diff --git a/javaagent-tooling/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/javaagent/tooling/AgentInstaller.java b/javaagent-tooling/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/javaagent/tooling/AgentInstaller.java
index 0b4dff0553e9..d84226806580 100644
--- a/javaagent-tooling/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/javaagent/tooling/AgentInstaller.java
+++ b/javaagent-tooling/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/javaagent/tooling/AgentInstaller.java
@@ -56,7 +56,6 @@
 import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
-import java.util.Objects;
 import java.util.logging.LogManager;
 import java.util.logging.Logger;
 import java.util.stream.Stream;
@@ -227,8 +226,11 @@ private static void installEarlyInstrumentation(
     AgentBuilder.Identified.Extendable extendableAgentBuilder =
         agentBuilder
             .ignore(
-                target -> instrumentationInstalled, // turn off after instrumentation is installed
-                Objects::nonNull)
+                target ->
+                    // turn off after instrumentation is installed, exclude classes in
+                    // java.lang.invoke to avoid circularity when bootstrapping indy instrumentation
+                    instrumentationInstalled
+                        || target.getTypeName().startsWith("java.lang.invoke."))
             .type(none())
             .transform(
                 (builder, typeDescription, classLoader, module, protectionDomain) -> builder);