diff --git a/java/cuvs-java/pom.xml b/java/cuvs-java/pom.xml
index b3b862d291..988dd579c6 100644
--- a/java/cuvs-java/pom.xml
+++ b/java/cuvs-java/pom.xml
@@ -184,11 +184,12 @@
                 <version>3.4.2</version>
                 <configuration>
                     <archive>
+                        <manifest>
+                            <addDefaultImplementationEntries>true</addDefaultImplementationEntries>
+                        </manifest>
                         <manifestEntries>
                             <Multi-Release>true</Multi-Release>
                             <addClasspath>true</addClasspath>
-                            <mainClass>
-                                com.nvidia.cuvs.examples.CagraExample</mainClass>
                         </manifestEntries>
                     </archive>
                 </configuration>
diff --git a/java/cuvs-java/src/main/java/com/nvidia/cuvs/spi/CuVSServiceProvider.java b/java/cuvs-java/src/main/java/com/nvidia/cuvs/spi/CuVSServiceProvider.java
index a4a5843adf..ae4c9b083a 100644
--- a/java/cuvs-java/src/main/java/com/nvidia/cuvs/spi/CuVSServiceProvider.java
+++ b/java/cuvs-java/src/main/java/com/nvidia/cuvs/spi/CuVSServiceProvider.java
@@ -51,8 +51,12 @@ static CuVSProvider builtinProvider() {
       if (supportedJavaRuntime && supportedOs && supportedArchitecture) {
         try {
           var cls = Class.forName("com.nvidia.cuvs.spi.JDKProvider");
-          var ctr = MethodHandles.lookup().findConstructor(cls, MethodType.methodType(void.class));
+          var ctr =
+              MethodHandles.lookup()
+                  .findStatic(cls, "create", MethodType.methodType(CuVSProvider.class));
           return (CuVSProvider) ctr.invoke();
+        } catch (ProviderInitializationException e) {
+          return new UnsupportedProvider("cannot create JDKProvider: " + e.getMessage());
         } catch (Throwable e) {
           throw new AssertionError(e);
         }
diff --git a/java/cuvs-java/src/main/java/com/nvidia/cuvs/spi/ProviderInitializationException.java b/java/cuvs-java/src/main/java/com/nvidia/cuvs/spi/ProviderInitializationException.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..1a6c34a2fd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/java/cuvs-java/src/main/java/com/nvidia/cuvs/spi/ProviderInitializationException.java
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (c) 2025, NVIDIA CORPORATION.
+ *
+ * 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.nvidia.cuvs.spi;
+
+class ProviderInitializationException extends Exception {
+  ProviderInitializationException(String message, Throwable cause) {
+    super(message, cause);
+  }
+
+  public ProviderInitializationException(String message) {
+    super(message);
+  }
+}
diff --git a/java/cuvs-java/src/main/java22/com/nvidia/cuvs/spi/JDKProvider.java b/java/cuvs-java/src/main/java22/com/nvidia/cuvs/spi/JDKProvider.java
index 0ee0cf1d10..fb1a1e7f78 100644
--- a/java/cuvs-java/src/main/java22/com/nvidia/cuvs/spi/JDKProvider.java
+++ b/java/cuvs-java/src/main/java22/com/nvidia/cuvs/spi/JDKProvider.java
@@ -16,10 +16,14 @@
 package com.nvidia.cuvs.spi;
 
 import static com.nvidia.cuvs.internal.common.Util.*;
+import static com.nvidia.cuvs.internal.panama.headers_h.cuvsVersionGet;
+import static com.nvidia.cuvs.internal.panama.headers_h.uint16_t;
 
 import com.nvidia.cuvs.*;
 import com.nvidia.cuvs.internal.*;
 import com.nvidia.cuvs.internal.common.Util;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.lang.foreign.Arena;
 import java.lang.foreign.MemorySegment;
 import java.lang.invoke.MethodHandle;
 import java.lang.invoke.MethodHandles;
@@ -28,11 +32,52 @@
 import java.nio.file.Path;
 import java.util.Locale;
 import java.util.Objects;
+import java.util.jar.JarFile;
+import java.util.jar.Manifest;
 
 final class JDKProvider implements CuVSProvider {
 
   private static final MethodHandle createNativeDataset$mh = createNativeDatasetBuilder();
 
+  static CuVSProvider create() throws Throwable {
+    var mavenVersion = readCuVSVersionFromManifest();
+
+    try (var localArena = Arena.ofConfined()) {
+      var majorPtr = localArena.allocate(uint16_t);
+      var minorPtr = localArena.allocate(uint16_t);
+      var patchPtr = localArena.allocate(uint16_t);
+      checkCuVSError(cuvsVersionGet(majorPtr, minorPtr, patchPtr), "cuvsVersionGet");
+      var major = majorPtr.get(uint16_t, 0);
+      var minor = minorPtr.get(uint16_t, 0);
+      var patch = patchPtr.get(uint16_t, 0);
+
+      var cuvsVersionString = String.format(Locale.ROOT, "%02d.%02d.%d", major, minor, patch);
+      if (mavenVersion != null && !cuvsVersionString.equals(mavenVersion)) {
+        throw new ProviderInitializationException(
+            String.format(
+                Locale.ROOT,
+                "libcuvs_c version mismatch: expected [%s], found [%s]",
+                mavenVersion,
+                cuvsVersionString));
+      }
+    }
+    return new JDKProvider();
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Read cuvs-java version from this Jar Manifest, or null if these are not available
+   */
+  private static String readCuVSVersionFromManifest() {
+    try (var jarFile =
+        new JarFile(
+            JDKProvider.class.getProtectionDomain().getCodeSource().getLocation().getPath())) {
+      Manifest manifest = jarFile.getManifest();
+      return manifest.getMainAttributes().getValue("Implementation-Version");
+    } catch (IOException e) {
+      return null;
+    }
+  }
+
   static MethodHandle createNativeDatasetBuilder() {
     try {
       var lookup = MethodHandles.lookup();