The inheritProfiles attribute of @ActiveProfiles controls whether a child test class inherits the active profiles from its parent test class. When inheritProfiles = true (the default), child profiles are merged with parent profiles. When false, child profiles replace parent profiles entirely.

Example

Base test class and configuration

package com.logicbig.example;

import org.springframework.context.annotation.Configuration;

@Configuration
public class AppConfig {
    // No beans needed for this demo;
    // we only assert Environment active profiles.
}

package com.logicbig.example;

import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
import org.junit.jupiter.api.extension.ExtendWith;
import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
import org.springframework.context.annotation.Configuration;
import org.springframework.core.env.ConfigurableEnvironment;
import org.springframework.core.env.Profiles;
import org.springframework.test.context.ActiveProfiles;
import org.springframework.test.context.ContextConfiguration;
import org.springframework.test.context.junit.jupiter.SpringExtension;

@ExtendWith(SpringExtension.class)
@ContextConfiguration(classes = AppConfig.class)
@ActiveProfiles("base")
public abstract class BaseTest {
    @Autowired
    protected ConfigurableEnvironment env;

    protected static boolean contains(String[] arr, String v) {
        for (String s : arr) {
            if (s.equals(v)) return true;
        }
        return false;
    }
}

Child tests demonstrating inheritProfiles

inheritProfiles = true (merge)

package com.logicbig.example;

import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
import org.springframework.core.env.Profiles;
import org.springframework.test.context.ActiveProfiles;
import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertFalse;
import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertTrue;

@ActiveProfiles(value = "dev", inheritProfiles = true)
public class DevTest extends BaseTest {

    @Test
    public void test() {
        // Active profiles should include both base and dev
        String[] profiles = env.getActiveProfiles();
        assertTrue(contains(profiles, "base"),
                   "'base' should be active (inherited)");
        assertTrue(contains(profiles, "dev"),
                   "'dev' should be active (declared)");
        assertFalse(contains(profiles, "prod"),
                    "'prod' should not be active");

        // Environment-based checks (using Profiles.of)
        assertTrue(env.acceptsProfiles(Profiles.of("dev")));
        assertFalse(env.acceptsProfiles(Profiles.of("prod")));
        assertTrue(env.acceptsProfiles(Profiles.of("dev & base")));
    }
}

Output

D:\example-projects\spring-core-testing\spring-active-profiles-inherit-profiles-example>mvn test -Dtest=DevTest
[INFO] Scanning for projects...
[INFO] 
[INFO] --< com.logicbig.example:spring-active-profiles-inherit-profiles-example >--
[INFO] Building spring-active-profiles-inherit-profiles-example 1.0-SNAPSHOT
[INFO]   from pom.xml
[INFO] --------------------------------[ jar ]---------------------------------
[INFO] 
[INFO] --- resources:3.3.1:resources (default-resources) @ spring-active-profiles-inherit-profiles-example ---
[WARNING] Using platform encoding (UTF-8 actually) to copy filtered resources, i.e. build is platform dependent!
[INFO] skip non existing resourceDirectory D:\example-projects\spring-core-testing\spring-active-profiles-inherit-profiles-example\src\main\resources
[INFO] 
[INFO] --- compiler:3.14.1:compile (default-compile) @ spring-active-profiles-inherit-profiles-example ---
[INFO] No sources to compile
[INFO] 
[INFO] --- resources:3.3.1:testResources (default-testResources) @ spring-active-profiles-inherit-profiles-example ---
[WARNING] Using platform encoding (UTF-8 actually) to copy filtered resources, i.e. build is platform dependent!
[INFO] skip non existing resourceDirectory D:\example-projects\spring-core-testing\spring-active-profiles-inherit-profiles-example\src\test\resources
[INFO] 
[INFO] --- compiler:3.14.1:testCompile (default-testCompile) @ spring-active-profiles-inherit-profiles-example ---
[INFO] Nothing to compile - all classes are up to date.
[INFO] 
[INFO] --- surefire:3.2.5:test (default-test) @ spring-active-profiles-inherit-profiles-example ---
[INFO] Using auto detected provider org.apache.maven.surefire.junitplatform.JUnitPlatformProvider
[WARNING] file.encoding cannot be set as system property, use <argLine>-Dfile.encoding=...</argLine> instead
[INFO] 
[INFO] -------------------------------------------------------
[INFO]  T E S T S
[INFO] -------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Running com.logicbig.example.DevTest
[INFO] Tests run: 1, Failures: 0, Errors: 0, Skipped: 0, Time elapsed: 0.408 s -- in com.logicbig.example.DevTest
[INFO] 
[INFO] Results:
[INFO] 
[INFO] Tests run: 1, Failures: 0, Errors: 0, Skipped: 0
[INFO] 
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] BUILD SUCCESS
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Total time:  3.412 s
[INFO] Finished at: 2026-01-30T23:45:03+08:00
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------

