diff --git a/lucene/core/src/test/org/apache/lucene/index/TestIndexWriterMergePolicy.java b/lucene/core/src/test/org/apache/lucene/index/TestIndexWriterMergePolicy.java
index 2578712bba5..6192e0ed3e4 100644
--- a/lucene/core/src/test/org/apache/lucene/index/TestIndexWriterMergePolicy.java
+++ b/lucene/core/src/test/org/apache/lucene/index/TestIndexWriterMergePolicy.java
@@ -28,12 +28,14 @@ import org.apache.lucene.document.Field;
 import org.apache.lucene.document.NumericDocValuesField;
 import org.apache.lucene.document.StringField;
 import org.apache.lucene.index.IndexWriterConfig.OpenMode;
+import org.apache.lucene.mockfile.HandleLimitFS;
 import org.apache.lucene.search.IndexSearcher;
 import org.apache.lucene.search.MatchAllDocsQuery;
 import org.apache.lucene.search.TermQuery;
 import org.apache.lucene.store.Directory;
 import org.apache.lucene.util.LuceneTestCase;
 
+@HandleLimitFS.MaxOpenHandles(limit = HandleLimitFS.MaxOpenHandles.MAX_OPEN_FILES * 2)
 public class TestIndexWriterMergePolicy extends LuceneTestCase {
 
   // Test the normal case
@@ -772,9 +774,9 @@ public class TestIndexWriterMergePolicy extends LuceneTestCase {
               if (random().nextBoolean()) {
                 writer.commit();
               }
-              try (DirectoryReader open =
-                  new SoftDeletesDirectoryReaderWrapper(
-                      DirectoryReader.open(directory), "___soft_deletes")) {
+              try (DirectoryReader delegate = DirectoryReader.open(directory);
+                  DirectoryReader open =
+                      new SoftDeletesDirectoryReaderWrapper(delegate, "___soft_deletes")) {
                 assertEquals(
                     1,
                     new IndexSearcher(open)
diff --git a/lucene/test-framework/src/java/org/apache/lucene/mockfile/HandleLimitFS.java b/lucene/test-framework/src/java/org/apache/lucene/mockfile/HandleLimitFS.java
index 393c1de94f9..ece3ba2c648 100644
--- a/lucene/test-framework/src/java/org/apache/lucene/mockfile/HandleLimitFS.java
+++ b/lucene/test-framework/src/java/org/apache/lucene/mockfile/HandleLimitFS.java
@@ -17,16 +17,38 @@
 package org.apache.lucene.mockfile;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.lang.annotation.Documented;
+import java.lang.annotation.ElementType;
+import java.lang.annotation.Inherited;
+import java.lang.annotation.Retention;
+import java.lang.annotation.RetentionPolicy;
+import java.lang.annotation.Target;
 import java.nio.file.FileSystem;
 import java.nio.file.FileSystemException;
 import java.nio.file.Path;
 import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicInteger;
 
-/** FileSystem that throws exception if file handles in use exceeds a specified limit */
+/**
+ * FileSystem that throws exception if file handles in use exceeds a specified limit.
+ *
+ * @see MaxOpenHandles
+ */
 public class HandleLimitFS extends HandleTrackingFS {
   final int limit;
   final AtomicInteger count = new AtomicInteger();
 
+  /** An annotation */
+  @Documented
+  @Inherited
+  @Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
+  @Target(ElementType.TYPE)
+  public static @interface MaxOpenHandles {
+    // TODO: can we make the default even lower?
+    public static final int MAX_OPEN_FILES = 2048;
+
+    int limit();
+  }
+
   /**
    * Create a new instance, limiting the maximum number of open files to {@code limit}
    *
diff --git a/lucene/test-framework/src/java/org/apache/lucene/util/TestRuleTemporaryFilesCleanup.java b/lucene/test-framework/src/java/org/apache/lucene/util/TestRuleTemporaryFilesCleanup.java
index 3b0b1530448..6c67efd2523 100644
--- a/lucene/test-framework/src/java/org/apache/lucene/util/TestRuleTemporaryFilesCleanup.java
+++ b/lucene/test-framework/src/java/org/apache/lucene/util/TestRuleTemporaryFilesCleanup.java
@@ -100,10 +100,6 @@ final class TestRuleTemporaryFilesCleanup extends TestRuleAdapter {
     javaTempDir = initializeJavaTempDir();
   }
 
-  // os/config-independent limit for too many open files
-  // TODO: can we make this lower?
-  private static final int MAX_OPEN_FILES = 2048;
-
   private boolean allowed(Set<String> avoid, Class<? extends FileSystemProvider> clazz) {
     if (avoid.contains("*") || avoid.contains(clazz.getSimpleName())) {
       return false;
@@ -152,7 +148,11 @@ final class TestRuleTemporaryFilesCleanup extends TestRuleAdapter {
         fs = new LeakFS(fs).getFileSystem(null);
       }
       if (allowed(avoid, HandleLimitFS.class)) {
-        fs = new HandleLimitFS(fs, MAX_OPEN_FILES).getFileSystem(null);
+        int limit = HandleLimitFS.MaxOpenHandles.MAX_OPEN_FILES;
+        if (targetClass.isAnnotationPresent(HandleLimitFS.MaxOpenHandles.class)) {
+          limit = targetClass.getAnnotation(HandleLimitFS.MaxOpenHandles.class).limit();
+        }
+        fs = new HandleLimitFS(fs, limit).getFileSystem(null);
       }
       // windows is currently slow
       if (random.nextInt(10) == 0) {