As I understand what Scott is trying to do is to have a pre-defined metadata, e.g. InstallMetaData that does 'mybean::addInterceptor'. Where mybean would be determined in createBean method, mostly preprending 'baseName' and appending some number to existing meaningful name (e.g. BeanContext). Reusing pre-defined metadata should be done by cloning, since when metadata moves through states, we set some member variables. Knowing where this is done is impl detail on which you should not rely - e.g. we might change the actual metadata impl. Perhaps having a more open BeanMetaDataBuilder is the way to go - meaning you can provide what the actual metadata impls are we gonna use, e.g. when we do a LifecycleMetaData instantiation, one could override that with it's own impl, not using our default AbstractLifecycleMetaData. View the original post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=viewtopic&p=4143105#... Reply to the post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=posting&mode=reply&a...