diff --git a/querydsl-tooling/querydsl-apt/src/main/java/com/querydsl/apt/AbstractQuerydslProcessor.java b/querydsl-tooling/querydsl-apt/src/main/java/com/querydsl/apt/AbstractQuerydslProcessor.java
index 03de30604c..3fef25816e 100644
--- a/querydsl-tooling/querydsl-apt/src/main/java/com/querydsl/apt/AbstractQuerydslProcessor.java
+++ b/querydsl-tooling/querydsl-apt/src/main/java/com/querydsl/apt/AbstractQuerydslProcessor.java
@@ -51,6 +51,7 @@
 import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.Collection;
 import java.util.Deque;
+import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.HashSet;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
@@ -212,13 +213,7 @@ protected void processAnnotations() {
     // extend entity types
     typeFactory.extendTypes();
 
-    if (!context.entityTypes.isEmpty()) {
-      var serializerConfig =
-          conf.getSerializerConfig(context.entityTypes.values().iterator().next());
-      if (serializerConfig.createDefaultVariable()) {
-        detectCircularQClassReferences();
-      }
-    }
+    detectCircularQClassReferences();
 
     context.clean();
   }
@@ -691,70 +686,34 @@ private void serialize(Serializer serializer, Collection<EntityType> models) {
   }
 
   private void detectCircularQClassReferences() {
-    Map<String, EntityType> typeMap = context.entityTypes;
-
-    List<String> detectedCycles = new ArrayList<>();
-    Set<String> globalVisited = new HashSet<>();
-
-    for (EntityType start : typeMap.values()) {
-      if (globalVisited.contains(start.getFullName())) continue;
-
-      Deque<String> path = new ArrayDeque<>();
-      Set<String> inStack = new HashSet<>();
-      dfs(start, typeMap, path, inStack, globalVisited, detectedCycles);
-    }
-
-    if (!detectedCycles.isEmpty()) {
-      var message = new StringBuilder();
-      message.append("[QueryDSL] Circular Q-class references detected.\n");
-      message.append(
-          "This may cause class initialization deadlock in multi-threaded environments.\n\n");
-      message.append("Detected cycles:\n");
-      for (int i = 0; i < detectedCycles.size(); i++) {
-        message.append("  (").append(i + 1).append(") ").append(detectedCycles.get(i)).append("\n");
+    Map<String, EntityType> entitiesWithDefaultVariable = new HashMap<>();
+    for (var entry : context.entityTypes.entrySet()) {
+      if (conf.getSerializerConfig(entry.getValue()).createDefaultVariable()) {
+        entitiesWithDefaultVariable.put(entry.getKey(), entry.getValue());
       }
-      message.append("\nTo avoid deadlock, consider:\n");
-      message.append("  (1) Removing the bidirectional association on one side.\n");
-      message.append(
-          "  (2) Pre-initializing Q-classes in a single thread before handling requests (e.g. via @PostConstruct).\n");
-      message.append(
-          "  (3) Using 'new QClass(\"alias\")' instead of static field access in your repositories.");
-
-      processingEnv.getMessager().printMessage(Kind.WARNING, message.toString());
     }
-  }
+    List<List<String>> detectedCycles = QClassCycleDetector.detect(entitiesWithDefaultVariable);
+    if (detectedCycles.isEmpty()) return;
 
