Building Production-Grade Authentication: OAuth2, JWT, and Refresh Tokens in Spring Boot

Production systems require more sophisticated authentication than simple token-based approaches, which is why combining OAuth2 with JWT access tokens and refresh tokens has become standard practice. This architecture effectively handles token expiration, session management, and API security while keeping users logged in across token lifecycles. Understanding these patterns is essential for developers to avoid authentication implementation pitfalls and build secure, production-ready systems.