What causes "Cannot set Elasticsearch URL when using Elasticsearch container" in testcontainers/testcontainers-java?

Remove the withElasticsearch(elasticsearchContainer) call if you want external mode.

testcontainers/testcontainers-java · error · IllegalStateException

Cannot set Elasticsearch URL when using Elasticsearch…

Error message

Cannot set Elasticsearch URL when using Elasticsearch container

What it means

KibanaContainer supports two modes: managed (it launches its own Elasticsearch container) and external (it points at an Elasticsearch URL you supply). withElasticsearchUrl(String) throws IllegalStateException if an Elasticsearch container was already configured via withElasticsearch(...), because a Kibana container cannot target both.

Solutions

Remove the withElasticsearch(elasticsearchContainer) call if you want external mode.
Or remove the withElasticsearchUrl(...) call if you want managed mode.
Keep exactly one mode configuration per KibanaContainer instance.

Example fix

// before
new KibanaContainer(IMAGE)
    .withElasticsearch(esContainer)
    .withElasticsearchUrl("http://es.local:9200"); // throws
// after
new KibanaContainer(IMAGE)
    .withElasticsearchUrl("http://es.local:9200");

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

assert !(usingManagedEs && externalEsUrl != null) : "KibanaContainer supports either managed or external Elasticsearch, not both";

Prevention

Choose managed vs external mode once, at builder construction.
Delete withElasticsearch(...) when migrating to withElasticsearchUrl(...).
Wrap container creation in a single factory method to enforce the invariant.
Review test base classes for leftover mode configuration.

When it happens

Trigger: Calling withElasticsearchUrl(...) on a KibanaContainer that was constructed/configured with withElasticsearch(elasticsearchContainer) (or vice versa in the opposite order).

Common situations: Refactoring tests from managed to external mode and leaving the withElasticsearch(...) call in place; copying configuration from another test class.

Understand the failure class

Background: Conflicting config options: "cannot be used together" — configuration validation errors across open-source libraries — this error's family across 162 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of testcontainers/testcontainers-java@8e549514e3 (2026-09-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/d8dc4908bca75a5b. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/testcontainers/elasticsearch/KibanaContainer.java:173

        if (reusable && elasticsearch != null) {
            throw new IllegalStateException(
                "withReuse(true) is not supported for KibanaContainer in managed mode. " +
                "Use external mode (withElasticsearchUrl) to enable reuse."
            );
        }
        return super.withReuse(reusable);
    }

    /**
     * Configures the Elasticsearch URL for external mode.
     *
     * @param elasticsearchUrl the Elasticsearch URL (e.g., "https://my.fancy.setup.elastic.cloud:9200")
     * @return this container instance
     * @throws IllegalStateException if already using managed mode
     */
    public KibanaContainer withElasticsearchUrl(String elasticsearchUrl) {
        if (elasticsearch != null) {
            throw new IllegalStateException("Cannot set Elasticsearch URL when using Elasticsearch container");
        }
        this.elasticsearchUrl = elasticsearchUrl;
        return this;
    }

    /**
     * Configures Kibana to authenticate using the kibana_system user.
     *
     * @param password the password for the kibana_system user
     * @return this container instance
     */
    public KibanaContainer withKibanaSystemPassword(String password) {
        return withKibanaUsernameAndPassword(KIBANA_SYSTEM_USER, password);
    }

    /**
     * Configures credentials Kibana will use for authentication.
     *

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