diff --git a/cluster-sharding-typed/src/test/java/jdocs/org/apache/pekko/cluster/sharding/typed/ExternalShardAllocationCompileOnlyTest.java b/cluster-sharding-typed/src/test/java/jdocs/org/apache/pekko/cluster/sharding/typed/ExternalShardAllocationCompileOnlyTest.java
index eba492a821..2ae915835a 100644
--- a/cluster-sharding-typed/src/test/java/jdocs/org/apache/pekko/cluster/sharding/typed/ExternalShardAllocationCompileOnlyTest.java
+++ b/cluster-sharding-typed/src/test/java/jdocs/org/apache/pekko/cluster/sharding/typed/ExternalShardAllocationCompileOnlyTest.java
@@ -18,12 +18,14 @@ import org.apache.pekko.actor.Address;
 import org.apache.pekko.actor.typed.ActorRef;
 import org.apache.pekko.actor.typed.ActorSystem;
 import org.apache.pekko.cluster.sharding.external.ExternalShardAllocation;
+import org.apache.pekko.cluster.sharding.external.ExternalShardAllocationStrategy;
 import org.apache.pekko.cluster.sharding.external.javadsl.ExternalShardAllocationClient;
 import org.apache.pekko.cluster.sharding.typed.ShardingEnvelope;
 import org.apache.pekko.cluster.sharding.typed.javadsl.ClusterSharding;
 import org.apache.pekko.cluster.sharding.typed.javadsl.Entity;
 import org.apache.pekko.cluster.sharding.typed.javadsl.EntityTypeKey;
 
+import java.time.Duration;
 import java.util.concurrent.CompletionStage;
 
 import static jdocs.org.apache.pekko.cluster.sharding.typed.ShardingCompileOnlyTest.Counter;
@@ -39,7 +41,11 @@ public class ExternalShardAllocationCompileOnlyTest {
     EntityTypeKey<Counter.Command> typeKey = EntityTypeKey.create(Counter.Command.class, "Counter");
 
     ActorRef<ShardingEnvelope<Counter.Command>> shardRegion =
-        sharding.init(Entity.of(typeKey, ctx -> Counter.create(ctx.getEntityId())));
+        sharding.init(
+            Entity.of(typeKey, ctx -> Counter.create(ctx.getEntityId()))
+                .withAllocationStrategy(
+                    ExternalShardAllocationStrategy.create(
+                        system, typeKey.name(), Duration.ofSeconds(5))));
     // #entity
 
     // #client
diff --git a/cluster-sharding-typed/src/test/scala/docs/org/apache/pekko/cluster/sharding/typed/ExternalShardAllocationCompileOnlySpec.scala b/cluster-sharding-typed/src/test/scala/docs/org/apache/pekko/cluster/sharding/typed/ExternalShardAllocationCompileOnlySpec.scala
index d858752310..36d109a657 100644
--- a/cluster-sharding-typed/src/test/scala/docs/org/apache/pekko/cluster/sharding/typed/ExternalShardAllocationCompileOnlySpec.scala
+++ b/cluster-sharding-typed/src/test/scala/docs/org/apache/pekko/cluster/sharding/typed/ExternalShardAllocationCompileOnlySpec.scala
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ class ExternalShardAllocationCompileOnlySpec {
   val TypeKey = EntityTypeKey[Counter.Command]("Counter")
 
   val entity = Entity(TypeKey)(createBehavior = entityContext => Counter(entityContext.entityId))
-    .withAllocationStrategy(new ExternalShardAllocationStrategy(system, TypeKey.name))
+    .withAllocationStrategy(ExternalShardAllocationStrategy(system, TypeKey.name))
   // #entity
 
   val shardRegion: ActorRef[ShardingEnvelope[Counter.Command]] =
diff --git a/cluster-sharding/src/main/scala/org/apache/pekko/cluster/sharding/external/ExternalShardAllocationStrategy.scala b/cluster-sharding/src/main/scala/org/apache/pekko/cluster/sharding/external/ExternalShardAllocationStrategy.scala
index 906f1f0c5c..a4a6cfa5ec 100644
--- a/cluster-sharding/src/main/scala/org/apache/pekko/cluster/sharding/external/ExternalShardAllocationStrategy.scala
+++ b/cluster-sharding/src/main/scala/org/apache/pekko/cluster/sharding/external/ExternalShardAllocationStrategy.scala
@@ -39,11 +39,35 @@ import pekko.cluster.sharding.ShardRegion.ShardId
 import pekko.event.Logging
 import pekko.pattern.AskTimeoutException
 import pekko.util.Timeout
+import pekko.util.JavaDurationConverters._
 
 object ExternalShardAllocationStrategy {
 
   type ShardRegion = ActorRef
 
+  /**
+   * Create an [[ExternalShardAllocationStrategy]]
+   */
+  def apply(systemProvider: ClassicActorSystemProvider, typeName: String): ExternalShardAllocationStrategy = {
+    implicit val timeout: Timeout = 5.seconds
+    new ExternalShardAllocationStrategy(systemProvider, typeName)
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Scala API: Create an [[ExternalShardAllocationStrategy]]
+   */
+  def apply(systemProvider: ClassicActorSystemProvider, typeName: String, timeout: FiniteDuration)
+      : ExternalShardAllocationStrategy = {
+    new ExternalShardAllocationStrategy(systemProvider, typeName)(timeout)
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Java API: Create an [[ExternalShardAllocationStrategy]]
+   */
+  def create(systemProvider: ClassicActorSystemProvider, typeName: String, timeout: java.time.Duration)
+      : ExternalShardAllocationStrategy =
+    this.apply(systemProvider, typeName, timeout.asScala)
+
   // local only messages
   private[pekko] final case class GetShardLocation(shard: ShardId)
   private[pekko] case object GetShardLocations
diff --git a/cluster-sharding/src/multi-jvm/scala/org/apache/pekko/cluster/sharding/ExternalShardAllocationSpec.scala b/cluster-sharding/src/multi-jvm/scala/org/apache/pekko/cluster/sharding/ExternalShardAllocationSpec.scala
index 969c52c97a..571edb5f36 100644
--- a/cluster-sharding/src/multi-jvm/scala/org/apache/pekko/cluster/sharding/ExternalShardAllocationSpec.scala
+++ b/cluster-sharding/src/multi-jvm/scala/org/apache/pekko/cluster/sharding/ExternalShardAllocationSpec.scala
@@ -105,7 +105,7 @@ abstract class ExternalShardAllocationSpec
       entityProps = Props[GiveMeYourHome](),
       extractEntityId = extractEntityId,
       extractShardId = extractShardId,
-      allocationStrategy = new ExternalShardAllocationStrategy(system, typeName))
+      allocationStrategy = ExternalShardAllocationStrategy(system, typeName))
 
     "start cluster sharding" in {
       shardRegion