Spring's @ActiveProfiles can be used inside your own composed annotations (meta-annotations). This lets you define reusable testing presets (e.g., a specific configuration and set of profiles) and apply them to multiple test classes without duplication.

Use Cases:

• Standardize environment presets like dev/mysql vs prod/postgres across many tests.
• Reduce boilerplate by colocating @SpringJUnitConfig and @ActiveProfiles in a single custom annotation.
• Make intent explicit with domain-specific annotations (e.g., @DevMySqlTest).

Example

Configuration

package com.logicbig.example;

import org.springframework.context.annotation.Bean;
import org.springframework.context.annotation.Configuration;
import org.springframework.context.annotation.Profile;
import org.springframework.jdbc.datasource.DriverManagerDataSource;

import javax.sql.DataSource;

@Configuration
public class AppConfig {

    // Minimal DataSource beans for demo purposes only;
    // no real DB connectivity required.
    @Bean
    @Profile({"dev", "mysql"})
    public DataSource devMySqlDataSource() {
        DriverManagerDataSource ds = new DriverManagerDataSource();
        ds.setUrl("jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/demo");
        ds.setUsername("demo");
        ds.setPassword("demo");
        return ds;
    }

    @Bean
    @Profile({"prod", "postgres"})
    public DataSource prodPostgresDataSource() {
        DriverManagerDataSource ds = new DriverManagerDataSource();
        ds.setUrl("jdbc:postgresql://localhost:5432/demo");
        ds.setUsername("demo");
        ds.setPassword("demo");
        return ds;
    }
}

Custom composed annotations

package com.logicbig.example;

import org.springframework.test.context.ActiveProfiles;
import org.springframework.test.context.junit.jupiter.SpringJUnitConfig;

import java.lang.annotation.ElementType;
import java.lang.annotation.Retention;
import java.lang.annotation.RetentionPolicy;
import java.lang.annotation.Target;

@Target(ElementType.TYPE)
@Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
@SpringJUnitConfig(classes = AppConfig.class)
@ActiveProfiles({"dev", "mysql"})
public @interface DevMySqlTest {
}

package com.logicbig.example;

import org.springframework.test.context.ActiveProfiles;
import org.springframework.test.context.junit.jupiter.SpringJUnitConfig;

import java.lang.annotation.ElementType;
import java.lang.annotation.Retention;
import java.lang.annotation.RetentionPolicy;
import java.lang.annotation.Target;

@Target(ElementType.TYPE)
@Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
@SpringJUnitConfig(classes = AppConfig.class)
@ActiveProfiles({"prod", "postgres"})
public @interface ProdPostgresTest {
}

JUnit tests using the composed annotations

package com.logicbig.example;

import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
import org.springframework.core.env.Environment;
import org.springframework.core.env.Profiles;
import java.util.Arrays;
import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertFalse;
import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertTrue;

@DevMySqlTest
public class UserServiceTest {

    @Autowired
    private Environment environment;

    @Test
    public void testProfiles() {
        String[] profiles = environment.getActiveProfiles();
        System.out.println("Active profiles (UserServiceTest): " +
                                   Arrays.toString(profiles));

        // Assertions
        assertTrue(Arrays.asList(profiles).contains("dev"));
        assertTrue(Arrays.asList(profiles).contains("mysql"));
        assertFalse(Arrays.asList(profiles).contains("prod"));
        assertFalse(Arrays.asList(profiles).contains("postgres"));

        // Environment convenience with Profiles.of
        assertTrue(environment.acceptsProfiles(
                Profiles.of("dev & mysql")));
        assertFalse(environment.acceptsProfiles(Profiles.of("prod")));
    }
}