inheritProfiles = false (replace)

package com.logicbig.example;

import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
import org.springframework.core.env.Profiles;
import org.springframework.test.context.ActiveProfiles;
import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertFalse;
import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertTrue;

@ActiveProfiles(value = "prod", inheritProfiles = false)
public class ProdTest extends BaseTest {

    @Test
    public void test() {
        // Active profiles should only include prod (no inheritance)
        String[] profiles = env.getActiveProfiles();
        assertFalse(contains(profiles, "base"),
                    "'base' should NOT be active (inheritance disabled)");
        assertTrue(contains(profiles, "prod"),
                   "'prod' should be active (declared)");
        assertFalse(contains(profiles, "dev"),
                    "'dev' should not be active");

        // Environment-based checks (using Profiles.of)
        assertTrue(env.acceptsProfiles(Profiles.of("prod")));
        assertFalse(env.acceptsProfiles(Profiles.of("dev")));
        assertFalse(env.acceptsProfiles(Profiles.of("base")));
    }
}

Output

D:\example-projects\spring-core-testing\spring-active-profiles-inherit-profiles-example>mvn test -Dtest=ProdTest
[INFO] Scanning for projects...
[INFO] 
[INFO] --< com.logicbig.example:spring-active-profiles-inherit-profiles-example >--
[INFO] Building spring-active-profiles-inherit-profiles-example 1.0-SNAPSHOT
[INFO]   from pom.xml
[INFO] --------------------------------[ jar ]---------------------------------
[INFO] 
[INFO] --- resources:3.3.1:resources (default-resources) @ spring-active-profiles-inherit-profiles-example ---
[WARNING] Using platform encoding (UTF-8 actually) to copy filtered resources, i.e. build is platform dependent!
[INFO] skip non existing resourceDirectory D:\example-projects\spring-core-testing\spring-active-profiles-inherit-profiles-example\src\main\resources
[INFO] 
[INFO] --- compiler:3.14.1:compile (default-compile) @ spring-active-profiles-inherit-profiles-example ---
[INFO] No sources to compile
[INFO] 
[INFO] --- resources:3.3.1:testResources (default-testResources) @ spring-active-profiles-inherit-profiles-example ---
[WARNING] Using platform encoding (UTF-8 actually) to copy filtered resources, i.e. build is platform dependent!
[INFO] skip non existing resourceDirectory D:\example-projects\spring-core-testing\spring-active-profiles-inherit-profiles-example\src\test\resources
[INFO] 
[INFO] --- compiler:3.14.1:testCompile (default-testCompile) @ spring-active-profiles-inherit-profiles-example ---
[INFO] Recompiling the module because of changed source code.
[INFO] Compiling 4 source files with javac [debug target 25] to target\test-classes
[INFO] 
[INFO] --- surefire:3.2.5:test (default-test) @ spring-active-profiles-inherit-profiles-example ---
[INFO] Using auto detected provider org.apache.maven.surefire.junitplatform.JUnitPlatformProvider
[WARNING] file.encoding cannot be set as system property, use <argLine>-Dfile.encoding=...</argLine> instead
[INFO] 
[INFO] -------------------------------------------------------
[INFO]  T E S T S
[INFO] -------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Running com.logicbig.example.ProdTest
[INFO] Tests run: 1, Failures: 0, Errors: 0, Skipped: 0, Time elapsed: 0.385 s -- in com.logicbig.example.ProdTest
[INFO] 
[INFO] Results:
[INFO] 
[INFO] Tests run: 1, Failures: 0, Errors: 0, Skipped: 0
[INFO] 
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] BUILD SUCCESS
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Total time:  2.579 s
[INFO] Finished at: 2026-01-30T23:46:26+08:00
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------

These tests also demonstrate using Environment for assertions: ConfigurableEnvironment#getActiveProfiles() and Environment#acceptsProfiles(...) with Profiles.of().

