The whole Bot model/repo setup has been redesigned to follow the more complete/correct DAO-like pattern. Mostly everything still works, just not handling the not found exception rising from the Optional I think.

Java/Spring/activitypubbot/src/main/java/dev/activitypub/activitypubbot/Bot.java

@@ -2,86 +2,53 @@ package dev.activitypub.activitypubbot;
 
 import lombok.Getter;
 import lombok.Setter;
-import jakarta.persistence.Entity;
-import jakarta.persistence.EntityListeners;
-import org.springframework.data.jpa.domain.support.AuditingEntityListener;
-import jakarta.persistence.Id;
-import jakarta.persistence.Column;
-import jakarta.persistence.GeneratedValue;
-import jakarta.persistence.GenerationType;
-import org.springframework.data.annotation.CreatedDate;
+import lombok.AccessLevel;
+import lombok.Data;
 import java.time.Instant;
 
 /**
- * Our core Bot (aka user) data as stored persistently in the database.
- * This is all the key non-derived data as required by the ActivityPub
- * specification. NOTE: This is not a comprehensive implementation!
+ * POJO for our Bot...
  */
-@Entity
-@EntityListeners(AuditingEntityListener.class)
+@Data
 public class Bot {
 
-    @Id
-    @GeneratedValue(strategy=GenerationType.AUTO)
-    private Long id;
+    @Getter(AccessLevel.NONE) @Setter(AccessLevel.NONE)
+    Long id; // does this even need to be exposed here?
 
+    String username; // "preferredUsername: springbot",
+    String name; // "Spring Bot",
+    String summary; // "<p>A bot written using Java/Spring</p>",
 
-    ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
-    // The next values are user-supplied
+    @Setter(AccessLevel.NONE)
+    Instant published; // "2025-01-24T00:00:00Z",
 
-    /**
-     * Username of the bot, i.e. the value after the @: @&lt;username&gt;@&lt;domain&gt;
-     * Note that in the Activity Pub spec this is encoded as 'preferredUsername',
-     * we shorten just to username here for clarity and brevity in the code.
-     *
-     * @param username the username value
-     * @return the username value
-     */
-    @Column(nullable=false,unique=true)
-    @Getter @Setter private String username; // "preferredUsername: springbot",
+    @Setter(AccessLevel.NONE)
+    String publicKeyPem; // "-----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----\\nMI [...] AB\\n-----END PUBLIC KEY-----"
     
-    /**
-     * The "friendly" formatted name of the bot, can have spaces, etc.
-     * 
-     * @param name a presentational name for the bot
-     * @return the presentational name for the bot
-     */
-    @Column(nullable=true,unique=false)
-    @Getter @Setter private String name; // "Spring Bot",
+    @Setter(AccessLevel.NONE)
+    String type = "Person";
 
-    /**
-     * A bit of text to describe the bot/account, an "about".
-     * 
-     * @param summary Text describing the bot/account
-     * @return the summary string
-     */
-    @Column(nullable=true,unique=false)
-    @Getter @Setter private String summary; // "<p>A bot written using Java/Spring</p>",
+    @Setter(AccessLevel.NONE)
+    boolean manuallyApproveFollowers = false;
 
-    ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
-    // The following values will be auto-generated on bot-creation
-
-    @CreatedDate // TODO: is this really the right approach to auto-timestamp, not sure about all this "auditing" stuff, feels like a misuse
-    @Getter private Instant published; // "2025-01-24T00:00:00Z",
-
-    // TODO how and where do we generate this beastie?!?!
-    @Column(nullable=true,unique=false) // FIXME: this isn't true, just easy for now
-    @Getter private String publicKeyPem; // "-----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----\\nMI [...] AB\\n-----END PUBLIC KEY-----"
-    
-    ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
-    // These values can just be constants for the timebeing
-    
-    @Column(nullable=false,unique=false)
-    @Getter private static final String type = "Person";
-
-    @Column(nullable=false,unique=false)
-    @Getter private static final boolean manuallyApproveFollowers = false;
-
-    @Column(nullable=false,unique=false)
-    @Getter private static final boolean indexable = false;
+    @Setter(AccessLevel.NONE)
+    boolean indexable = false;
 
     @Override
     public String toString() {
         return "Bot: " + this.username;
     }
+
+    Bot() {
     }
+    Bot( String username, String name, String summary, String type, boolean manuallyApproveFollowers, boolean indexable, String pubicKeyPem ) {
+        this.username = username;
+        this.name = name;
+        this.summary = summary;
+        this.type = type;
+        this.manuallyApproveFollowers = manuallyApproveFollowers;
+        this.indexable = indexable;
+        this.publicKeyPem = publicKeyPem;
+    }
+}
+

