When do you return ResponseEntity instead of a body directly?

Uses direct bodies for fixed successful contracts and ResponseEntity when status or headers vary by outcome.

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In a @RestController, returning a DTO directly lets Spring serialize it with the normal successful status. I return ResponseEntity<T> when the endpoint needs to choose status or headers, such as 201 with Location, conditional caching headers, or a result that may be 200 or 404. A no-content response can use ResponseEntity<Void>. I do not wrap every fixed 200 response merely because the type exists.

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Controller return semantics, headers, status selection, empty responses, and avoidance of noisy wrappers.

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Choose the return type based on whether the endpoint controls more than the body.
In a @RestController, returning a DTO directly lets Spring serialize it with the normal successful status. I return ResponseEntity<T> when the endpoint needs to choose status or headers, such as 201 with Location, conditional caching headers, or a result that may be 200 or 404. A no-content response can use ResponseEntity<Void>. I do not wrap every fixed 200 response merely because the type exists.
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Returning ResponseEntity from business services.
Wrapping every response without needing status or headers.
Using null to mean several different outcomes.

When do you return ResponseEntity instead of a body directly?

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