType.equals("JWT") to compare strings in Java.

4

Complete Spring Boot component

Add the @Component annotation above the class declaration to make this a Spring Boot component.

Spring Boot

@Component
import java.util.Map;

public class AuthDecision {

    Map users = Map.of(
        "alice", "USER",
        "bob", "ADMIN",
        "carol", "USER"
    );

    String authType = "JWT";

    String decision;

    public void decide() {
        if (authType.equals("JWT")) {
            decision = "Using JWT authentication";
        } else {
            decision = "Using session-based authentication";
        }
    }
}
// Your code here

Need a hint?

Use @Component annotation from Spring Framework to mark the class as a component.