Example Project

Dependencies and Technologies Used:

• spring-context 7.0.3 (Spring Context)
   Version Compatibility: 5.1.0.RELEASE - 7.0.3Version List
  ×

  Version compatibilities of spring-context with this example:

  • 5.1.0.RELEASE
  • 5.1.1.RELEASE
  • 5.1.2.RELEASE
  • 5.1.3.RELEASE
  • 5.1.4.RELEASE
  • 5.1.5.RELEASE
  • 5.1.6.RELEASE
  • 5.1.7.RELEASE
  • 5.1.8.RELEASE
  • 5.1.9.RELEASE
  • 5.1.10.RELEASE
  • 5.1.11.RELEASE
  • 5.1.12.RELEASE
  • 5.1.13.RELEASE
  • 5.1.14.RELEASE
  • 5.1.15.RELEASE
  • 5.1.16.RELEASE
  • 5.1.17.RELEASE
  • 5.1.18.RELEASE
  • 5.1.19.RELEASE
  • 5.1.20.RELEASE
  • 5.2.0.RELEASE
  • 5.2.1.RELEASE
  • 5.2.2.RELEASE
  • 5.2.3.RELEASE
  • 5.2.4.RELEASE
  • 5.2.5.RELEASE
  • 5.2.6.RELEASE
  • 5.2.7.RELEASE
  • 5.2.8.RELEASE
  • 5.2.9.RELEASE
  • 5.2.10.RELEASE
  • 5.2.11.RELEASE
  • 5.2.12.RELEASE
  • 5.2.13.RELEASE
  • 5.2.14.RELEASE
  • 5.2.15.RELEASE
  • 5.2.16.RELEASE
  • 5.2.17.RELEASE
  • 5.2.18.RELEASE
  • 5.2.19.RELEASE
  • 5.2.20.RELEASE
  • 5.2.21.RELEASE
  • 5.2.22.RELEASE
  • 5.2.23.RELEASE
  • 5.2.24.RELEASE
  • 5.2.25.RELEASE
  • 5.3.0
  • 5.3.1
  • 5.3.2
  • 5.3.3
  • 5.3.4
  • 5.3.5
  • 5.3.6
  • 5.3.7
  • 5.3.8
  • 5.3.9
  • 5.3.10
  • 5.3.11
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  • 5.3.34
  • 5.3.35
  • 5.3.36
  • 5.3.37
  • 5.3.38
  • 5.3.39
  Compatible Java Version: 17+
  • 6.0.0
  • 6.0.1
  • 6.0.2
  • 6.0.3
  • 6.0.4
  • 6.0.5
  • 6.0.6
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  • 6.1.0
  • 6.1.1
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  • 6.1.3
  • 6.1.4
  • 6.1.5
  • 6.1.6
  • 6.1.7
  • 6.1.8
  • 6.1.9
  • 6.1.10
  • 6.1.11
  • 6.1.12
  • 6.1.13
  • 6.1.14
  • 6.1.15
  • 6.1.16
  • 6.1.17
  • 6.1.18
  • 6.1.19
  • 6.1.20
  • 6.1.21
  • 6.2.0
  • 6.2.1
  • 6.2.2
  • 6.2.3
  • 6.2.4
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  • 6.2.13
  • 6.2.14
  • 6.2.15
  • 7.0.0
  • 7.0.1
  • 7.0.2
  • 7.0.3

  Versions in green have been tested.

• spring-test 7.0.3 (Spring TestContext Framework)
  
• junit-jupiter-engine 6.0.2 (Module "junit-jupiter-engine" of JUnit)
  
• JDK 25
• Maven 3.9.11