hibernate/hibernate-orm · error · HibernateException

No ServiceRegistry was passed to Configuration#buildSessionF

Error message

No ServiceRegistry was passed to Configuration#buildSessionFactory and could not determine how to locate BootstrapServiceRegistry from Configuration instantiation

What it means

When Configuration#buildSessionFactory is used, Hibernate needs a BootstrapServiceRegistry as the anchor. It accepts one directly or unwraps it from a StandardServiceRegistry's parent chain; if the supplied ServiceRegistry is any other implementation, getBootstrapRegistry throws this HibernateException. The registry passed in cannot be traced back to a bootstrap registry, so factory construction is refused.

Source

Thrown at hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/cfg/Configuration.java:224

	 * Create a new instance, using the given {@link MetadataSources}, and a
	 * {@link BootstrapServiceRegistry} obtained from the {@link MetadataSources}.
	 */
	public Configuration(MetadataSources metadataSources) {
		this.metadataSources = metadataSources;
		bootstrapServiceRegistry = getBootstrapRegistry( metadataSources.getServiceRegistry() );
		standardServiceRegistryBuilder = new StandardServiceRegistryBuilder( bootstrapServiceRegistry );
		properties.putAll( standardServiceRegistryBuilder.getSettings() );
	}

	private static BootstrapServiceRegistry getBootstrapRegistry(ServiceRegistry serviceRegistry) {
		if ( serviceRegistry instanceof BootstrapServiceRegistry bootstrapServiceRegistry ) {
			return bootstrapServiceRegistry;
		}
		else if ( serviceRegistry instanceof StandardServiceRegistry ssr ) {
			return (BootstrapServiceRegistry) ssr.getParentServiceRegistry();
		}

		throw new HibernateException(
				"No ServiceRegistry was passed to Configuration#buildSessionFactory " +
						"and could not determine how to locate BootstrapServiceRegistry " +
						"from Configuration instantiation"
		);
	}


	// properties/settings ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

	/**
	 * Get all properties
	 *
	 * @return all properties
	 */
	public Properties getProperties() {
		return properties;
	}

View on GitHub (pinned to fad1729dce)

Solutions

Pass a StandardServiceRegistry built via new StandardServiceRegistryBuilder().configure().build()
Or pass the BootstrapServiceRegistry itself when that is what you hold
Do not implement or wrap ServiceRegistry yourself; compose via StandardServiceRegistryBuilder instead
Prefer the modern bootstrap: new MetadataSources(ssr)...buildMetadata().buildSessionFactory()

Example fix

// before
Configuration cfg = new Configuration();
ServiceRegistry myRegistry = customWrapper(); // not a StandardServiceRegistry -> throws
SessionFactory sf = cfg.buildSessionFactory(myRegistry);

// after
StandardServiceRegistry ssr = new StandardServiceRegistryBuilder().configure().build();
SessionFactory sf = new MetadataSources(ssr).addAnnotatedClass(Item.class)
        .buildMetadata().buildSessionFactory();

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

if (!(registry instanceof StandardServiceRegistry)
        && !(registry instanceof BootstrapServiceRegistry)) {
    throw new IllegalArgumentException(
            "Pass a StandardServiceRegistry or BootstrapServiceRegistry to buildSessionFactory");
}
return cfg.buildSessionFactory(registry);

Type guard

static boolean isRegistryHibernateAccepts(ServiceRegistry registry) {
    return registry instanceof StandardServiceRegistry
            || registry instanceof BootstrapServiceRegistry;
}

Prevention

Use StandardServiceRegistryBuilder as the single registry entry point
Never wrap or reimplement ServiceRegistry interfaces
Keep one registry per application lifecycle and close it after the SessionFactory

When it happens

Trigger: Calling cfg.buildSessionFactory(customRegistry) where customRegistry is a wrapper or non-standard ServiceRegistry implementation; passing a framework-produced registry that is neither a BootstrapServiceRegistry nor a StandardServiceRegistry; bootstrap glue that rebuilds Configurations around existing registries.

Common situations: Custom or wrapped registries in framework integration code; legacy Configuration-based bootstrap mixed with new-style registry code; partial migration to StandardServiceRegistryBuilder.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of hibernate/hibernate-orm@fad1729dce (2026-08-22). Data as JSON: /api/errors/b5700150b91986b1. Report an issue: GitHub.