diff --git a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/java/JavaCompilationArgs.java b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/java/JavaCompilationArgs.java
index a92f22de7c6762..5b45b576faccba 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/java/JavaCompilationArgs.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/java/JavaCompilationArgs.java
@@ -117,6 +117,11 @@ public Builder addRuntimeJars(Iterable<Artifact> runtimeJars) {
       return this;
     }
 
+    public Builder addTransitiveRuntimeJars(NestedSet<Artifact> runtimeJars) {
+      this.runtimeJarsBuilder.addTransitive(runtimeJars);
+      return this;
+    }
+
     public Builder addCompileTimeJar(Artifact compileTimeJar) {
       this.compileTimeJarsBuilder.add(compileTimeJar);
       return this;
@@ -127,6 +132,11 @@ public Builder addCompileTimeJars(Iterable<Artifact> compileTimeJars) {
       return this;
     }
 
+    public Builder addTransitiveCompileTimeJars(NestedSet<Artifact> compileTimeJars) {
+      this.compileTimeJarsBuilder.addTransitive(compileTimeJars);
+      return this;
+    }
+
     public Builder addInstrumentationMetadata(Artifact instrumentationMetadata) {
       this.instrumentationMetadataBuilder.add(instrumentationMetadata);
       return this;
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/java/JavaSkylarkCommon.java b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/java/JavaSkylarkCommon.java
index 774907a61e4d07..86267d4e953af7 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/java/JavaSkylarkCommon.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/java/JavaSkylarkCommon.java
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@
 import com.google.devtools.build.lib.skylarkinterface.SkylarkModule;
 import com.google.devtools.build.lib.syntax.EvalException;
 import com.google.devtools.build.lib.syntax.SkylarkList;
+import com.google.devtools.build.lib.syntax.SkylarkNestedSet;
 import java.util.List;
 
 /** A module that contains Skylark utilities for Java support. */
@@ -55,41 +56,40 @@ public ClassObjectConstructor getJavaProvider() {
   }
 
   @SkylarkCallable(
-      name = "create_provider",
-      documented = false,
-      parameters = {
-          @Param(
-              name = "compile_time_jars",
-              positional = false,
-              named = true,
-              type = SkylarkList.class,
-              generic1 = Artifact.class,
-              defaultValue = "[]"
-          ),
-          @Param(
-              name = "runtime_jars",
-              positional = false,
-              named = true,
-              type = SkylarkList.class,
-              generic1 = Artifact.class,
-              defaultValue = "[]"
-          )
-      }
+    name = "create_provider",
+    documented = false,
+    parameters = {
+      @Param(
+        name = "compile_time_jars",
+        positional = false,
+        named = true,
+        type = SkylarkNestedSet.class,
+        generic1 = Artifact.class,
+        defaultValue = "[]"
+      ),
+      @Param(
+        name = "runtime_jars",
+        positional = false,
+        named = true,
+        type = SkylarkNestedSet.class,
+        generic1 = Artifact.class,
+        defaultValue = "[]"
+      )
+    }
   )
-  public JavaProvider create(
-      SkylarkList<Artifact> compileTimeJars,
-      SkylarkList<Artifact> runtimeJars) {
-    JavaCompilationArgs javaCompilationArgs = JavaCompilationArgs.builder()
-        .addCompileTimeJars(compileTimeJars)
-        .addRuntimeJars(runtimeJars)
-        .build();
-    JavaCompilationArgs recursiveJavaCompilationArgs = JavaCompilationArgs.builder()
-        .addCompileTimeJars(compileTimeJars)
-        .addRuntimeJars(runtimeJars).build();
-    JavaProvider javaProvider = JavaProvider.Builder.create().addProvider(
-              JavaCompilationArgsProvider.class,
-              JavaCompilationArgsProvider.create(javaCompilationArgs, recursiveJavaCompilationArgs))
-          .build();
+  public JavaProvider create(SkylarkNestedSet compileTimeJars, SkylarkNestedSet runtimeJars) {
+    JavaCompilationArgs javaCompilationArgs =
+        JavaCompilationArgs.builder()
+            .addTransitiveRuntimeJars(runtimeJars.getSet(Artifact.class))
+            .addTransitiveCompileTimeJars(compileTimeJars.getSet(Artifact.class))
+            .build();
+
+    JavaProvider javaProvider =
+        JavaProvider.Builder.create()
+            .addProvider(
+                JavaCompilationArgsProvider.class,
+                JavaCompilationArgsProvider.create(javaCompilationArgs, javaCompilationArgs))
+            .build();
     return javaProvider;
   }
 
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/java/JavaSkylarkApiTest.java b/src/test/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/java/JavaSkylarkApiTest.java
index c87a0f68ec9128..92f3ec0c47fb3f 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/java/JavaSkylarkApiTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/java/JavaSkylarkApiTest.java
@@ -158,8 +158,8 @@ public void constructJavaProvider() throws Exception {
         "foo/extension.bzl",
         "def _impl(ctx):",
         "  my_provider = java_common.create_provider(",
-        "        compile_time_jars = ctx.files.compile_time_jars,",
-        "        runtime_jars = ctx.files.runtime_jars)",
+        "        compile_time_jars = depset(ctx.files.compile_time_jars),",
+        "        runtime_jars = depset(ctx.files.runtime_jars))",
         "  return [my_provider]",
         "my_rule = rule(_impl, ",
         "    attrs = { ",
@@ -196,8 +196,8 @@ public void constructJavaProviderWithAnotherJavaProvider() throws Exception {
         "  transitive_provider = java_common.merge(",
         "      [dep[java_common.provider] for dep in ctx.attr.deps])",
         "  my_provider = java_common.create_provider(",
-        "        compile_time_jars = ctx.files.compile_time_jars,",
-        "        runtime_jars = ctx.files.runtime_jars)",
+        "        compile_time_jars = depset(ctx.files.compile_time_jars),",
+        "        runtime_jars = depset(ctx.files.runtime_jars))",
         "  return [java_common.merge([my_provider, transitive_provider])]",
         "my_rule = rule(_impl, ",
         "    attrs = { ",
@@ -236,8 +236,8 @@ public void constructJavaProviderJavaLibrary() throws Exception {
         "foo/extension.bzl",
         "def _impl(ctx):",
         "  my_provider = java_common.create_provider(",
-        "        compile_time_jars = ctx.files.compile_time_jars,",
-        "        runtime_jars = ctx.files.runtime_jars)",
+        "        compile_time_jars = depset(ctx.files.compile_time_jars),",
+        "        runtime_jars = depset(ctx.files.runtime_jars))",
         "  return [my_provider]",
         "my_rule = rule(_impl, ",
         "    attrs = { ",