Difference between @RestController and @RepositoryRestController

Question

What is the typical use case code that shows the difference between those two annotations - meaning the @RestController and the @RepositoryRestController - ?

Solution

According to the annotation the RepositoryRestController is a way to provide custom controllers that still take advantage of Spring Data REST functionality.

Spring Data REST Reference Guide, 15.6. Overriding Spring Data REST Response Handlers:

Sometimes you may want to write a custom handler for a specific resource. To take advantage of Spring Data REST’s settings, message converters, exception handling, and more, use the @RepositoryRestController annotation instead of a standard Spring MVC @Controller or @RestController.

Most importantly the RepositoryRestController is aware of the Spring Data REST base path and will be served under this base path.