-  private void dfs(
-      EntityType current,
-      Map<String, EntityType> typeMap,
-      Deque<String> path,
-      Set<String> inStack,
-      Set<String> globalVisited,
-      List<String> detectedCycles) {
-
-    String currentName = current.getFullName();
-    globalVisited.add(currentName);
-    inStack.add(currentName);
-    path.addLast(current.getSimpleName());
-
-    for (Property property : current.getProperties()) {
-      String neighborName = property.getType().getFullName();
-      if (neighborName.equals(currentName)) continue;
-
-      EntityType neighbor = typeMap.get(neighborName);
-      if (neighbor == null) continue;
-
-      if (inStack.contains(neighborName)) {
-        List<String> cycle = new ArrayList<>(path);
-        cycle.add(neighbor.getSimpleName());
-        detectedCycles.add(String.join(" → ", cycle));
-      } else if (!globalVisited.contains(neighborName)) {
-        dfs(neighbor, typeMap, path, inStack, globalVisited, detectedCycles);
-      }
+    var cyclesList = new StringBuilder();
+    for (int i = 0; i < detectedCycles.size(); i++) {
+      cyclesList.append("  (%d) %s\n".formatted(i + 1, String.join(" → ", detectedCycles.get(i))));
     }
+    var message =
+        """
+        [QueryDSL] Circular Q-class references detected.
+        This may cause class initialization deadlock in multi-threaded environments.
+
+        Detected cycles:
+        %s
+        To avoid deadlock, consider:
+          (1) Removing the bidirectional association on one side.
+          (2) Pre-initializing Q-classes in a single thread before handling requests (e.g. via @PostConstruct).
+          (3) Generating Q-classes without the static default variable (-Aquerydsl.createDefaultVariable=false) and using 'new QClass("alias")' instead.\
+        """
+            .formatted(cyclesList);
 
-    path.removeLast();
-    inStack.remove(currentName);
+    processingEnv.getMessager().printMessage(Kind.WARNING, message);
   }
 