Output

D:\example-projects\spring-core-testing\spring-active-profiles-meta-annotation-example>mvn test -Dtest=UserServiceTest
[INFO] Scanning for projects...
[INFO] 
[INFO] --< com.logicbig.example:spring-active-profiles-meta-annotation-example >--
[INFO] Building spring-active-profiles-meta-annotation-example 1.0-SNAPSHOT
[INFO]   from pom.xml
[INFO] --------------------------------[ jar ]---------------------------------
[INFO] 
[INFO] --- resources:3.3.1:resources (default-resources) @ spring-active-profiles-meta-annotation-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-meta-annotation-example\src\main\resources
[INFO] 
[INFO] --- compiler:3.14.1:compile (default-compile) @ spring-active-profiles-meta-annotation-example ---
[INFO] No sources to compile
[INFO] 
[INFO] --- resources:3.3.1:testResources (default-testResources) @ spring-active-profiles-meta-annotation-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-meta-annotation-example\src\test\resources
[INFO] 
[INFO] --- compiler:3.14.1:testCompile (default-testCompile) @ spring-active-profiles-meta-annotation-example ---
[INFO] Recompiling the module because of changed source code.
[INFO] Compiling 6 source files with javac [debug target 25] to target\test-classes
[INFO] 
[INFO] --- surefire:3.5.0:test (default-test) @ spring-active-profiles-meta-annotation-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] -------------------------------------------------------
Active profiles (UserServiceTest): [dev, mysql]
[INFO] +--com.logicbig.example.UserServiceTest - 0.424 ss
[INFO] |  '-- [OK] testProfiles - 0.037 ss
[INFO] 
[INFO] Results:
[INFO] 
[INFO] Tests run: 1, Failures: 0, Errors: 0, Skipped: 0
[INFO] 
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] BUILD SUCCESS
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Total time:  2.793 s
[INFO] Finished at: 2026-01-31T07:24:23+08:00
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------

package com.logicbig.example;

import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
import org.springframework.core.env.Environment;
import org.springframework.core.env.Profiles;
import javax.sql.DataSource;
import java.util.Arrays;
import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.*;

@DevMySqlTest
public class OrderServiceTest {

    @Autowired
    private DataSource dataSource;

    @Autowired
    private Environment environment;

    @Test
    public void testOrder() {
        // has [dev, mysql] profiles
        String[] profiles = environment.getActiveProfiles();
        System.out.println("Active profiles (OrderServiceTest): " +
                                   Arrays.toString(profiles));

        assertNotNull(dataSource, "DataSource should be autowired "
                + "for dev/mysql profile combination");
        assertTrue(Arrays.asList(profiles).contains("dev"));
        assertTrue(Arrays.asList(profiles).contains("mysql"));
        assertFalse(Arrays.asList(profiles).contains("prod"));
        assertFalse(Arrays.asList(profiles).contains("postgres"));

        assertTrue(environment.acceptsProfiles(Profiles.of("dev & mysql")));
        assertFalse(environment.acceptsProfiles(
                Profiles.of("prod | postgres")));
    }
}

Output

D:\example-projects\spring-core-testing\spring-active-profiles-meta-annotation-example>mvn test -Dtest=OrderServiceTest
[INFO] Scanning for projects...
[INFO] 
[INFO] --< com.logicbig.example:spring-active-profiles-meta-annotation-example >--
[INFO] Building spring-active-profiles-meta-annotation-example 1.0-SNAPSHOT
[INFO]   from pom.xml
[INFO] --------------------------------[ jar ]---------------------------------
[INFO] 
[INFO] --- resources:3.3.1:resources (default-resources) @ spring-active-profiles-meta-annotation-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-meta-annotation-example\src\main\resources
[INFO] 
[INFO] --- compiler:3.14.1:compile (default-compile) @ spring-active-profiles-meta-annotation-example ---
[INFO] No sources to compile
[INFO] 
[INFO] --- resources:3.3.1:testResources (default-testResources) @ spring-active-profiles-meta-annotation-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-meta-annotation-example\src\test\resources
[INFO] 
[INFO] --- compiler:3.14.1:testCompile (default-testCompile) @ spring-active-profiles-meta-annotation-example ---
[INFO] Nothing to compile - all classes are up to date.
[INFO] 
[INFO] --- surefire:3.5.0:test (default-test) @ spring-active-profiles-meta-annotation-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] -------------------------------------------------------
Active profiles (OrderServiceTest): [dev, mysql]
[INFO] +--com.logicbig.example.OrderServiceTest - 0.489 ss
[INFO] |  '-- [OK] testOrder - 0.039 ss
[INFO] 
[INFO] Results:
[INFO] 
[INFO] Tests run: 1, Failures: 0, Errors: 0, Skipped: 0
[INFO] 
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] BUILD SUCCESS
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Total time:  2.658 s
[INFO] Finished at: 2026-01-31T07:24:33+08:00
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------

package com.logicbig.example;

import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
import org.springframework.core.env.Environment;
import org.springframework.core.env.Profiles;

import java.util.Arrays;

import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertFalse;
import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertTrue;

