What causes "no remote repositories provided" in apache/maven?

Set repositories on the request: DependencyResolverRequest.builder().setRepositories(session.getRemoteRepositories()) or an explicit list

apache/maven · error · IllegalArgumentException

no remote repositories provided

Error message

no remote repositories provided

What it means

AbstractSession.getRepositories(repositories, resolverRepositories) merges the request-scoped and session-scoped remote repository lists before resolution. If both are null it throws IllegalArgumentException because dependency or artifact resolution has no repositories to query. It is the guard behind Maven API resolution calls (e.g. DependencyResolverRequest, ArtifactResolverRequest) that end up with an empty effective repository list.

Source

Thrown at impl/maven-impl/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/impl/AbstractSession.java:325

            throw new UnsupportedOperationException("Not implemented yet");
        }
    }

    @Override
    public List<org.eclipse.aether.graph.Dependency> toDependencies(
            Collection<DependencyCoordinates> dependencies, boolean managed) {
        return dependencies == null ? null : map(dependencies, d -> toDependency(d, managed));
    }

    static List<RemoteRepository> getRepositories(
            List<RemoteRepository> repositories,
            List<org.eclipse.aether.repository.RemoteRepository> resolverRepositories) {
        if (repositories != null) {
            return repositories;
        } else if (resolverRepositories != null) {
            return map(resolverRepositories, DefaultRemoteRepository::new);
        } else {
            throw new IllegalArgumentException("no remote repositories provided");
        }
    }

    @Nonnull
    @Override
    public List<RemoteRepository> getRemoteRepositories() {
        return Collections.unmodifiableList(repositories);
    }

    @Nonnull
    @Override
    public SessionData getData() {
        org.eclipse.aether.SessionData data = session.getData();
        return new SessionData() {
            @Override
            public <T> void set(@Nonnull Key<T> key, @Nullable T value) {
                data.set(key, value);
            }

View on GitHub (pinned to e4093d4e12)

Solutions

Set repositories on the request: DependencyResolverRequest.builder().setRepositories(session.getRemoteRepositories()) or an explicit list
Create the session with at least one remote repository (e.g. central) via the session factory / SessionBuilder
If only local resolution is intended, check the local repository first and skip the remote resolution path instead of calling resolve with no repositories

Example fix

// before
DependencyResolverRequest req = DependencyResolverRequest.builder()
        .session(session)
        .request(DependencyRequest...) // no setRepositories
        .build();
session.getService(DependencyResolver.class).resolve(req); // throws: no repositories

// after
DependencyResolverRequest req = DependencyResolverRequest.builder()
        .session(session)
        .request(DependencyRequest...)
        .setRepositories(session.getRemoteRepositories())
        .build();

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

List<RemoteRepository> repos = request.repositories() != null
        ? request.repositories()
        : session.getRemoteRepositories();
if (repos == null || repos.isEmpty()) {
    throw new IllegalArgumentException('No remote repositories: pass repositories in the request or configure the session');
}

Prevention

Always set repositories on resolution requests instead of relying on implicit session state
When building a session programmatically, add at least central
Log the effective repository list before resolving in embedded scenarios

When it happens

Trigger: Calling session.getService(DependencyResolver.class).resolve(...) or ArtifactResolver with a request whose setRepositories(...) is null/omitted while the session itself was created with no remote repositories (e.g. a minimal/standalone session or one built with an empty repository list).

Common situations: Embedding Maven Resolver in standalone tools and forgetting to add central; building a Session via a factory without settings.xml repositories; passing request.repositories as null deliberately for 'session default' but the session default is empty; tests with a session wired to only a local repository.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of apache/maven@e4093d4e12 (2026-08-21). Data as JSON: /api/errors/812ca62e073a02b5. Report an issue: GitHub.