Java/Spring/activitypubbot/src/main/java/dev/activitypub/activitypubbot/BotController.java

@@ -18,16 +18,13 @@ import lombok.extern.slf4j.Slf4j;
 public class BotController {
 
     @Autowired
-    private BotRepo botRepo;
-
-    @Autowired
-    private BotService botService;
+    private BotService botServ;
 
     @GetMapping("/viewbot")
     public String listAll(Model model) {
         log.info("WebHandler::viewbot");
 
-        List<Bot> botlist = botService.findAll();
+        List<Bot> botlist = botServ.findAll();
         model.addAttribute("bots", botlist);
 
         return "viewbot";
@@ -47,7 +44,7 @@ public class BotController {
     public String makebotpost(@ModelAttribute("bot") Bot bot) {
         //log.info(bot);
 
-        botRepo.save(bot);
+        botServ.save(bot);
 
         return "makebot_submitted";
     }

Java/Spring/activitypubbot/src/main/java/dev/activitypub/activitypubbot/BotJdbcRepo.java

@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+package dev.activitypub.activitypubbot;
+
+import org.springframework.data.repository.CrudRepository;
+
+import java.util.Optional; 
+import java.util.List; 
+
+public interface BotJdbcRepo extends CrudRepository<BotModel, Long> {
+    Optional<BotModel> findByUsername(String username);
+    List<BotModel> findAll();
+}
+

Java/Spring/activitypubbot/src/main/java/dev/activitypub/activitypubbot/BotJpaRepo.java

@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+package dev.activitypub.activitypubbot;
+
+import org.springframework.stereotype.Repository;
+
+import java.util.List; 
+import java.util.Optional; 
+import java.util.stream.Collectors; 
+
+/**
+ * CRUD layer? TODO: Does "JPA" make sense in the name here?
+ */
+@Repository
+public class BotJpaRepo implements BotRepo {
+
+    // underlying BotModel storage
+    private final BotJdbcRepo botJdbcRepo;
+
+    public BotJpaRepo(BotJdbcRepo botJdbcRepo) {
+        this.botJdbcRepo = botJdbcRepo;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public Bot save(Bot bot) {
+        BotModel botModel = BotModel.from(bot);
+        BotModel saved = botJdbcRepo.save(botModel);
+        return saved.asBot();
+        // this pattern comes from the 'ensembler' MemberRepositoryJdbcAdapter impl
+        // TODO: in our case I'm not sure we need to be returning a Bot, could be void?
+    }
+
+    public Optional<Bot> findByUsername(String username) {
+        // username is a unique key so technically should only be one of these...?
+        Optional<BotModel> botModels = botJdbcRepo.findByUsername(username);
+        return botModels.map(BotModel::asBot);
+    }
+
+    public List<Bot> findAll() {
+        List<BotModel> botModels = botJdbcRepo.findAll();
+        return botModels.stream().map(BotModel::asBot).collect(Collectors.toList());
+    }
+}

Java/Spring/activitypubbot/src/main/java/dev/activitypub/activitypubbot/BotModel.java