@ProdPostgresTest
public class ReportServiceTest {

    @Autowired
    private Environment environment;

    @Test
    public void testReport() {
        // has [prod, postgres] profiles
        String[] profiles = environment.getActiveProfiles();
        System.out.println("Active profiles (ReportServiceTest): " +
                                   Arrays.toString(profiles));

        assertTrue(Arrays.asList(profiles).contains("prod"));
        assertTrue(Arrays.asList(profiles).contains("postgres"));
        assertFalse(Arrays.asList(profiles).contains("dev"));
        assertFalse(Arrays.asList(profiles).contains("mysql"));

        assertTrue(environment.acceptsProfiles(
                Profiles.of("prod & postgres")));
        assertFalse(environment.acceptsProfiles(
                Profiles.of("dev | mysql")));
    }
}

Output

D:\example-projects\spring-core-testing\spring-active-profiles-meta-annotation-example>mvn test -Dtest=ReportServiceTest
[INFO] Scanning for projects...
[INFO] 
[INFO] --< com.logicbig.example:spring-active-profiles-meta-annotation-example >--
[INFO] Building spring-active-profiles-meta-annotation-example 1.0-SNAPSHOT
[INFO]   from pom.xml
[INFO] --------------------------------[ jar ]---------------------------------
[INFO] 
[INFO] --- resources:3.3.1:resources (default-resources) @ spring-active-profiles-meta-annotation-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-meta-annotation-example\src\main\resources
[INFO] 
[INFO] --- compiler:3.14.1:compile (default-compile) @ spring-active-profiles-meta-annotation-example ---
[INFO] No sources to compile
[INFO] 
[INFO] --- resources:3.3.1:testResources (default-testResources) @ spring-active-profiles-meta-annotation-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-meta-annotation-example\src\test\resources
[INFO] 
[INFO] --- compiler:3.14.1:testCompile (default-testCompile) @ spring-active-profiles-meta-annotation-example ---
[INFO] Nothing to compile - all classes are up to date.
[INFO] 
[INFO] --- surefire:3.5.0:test (default-test) @ spring-active-profiles-meta-annotation-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] -------------------------------------------------------
Active profiles (ReportServiceTest): [prod, postgres]
[INFO] +--com.logicbig.example.ReportServiceTest - 0.441 ss
[INFO] |  '-- [OK] testReport - 0.040 ss
[INFO] 
[INFO] Results:
[INFO] 
[INFO] Tests run: 1, Failures: 0, Errors: 0, Skipped: 0
[INFO] 
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] BUILD SUCCESS
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Total time:  3.283 s
[INFO] Finished at: 2026-01-31T07:24:43+08:00
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------

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
  • 5.3.12
  • 5.3.13
  • 5.3.14
  • 5.3.15
  • 5.3.16
  • 5.3.17
  • 5.3.18
  • 5.3.19
  • 5.3.20
  • 5.3.21
  • 5.3.22
  • 5.3.23
  • 5.3.24
  • 5.3.25
  • 5.3.26
  • 5.3.27
  • 5.3.28
  • 5.3.29
  • 5.3.30
  • 5.3.31
  • 5.3.32
  • 5.3.33
  • 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
  • 6.0.7
  • 6.0.8
  • 6.0.9
  • 6.0.10
  • 6.0.11
  • 6.0.12
  • 6.0.13
  • 6.0.14
  • 6.0.15
  • 6.0.16
  • 6.0.17
  • 6.0.18
  • 6.0.19
  • 6.0.20
  • 6.0.21
  • 6.0.22
  • 6.0.23
  • 6.1.0
  • 6.1.1
  • 6.1.2
  • 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
  • 6.2.5
  • 6.2.6
  • 6.2.7
  • 6.2.8
  • 6.2.9
  • 6.2.10
  • 6.2.11
  • 6.2.12
  • 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-jdbc 7.0.3 (Spring JDBC)
  
• 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