A method for exposing application metrics to a Java Management Extension, JMX, client, the method including: initializing a Java managed object for JMX, wherein the Java managed object is a JMX Managed Bean, MBean; attaching the initialized Java managed object to a repository for Java managed objects accessible by applications, wherein the repository is a Platform MBean Server; creating a fixed reference to an attributes field in the attached Java managed object; providing the created fixed reference to the repository after initialization of the Java managed object; saving the fixed reference; describing an attribute to be created in a reflection chain expression; and creating the attribute in the Java managed object, wherein the attribute defines an application metric exposed by the Java managed object, including: creating an object representing the attribute by processing and breaking down the reflection chain expression into individual steps to be used at runtime, placing the object representing the attribute into an attribute map referencing the attribute map using a name associated with the attribute injecting information from the attribute map into an array of attribute information objects compatible with JMX, updating the attributes field of the Java managed object to point to the array of attribute information objects compatible with JMX; and providing the attribute for consumption in the JMX client, including looking up the attribute via the attribute map using the name associated with the attribute, and retrieving information associated with the attribute including the processed reflection chain expression; and executing the processed reflection chain expression, and returning the application metric defined by the attribute for consumption in the JMX client. initializing a Java managed object for JMX, wherein the Java managed object is a JMX Managed Bean, MBean; attaching the initialized Java managed object to a repository for Java managed objects accessible by applications, wherein the repository is a Platform MBean Server; creating a fixed reference to an attributes field in the attached Java managed object; providing the created fixed reference to the repository after initialization of the Java managed object; saving the fixed reference; describing an attribute to be created in a reflection chain expression; and creating the attribute in the Java managed object, wherein the attribute defines an application metric exposed by the Java managed object, including: creating an object representing the attribute by processing and breaking down the reflection chain expression into individual steps to be used at runtime, placing the object representing the attribute into an attribute map referencing the attribute map using a name associated with the attribute injecting information from the attribute map into an array of attribute information objects compatible with JMX, updating the attributes field of the Java managed object to point to the array of attribute information objects compatible with JMX; and creating an object representing the attribute by processing and breaking down the reflection chain expression into individual steps to be used at runtime, placing the object representing the attribute into an attribute map referencing the attribute map using a name associated with the attribute injecting information from the attribute map into an array of attribute information objects compatible with JMX, updating the attributes field of the Java managed object to point to the array of attribute information objects compatible with JMX; and providing the attribute for consumption in the JMX client, including looking up the attribute via the attribute map using the name associated with the attribute, and retrieving information associated with the attribute including the processed reflection chain expression; and executing the processed reflection chain expression, and returning the application metric defined by the attribute for consumption in the JMX client. looking up the attribute via the attribute map using the name associated with the attribute, and retrieving information associated with the attribute including the processed reflection chain expression; and executing the processed reflection chain expression, and returning the application metric defined by the attribute for consumption in the JMX client.