need to be edited, but in the case of the server beanRefContext.xml , it does define which files will be used to create the new context (of importance is the line classpath*:ome/services/service-*.xml ). blitz's beanRefContext.xml defines the pattern classpath*:ome/services/blitz-*.xml to allow for blitz-specific configuration. Several services implement a server-side subclass of the ome.api interface rather than the interface itself. These interfaces are typically in ome.api.local . Such local interfaces can provide methods that should not be made available to clients, but which are needed within the server. Though not currently used, the @Local() annotation on the implementation can list the local interface for future use. See UpdateImpl for an example.