 <p>You pass JSON like that. ArrayList does not accept key and value pair. Then add your keys </p> <pre><code> JSON: [ "1", "2", "3", "4" ] @RequestMapping(method = RequestMethod.POST, value = "/read/ids/",headers="Accept=application/json") public ArrayList&lt;String&gt; test(@RequestBody ArrayList&lt;String&gt; ids) throws Exception { return ids; } </code></pre>