hibernate/hibernate-orm · error · AnnotationException

Entity class '<className>' may not be annotated '@OnDelete'

Error message

Entity class '<className>' may not be annotated '@OnDelete'

What it means

Error "Entity class '<className>' may not be annotated '@OnDelete'" thrown in hibernate/hibernate-orm.

Source

Thrown at hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/boot/model/internal/EntityBinder.java:975

						rootClass.setForceDiscriminator( true );
					}
				}
			}
		}
	}

	private void checkNoJoinColumns(ClassDetails annotatedClass) {
		if ( annotatedClass.hasAnnotationUsage( PrimaryKeyJoinColumns.class, modelsContext() )
				|| annotatedClass.hasAnnotationUsage( PrimaryKeyJoinColumn.class, modelsContext() ) ) {
			throw new AnnotationException( "Entity class '" + annotatedClass.getName()
					+ "' may not specify a '@PrimaryKeyJoinColumn'" );
		}
	}

	private void checkNoOnDelete(ClassDetails annotatedClass) {
		if ( annotatedClass.hasAnnotationUsage( PrimaryKeyJoinColumns.class, modelsContext() )
				|| annotatedClass.hasAnnotationUsage( PrimaryKeyJoinColumn.class, modelsContext() ) ) {
			throw new AnnotationException( "Entity class '" + annotatedClass.getName() + "' may not be annotated '@OnDelete'" );
		}
	}

	private static void handleForeignKey(ClassDetails clazzToProcess, MetadataBuildingContext context, DependantValue key) {
		final var foreignKey = clazzToProcess.getDirectAnnotationUsage( ForeignKey.class );
		handleForeignKeyConstraint( key, foreignKey, nestedForeignKey( clazzToProcess ), context );
	}

	private static ForeignKey nestedForeignKey(ClassDetails clazzToProcess) {
		final var pkJoinColumn = clazzToProcess.getDirectAnnotationUsage( PrimaryKeyJoinColumn.class );
		final var pkJoinColumns = clazzToProcess.getDirectAnnotationUsage( PrimaryKeyJoinColumns.class );
		if ( pkJoinColumn != null ) {
			return pkJoinColumn.foreignKey();
		}
		else if ( pkJoinColumns != null ) {
			return resolveContainerForeignKey( pkJoinColumns.foreignKey(), pkJoinColumns.value() );
		}
		else {

View on GitHub (pinned to fad1729dce)

Solutions

1. Remove @OnDelete from the entity class.

When it happens

Trigger: @OnDelete is placed on an element where cascade-delete does not apply.

Common situations: @OnDelete on an entity class or on a unidirectional @OneToMany without an explicit @JoinColumn.

AI-assisted analysis of hibernate/hibernate-orm@fad1729dce (2026-08-22). Data as JSON: /api/errors/9d577cdfd18e440a. Report an issue: GitHub.