   protected String getClassName(EntityType model) {
diff --git a/querydsl-tooling/querydsl-apt/src/main/java/com/querydsl/apt/QClassCycleDetector.java b/querydsl-tooling/querydsl-apt/src/main/java/com/querydsl/apt/QClassCycleDetector.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..93bdfa751b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/querydsl-tooling/querydsl-apt/src/main/java/com/querydsl/apt/QClassCycleDetector.java
@@ -0,0 +1,83 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2015, The Querydsl Team (http://www.querydsl.com/team)
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package com.querydsl.apt;
+
+import com.querydsl.codegen.EntityType;
+import com.querydsl.codegen.Property;
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.Comparator;
+import java.util.HashSet;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.Set;
+
+final class QClassCycleDetector {
+
+  private final Map<String, EntityType> typeMap;
+  private final List<EntityType> path = new ArrayList<>();
+  private final Set<String> inStack = new HashSet<>();
+  private final Set<String> globalVisited = new HashSet<>();
+  private final List<List<String>> cycles = new ArrayList<>();
+
+  private QClassCycleDetector(Map<String, EntityType> typeMap) {
+    this.typeMap = typeMap;
+  }
+
+  static List<List<String>> detect(Map<String, EntityType> typeMap) {
+    var detector = new QClassCycleDetector(typeMap);
+    var starts = new ArrayList<>(typeMap.values());
+    starts.sort(Comparator.comparing(EntityType::getFullName));
+    for (EntityType start : starts) {
+      if (!detector.globalVisited.contains(start.getFullName())) {
+        detector.visit(start);
+      }
+    }
+    return detector.cycles;
+  }
+
+  private void visit(EntityType current) {
+    String currentName = current.getFullName();
+    globalVisited.add(currentName);
+    inStack.add(currentName);
+    path.add(current);
+
+    for (Property property : current.getProperties()) {
+      String neighborName = property.getType().getFullName();
+      if (neighborName.equals(currentName)) continue;
+
+      EntityType neighbor = typeMap.get(neighborName);
+      if (neighbor == null) continue;
+
+      if (inStack.contains(neighborName)) {
+        cycles.add(sliceCycleFrom(neighbor));
+      } else if (!globalVisited.contains(neighborName)) {
+        visit(neighbor);
+      }
+    }
+
+    path.remove(path.size() - 1);
+    inStack.remove(currentName);
+  }
+
+  private List<String> sliceCycleFrom(EntityType entry) {
+    int start = path.indexOf(entry);
+
+    List<String> cycle = new ArrayList<>(path.size() - start + 1);
+    for (int i = start; i < path.size(); i++) {
+      cycle.add(path.get(i).getSimpleName());
+    }
+    cycle.add(path.get(start).getSimpleName());
+    return cycle;
+  }
+}
diff --git a/querydsl-tooling/querydsl-apt/src/test/java/com/querydsl/apt/QClassCycleDetectorTest.java b/querydsl-tooling/querydsl-apt/src/test/java/com/querydsl/apt/QClassCycleDetectorTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..2efebdc5c5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/querydsl-tooling/querydsl-apt/src/test/java/com/querydsl/apt/QClassCycleDetectorTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,153 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2015, The Querydsl Team (http://www.querydsl.com/team)
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package com.querydsl.apt;
+
+import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThat;
+
+import com.querydsl.codegen.EntityType;
+import com.querydsl.codegen.Property;
+import com.querydsl.codegen.utils.model.SimpleType;
+import com.querydsl.codegen.utils.model.TypeCategory;
+import java.util.LinkedHashMap;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Map;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+
+class QClassCycleDetectorTest {
+
+  @Test
+  void noReferences_returnsEmpty() {
+    var a = entity("A");
+    var b = entity("B");
+
+    var cycles = QClassCycleDetector.detect(map(a, b));
+
+    assertThat(cycles).isEmpty();
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  void unidirectionalReference_returnsEmpty() {
+    var a = entity("A");
+    var b = entity("B");
+    reference(a, "b", b);
+
+    var cycles = QClassCycleDetector.detect(map(a, b));
+
+    assertThat(cycles).isEmpty();
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  void selfReference_isIgnored() {
+    var a = entity("A");
+    reference(a, "self", a);
+
+    var cycles = QClassCycleDetector.detect(map(a));
+
+    assertThat(cycles).isEmpty();
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  void referenceToUnknownType_isIgnored() {
+    var a = entity("A");
+    var external = simpleType("External");
+    a.addProperty(new Property(a, "external", external));
+
+    var cycles = QClassCycleDetector.detect(map(a));
+
+    assertThat(cycles).isEmpty();
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  void twoNodeCycle_isDetected() {
+    var a = entity("A");
+    var b = entity("B");
+    reference(a, "b", b);
+    reference(b, "a", a);
+
+    var cycles = QClassCycleDetector.detect(map(a, b));
+
+    assertThat(cycles).containsExactly(List.of("A", "B", "A"));
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  void threeNodeCycle_isDetected() {
+    var a = entity("A");
+    var b = entity("B");
+    var c = entity("C");
+    reference(a, "b", b);
+    reference(b, "c", c);
+    reference(c, "a", a);
+
+    var cycles = QClassCycleDetector.detect(map(a, b, c));
+
+    assertThat(cycles).containsExactly(List.of("A", "B", "C", "A"));
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  void multipleDisjointCycles_reportedInDeterministicOrder() {
+    var a = entity("A");
+    var b = entity("B");
+    var c = entity("C");
+    var d = entity("D");
+    reference(a, "b", b);
+    reference(b, "a", a);
+    reference(c, "d", d);
+    reference(d, "c", c);
+
+    Map<String, EntityType> shuffled = new LinkedHashMap<>();
+    shuffled.put(d.getFullName(), d);
+    shuffled.put(b.getFullName(), b);
+    shuffled.put(c.getFullName(), c);
+    shuffled.put(a.getFullName(), a);
+
+    var cycles = QClassCycleDetector.detect(shuffled);
+
+    assertThat(cycles).containsExactly(List.of("A", "B", "A"), List.of("C", "D", "C"));
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  void cycleReachedFromOutside_reportsOnlyCycleNotEntryPath() {
+    var a = entity("A");
+    var b = entity("B");
+    var c = entity("C");
+    reference(a, "b", b);
+    reference(b, "c", c);
+    reference(c, "b", b);
+
+    var cycles = QClassCycleDetector.detect(map(a, b, c));
+
+    assertThat(cycles).containsExactly(List.of("B", "C", "B"));
+  }
+
+  private static EntityType entity(String simpleName) {
+    return new EntityType(simpleType(simpleName));
+  }
+
+  private static SimpleType simpleType(String simpleName) {
+    return new SimpleType(
+        TypeCategory.ENTITY, "test." + simpleName, "test", simpleName, false, false);
+  }
+
+  private static void reference(EntityType from, String propertyName, EntityType to) {
+    from.addProperty(new Property(from, propertyName, simpleType(to.getSimpleName())));
+  }
+
+  private static Map<String, EntityType> map(EntityType... entities) {
+    Map<String, EntityType> result = new LinkedHashMap<>();
+    for (EntityType entity : entities) {
+      result.put(entity.getFullName(), entity);
+    }
+    return result;
+  }
+}