What Is a Service Locator?

A service locator is a central object that holds references to services and hands them out when code requests one by type or name. Rather than receiving its dependencies, a component calls the locator to fetch them on demand. It is an alternative to dependency injection and is often considered an anti-pattern because it hides what a class actually needs.

Why it matters

Pulling dependencies from a locator obscures a component true requirements and complicates testing, since the hidden lookups must be stubbed. Many teams prefer explicit injection so dependencies appear in the signature.

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