diff --git a/headless-services/spring-boot-language-server/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/boot/java/data/DataRepositoryAotMetadataService.java b/headless-services/spring-boot-language-server/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/boot/java/data/DataRepositoryAotMetadataService.java
index abf59c8281..dcdfe53f0e 100644
--- a/headless-services/spring-boot-language-server/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/boot/java/data/DataRepositoryAotMetadataService.java
+++ b/headless-services/spring-boot-language-server/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/boot/java/data/DataRepositoryAotMetadataService.java
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@
 import org.springframework.ide.vscode.boot.java.BuildCommandProvider;
 import org.springframework.ide.vscode.commons.java.IClasspathUtil;
 import org.springframework.ide.vscode.commons.java.IJavaProject;
+import org.springframework.ide.vscode.commons.java.IProjectBuild;
 import org.springframework.ide.vscode.commons.languageserver.java.JavaProjectFinder;
 import org.springframework.ide.vscode.commons.protocol.java.ProjectBuild;
 import org.springframework.ide.vscode.commons.util.FileObserver;
@@ -136,10 +137,29 @@ public DataRepositoryAotMetadataService(FileObserver fileObserver, JavaProjectFi
 		}
 	}
 	
+	/**
+	 * The project's build type, or <code>null</code> when it is not known.
+	 * <p>
+	 * Not every project has a build this server can classify: the invisible project the language server
+	 * creates for a plain folder has none, and neither does a project contributed by an importer that is
+	 * neither Maven nor Gradle - {@code ClasspathUtil.createProjectBuild} then reports a build whose type
+	 * is null. Switching on that throws, and the callers here are on the indexing path, where an
+	 * exception costs a whole type its symbols.
+	 */
+	private static String buildType(IJavaProject project) {
+		IProjectBuild build = project.getProjectBuild();
+		return build == null ? null : build.getType();
+	}
+	
 	public Optional<DataRepositoryAotMetadata> getRepositoryMetadata(IJavaProject project, String repositoryType) {
 		String metadataFilePath = repositoryType.replace('.', '/') + ".json";
 		
-		switch (project.getProjectBuild().getType()) {
+		String buildType = buildType(project);
+		if (buildType == null) {
+			return Optional.empty();
+		}
+		
+		switch (buildType) {
 		case ProjectBuild.MAVEN_PROJECT_TYPE:
 			return IClasspathUtil.getOutputFolders(project.getClasspath())
 					.map(outputFolder -> outputFolder.getParentFile().toPath().resolve("spring-aot/main/resources/").resolve(metadataFilePath))
@@ -167,7 +187,12 @@ private Optional<DataRepositoryAotMetadata> readMetadataFile(Path filePath) {
 	}
 	
 	Optional<Command> regenerateMetadataCommand(IJavaProject jp) {
-		switch (jp.getProjectBuild().getType()) {
+		String buildType = buildType(jp);
+		if (buildType == null) {
+			return Optional.empty();
+		}
+		
+		switch (buildType) {
 		case ProjectBuild.MAVEN_PROJECT_TYPE:
 			List<String> goal = new ArrayList<>();
 			if (!IClasspathUtil.getOutputFolders(jp.getClasspath()).map(f -> f.toPath()).filter(Files::isDirectory).flatMap(d -> {
diff --git a/headless-services/spring-boot-language-server/src/test/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/boot/java/data/test/DataRepositoryAotMetadataServiceBuildTypeTest.java b/headless-services/spring-boot-language-server/src/test/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/boot/java/data/test/DataRepositoryAotMetadataServiceBuildTypeTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..60b3d293a9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/headless-services/spring-boot-language-server/src/test/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/boot/java/data/test/DataRepositoryAotMetadataServiceBuildTypeTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+/*******************************************************************************
+ * Copyright (c) 2026 Broadcom
+ * All rights reserved. This program and the accompanying materials
+ * are made available under the terms of the Eclipse Public License v1.0
+ * which accompanies this distribution, and is available at
+ * https://www.eclipse.org/legal/epl-v10.html
+ *
+ * Contributors:
+ *     Broadcom - initial API and implementation
+ *******************************************************************************/
+package org.springframework.ide.vscode.boot.java.data.test;
+
+import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertEquals;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.mock;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.when;
+
+import java.util.Optional;
+
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+import org.springframework.ide.vscode.boot.java.data.DataRepositoryAotMetadataService;
+import org.springframework.ide.vscode.commons.java.IJavaProject;
+import org.springframework.ide.vscode.commons.java.IProjectBuild;
+
+/**
+ * Asking for AOT metadata on a project whose build is neither Maven nor Gradle.
+ * <p>
+ * The answer has to be "no metadata" rather than an exception: the caller is the Spring Data
+ * repository indexer, which reaches this service for every query method that carries no
+ * {@code @Query}, and an exception there is caught per type - so the whole repository interface
+ * loses its symbols.
+ *
+ * @author Artem
+ */
+public class DataRepositoryAotMetadataServiceBuildTypeTest {
+
+	private final DataRepositoryAotMetadataService service = new DataRepositoryAotMetadataService(null, null, null);
+
+	@Test
+	void buildWithoutATypeYieldsNoMetadata() {
+		IJavaProject project = mock(IJavaProject.class);
+		when(project.getProjectBuild()).thenReturn(IProjectBuild.create(null, null));
+
+		assertEquals(Optional.empty(), service.getRepositoryMetadata(project, "com.example.UserRepository"));
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	void noBuildAtAllYieldsNoMetadata() {
+		IJavaProject project = mock(IJavaProject.class);
+		when(project.getProjectBuild()).thenReturn(null);
+
+		assertEquals(Optional.empty(), service.getRepositoryMetadata(project, "com.example.UserRepository"));
+	}
+}