What is the purpose of the @Bean annotation?

The @Bean annotation is used in the Spring Framework to indicate that a method produces a bean that should be registered in the application context.

Main use cases:

• Configuring third-party libraries: When it is necessary to configure objects from libraries that do not use Spring.
• Programmatic bean creation: For creating beans with complex initialization logic.
• Conditional bean creation: Using annotations such as @ConditionalOnProperty or @Profile, beans can be created depending on conditions.

Example of usage in a configuration class:

// Spring configuration class
@Configuration
public class AppConfig {

    // creating a Service type bean
    @Bean
    public Service myService() {
        return new ServiceImpl();
    }
}