diff --git a/dd-java-agent/agent-debugger/src/test/java/com/datadog/debugger/agent/DebuggerTracerTest.java b/dd-java-agent/agent-debugger/src/test/java/com/datadog/debugger/agent/DebuggerTracerTest.java
index 00cc4a76de8..df303939e4b 100644
--- a/dd-java-agent/agent-debugger/src/test/java/com/datadog/debugger/agent/DebuggerTracerTest.java
+++ b/dd-java-agent/agent-debugger/src/test/java/com/datadog/debugger/agent/DebuggerTracerTest.java
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ class DebuggerTracerTest {
 
   @AfterEach
   public void after() {
-    AgentTracer.forceRegister(null);
+    AgentTracer.forceRegister(AgentTracer.NOOP_TRACER);
   }
 
   @Test
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ public void setError() {
 
   @Test
   public void noApi() {
-    AgentTracer.forceRegister(null);
+    AgentTracer.forceRegister(AgentTracer.NOOP_TRACER);
     ProbeStatusSink probeStatusSink = mock(ProbeStatusSink.class);
     DebuggerTracer debuggerTracer = new DebuggerTracer(probeStatusSink);
     DebuggerSpan span =
diff --git a/internal-api/src/main/java/datadog/trace/bootstrap/instrumentation/api/AgentTracer.java b/internal-api/src/main/java/datadog/trace/bootstrap/instrumentation/api/AgentTracer.java
index 8ef7b90a838..8d882b882bc 100644
--- a/internal-api/src/main/java/datadog/trace/bootstrap/instrumentation/api/AgentTracer.java
+++ b/internal-api/src/main/java/datadog/trace/bootstrap/instrumentation/api/AgentTracer.java
@@ -258,6 +258,9 @@ public static synchronized void registerIfAbsent(final TracerAPI tracer) {
   }
 
   public static synchronized void forceRegister(TracerAPI tracer) {
+    if (tracer == null) {
+      throw new IllegalArgumentException("tracer must not be null, use NOOP_TRACER instead");
+    }
     provider = tracer;
   }