@@ -0,0 +1,103 @@
+package dev.activitypub.activitypubbot;
+
+import jakarta.persistence.Column;
+import jakarta.persistence.Entity;
+import jakarta.persistence.EntityListeners;
+import jakarta.persistence.GeneratedValue;
+import jakarta.persistence.GenerationType;
+import jakarta.persistence.Id;
+import jakarta.persistence.Table;
+import java.time.Instant;
+import lombok.Getter;
+import lombok.Setter;
+import org.springframework.data.annotation.CreatedDate;
+import org.springframework.data.jpa.domain.support.AuditingEntityListener;
+
+/**
+ * Our core Bot (aka user) data as stored persistently in the database.
+ * This is all the key non-derived data as required by the ActivityPub
+ * specification. NOTE: This is not a comprehensive implementation!
+ */
+@Entity
+@Table(name = "bot")
+@EntityListeners(AuditingEntityListener.class)
+public class BotModel {
+
+    @Id
+    @GeneratedValue(strategy=GenerationType.AUTO)
+    private Long id;
+
+
+    ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+    // The next values are user-supplied
+
+    /**
+     * Username of the bot, i.e. the value after the @: @<username>@<domain>
+     * Note that in the Activity Pub spec this is encoded as 'preferredUsername',
+     * we shorten just to username here for clarity and brevity in the code.
+     *
+     * @param username the username value
+     * @return the username value
+     */
+    @Column(nullable=false,unique=true)
+    @Getter @Setter private String username; // "preferredUsername: springbot",
+
+    /**
+     * The "friendly" formatted name of the bot, can have spaces, etc.
+     * 
+     * @param name a presentational name for the bot
+     * @return the presentational name for the bot
+     */
+    @Column(nullable=true,unique=false)
+    @Getter @Setter private String name; // "Spring Bot",
+
+    /**
+     * A bit of text to describe the bot/account, an "about".
+     * 
+     * @param summary Text describing the bot/account
+     * @return the summary string
+     */
+    @Column(nullable=true,unique=false)
+    @Getter @Setter private String summary; // "<p>A bot written using Java/Spring</p>",
+
+    ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+    // The following values will be auto-generated on bot-creation
+
+    @CreatedDate // TODO: is this really the right approach to auto-timestamp, not sure about all this "auditing" stuff, feels like a misuse
+    @Getter private Instant published; // "2025-01-24T00:00:00Z",
+
+    // TODO how and where do we generate this beastie?!?!
+    @Column(nullable=true,unique=false) // FIXME: this isn't true, just easy for now
+    @Getter private String publicKeyPem; // "-----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----\\nMI [...] AB\\n-----END PUBLIC KEY-----"
+    
+    @Column(nullable=false,unique=false)
+    @Getter private String type;
+
+    @Column(nullable=false,unique=false)
+    @Getter private boolean manuallyApproveFollowers;
+
+    @Column(nullable=false,unique=false)
+    @Getter private boolean indexable;
+
+    static BotModel from(Bot bot) {
+        BotModel bm = new BotModel();
+        bm.username = bot.getUsername();
+        bm.name = bot.getName();
+        bm.summary = bot.getSummary();
+        bm.type = bot.getType();
+        bm.manuallyApproveFollowers = bot.isManuallyApproveFollowers();
+        bm.indexable = bot.isIndexable();
+        bm.publicKeyPem = bot.getPublicKeyPem();
+        return bm;
+    }
+
+    Bot asBot() {
+        return new Bot( username, name, summary, type, manuallyApproveFollowers, indexable, publicKeyPem );
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public String toString() {
+        return "Bot: " + this.username;
+    }
+
+}

Java/Spring/activitypubbot/src/main/java/dev/activitypub/activitypubbot/BotRepo.java

@@ -1,10 +1,20 @@
 package dev.activitypub.activitypubbot;
  
-import org.springframework.data.jpa.repository.JpaRepository;
+import java.util.Optional;
+import java.util.List;
 
 /**
- * Database shenanigans...
+ * Interface for a Bot respository.
+ *
+ * Working to the @Repository documentation and some other examples
+ * for this, a pattern noted to be "close to the DAO pattern". But I
+ * am not yet clear on the need/justification for this approach.
  */
-public interface BotRepo extends JpaRepository<Bot, Long> {
-    Bot findByUsername(String username);
+public interface BotRepo {
+
+    Bot save(Bot bot);
+
+    Optional<Bot> findByUsername(String username);
+
+    List<Bot> findAll();
 }

Java/Spring/activitypubbot/src/main/java/dev/activitypub/activitypubbot/BotService.java

@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ public class BotService {
     }
 
     public Bot getBotByUsername( String username ) {
-        return repo.findByUsername( username );
+        return repo.findByUsername( username ).get();
     }
 
 
@@ -66,5 +66,9 @@ public class BotService {
     public String getOutbox(Bot bot) {
         return getUsersURI() + bot.getUsername() + "/outbox";
     }
+
+    public Bot save(Bot bot) {
+        return repo.save(bot);
+    }
 }
 

Java/Spring/activitypubbot/src/main/java/dev/activitypub/activitypubbot/RestHandler.java

@@ -17,7 +17,6 @@ import org.thymeleaf.spring5.SpringTemplateEngine;
  * Here we handle any JSON/REST requests, which is how ActivityPub instances talk to each other.
  */
 @RestController
-@RequestMapping( headers = "accept=application/json" )
 public class RestHandler {
 
     @Autowired
@@ -32,7 +31,7 @@ public class RestHandler {
 	}
 
 	/**
-	 * Access the bot/user
+	 * Get the bot/user 'actor' data response
 	 */
 	@GetMapping(value = "/users/{username}", produces = "application/activity+json") // content type based on Masto request
 	public ResponseEntity<String> actor(@PathVariable String username) {