Introduction to MyBatis-Flex: Features, Comparison, and Quick‑Start Guide

MyBatis‑Flex is an elegant, lightweight extension of MyBatis that offers high performance and great flexibility for Java backend development. It allows developers to connect to any database with minimal configuration and reduces the amount of hand‑written SQL through its built‑in QueryWrapper.

Key Features

Lightweight : No third‑party dependencies, no interceptors, and no SQL parsing at runtime, resulting in high performance and easy debugging.

Flexible : Supports CRUD operations, pagination, multi‑table joins, sub‑queries, and provides Db+Row utilities that work without entity classes.

Powerful : Handles any relational database, multiple primary keys, logical deletion, optimistic locking, data masking, auditing, and more.

Comparison with Similar Frameworks

The following table highlights functional differences between MyBatis‑Flex, MyBatis‑Plus, and Fluent‑MyBatis (✓ = supported, ✗ = not supported, ❌ = unknown):

Feature

MyBatis‑Flex

MyBatis‑Plus

Fluent‑MyBatis

Basic CRUD

✓

✓

✓

Pagination

✓

✓

✓

Pagination cache

✓

✓

✗

SQL‑free pagination

✓

✗

✓

Multi‑table join

✓

✗

✗

Union/Union All

✓

✗

✓

Composite primary key

✓

✓

✓

Field typeHandler

✓

✓

✓

Logical delete

✓

✓

✓

Optimistic lock

✓

✓

✓

SQL audit

✓

✗

✗

Data fill (paid)

✓

✔️ (paid)

✓

Data masking (paid)

✓

✔️ (paid)

✗

Field encryption (paid)

✓

✔️ (paid)

✗

Performance Comparison

Benchmark results show that MyBatis‑Flex is roughly 5–10× faster than MyBatis‑Plus for single‑record queries, batch queries, pagination, and data updates.

Supported Databases

MyBatis‑Flex works with a wide range of databases, including MySQL, MariaDB, Oracle (both 11g and 12c), DB2, PostgreSQL, SQL Server, ClickHouse, Hive, and many others. Custom dialects can be added to support additional databases.

Quick Start Guide

Step 1: Create a table

CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `tb_account` (
    `id` INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTO_INCREMENT,
    `user_name` VARCHAR(100),
    `age` INTEGER,
    `birthday` DATETIME
);
INSERT INTO tb_account(id, user_name, age, birthday) VALUES
    (1, '张三', 18, '2020-01-11'),
    (2, '李四', 19, '2021-03-21');

Step 2: Add Maven dependencies

<dependencies>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>com.mybatis-flex</groupId>
        <artifactId>mybatis-flex-spring-boot-starter</artifactId>
        <version>1.5.3</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>com.mysql</groupId>
        <artifactId>mysql-connector-j</artifactId>
        <scope>runtime</scope>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>com.zaxxer</groupId>
        <artifactId>HikariCP</artifactId>
    </dependency>
</dependencies>

Step 3: Configure Spring Boot

# DataSource Config
spring:
  datasource:
    url: jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/flex_test
    username: root
    password: 12345678

Annotate the main class with @MapperScan("com.mybatisflex.test.mapper") to scan mapper interfaces.

Step 4: Define Entity and Mapper

@Data
@Table("tb_account")
public class Account {
    @Id(keyType = KeyType.Auto)
    private Long id;
    private String userName;
    private Integer age;
    private Date birthday;
}

public interface AccountMapper extends BaseMapper
{ }

Step 5: Use the framework

@SpringBootTest
class MybatisFlexTestApplicationTests {
    @Autowired
    private AccountMapper accountMapper;

    @Test
    void contextLoads() {
        QueryWrapper queryWrapper = QueryWrapper.create()
            .select()
            .where(ACCOUNT.AGE.eq(18));
        Account account = accountMapper.selectOneByQuery(queryWrapper);
        System.out.println(account);
    }
}

The console will output the retrieved record, e.g., Account(id=1, userName=张三, age=18, birthday=Sat Jan 11 00:00:00 CST 2020) . The generated ACCOUNT class is provided by MyBatis‑Flex’s annotation processor.

Overall, MyBatis‑Flex combines the strengths of MyBatis‑Plus, jOOQ, and Fluent‑MyBatis, offering a highly efficient, feature‑rich ORM solution for Java backend projects.