diff --git a/pkg/analyzer/lib/src/dart/analysis/context_builder.dart b/pkg/analyzer/lib/src/dart/analysis/context_builder.dart
index c1185f2..220750e 100644
--- a/pkg/analyzer/lib/src/dart/analysis/context_builder.dart
+++ b/pkg/analyzer/lib/src/dart/analysis/context_builder.dart
@@ -106,6 +106,9 @@
       updateAnalysisOptions(options);
     }
 
+    final analysisContext =
+        DriverBasedAnalysisContext(resourceProvider, contextRoot);
+
     var driver = AnalysisDriver(
       scheduler: scheduler,
       logger: performanceLog,
@@ -116,19 +119,16 @@
       packages: _createPackageMap(
         contextRoot: contextRoot,
       ),
+      analysisContext: analysisContext,
       enableIndex: enableIndex,
       externalSummaries: summaryData,
       retainDataForTesting: retainDataForTesting,
       fileContentCache: fileContentCache,
       macroKernelBuilder: macroKernelBuilder,
       macroExecutor: macroExecutor,
+      declaredVariables: declaredVariables,
     );
 
-    if (declaredVariables != null) {
-      driver.declaredVariables = declaredVariables;
-      driver.configure();
-    }
-
     // AnalysisDriver reports results into streams.
     // We need to drain these streams to avoid memory leak.
     if (drainStreams) {
@@ -136,11 +136,7 @@
       driver.exceptions.drain<void>();
     }
 
-    DriverBasedAnalysisContext context =
-        DriverBasedAnalysisContext(resourceProvider, contextRoot, driver);
-    driver.configure(analysisContext: context);
-
-    return context;
+    return analysisContext;
   }
 
   /// Return [Packages] to analyze the [contextRoot].
diff --git a/pkg/analyzer/lib/src/dart/analysis/driver.dart b/pkg/analyzer/lib/src/dart/analysis/driver.dart
index 3b355eb..25983e2 100644
--- a/pkg/analyzer/lib/src/dart/analysis/driver.dart
+++ b/pkg/analyzer/lib/src/dart/analysis/driver.dart
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@
 
 import 'package:_fe_analyzer_shared/src/macros/executor/multi_executor.dart'
     as macro;
-import 'package:analyzer/dart/analysis/analysis_context.dart' as api;
 import 'package:analyzer/dart/analysis/declared_variables.dart';
 import 'package:analyzer/dart/analysis/results.dart';
 import 'package:analyzer/dart/ast/ast.dart';
@@ -17,6 +16,7 @@
 import 'package:analyzer/file_system/file_system.dart';
 import 'package:analyzer/src/context/packages.dart';
 import 'package:analyzer/src/dart/analysis/byte_store.dart';
+import 'package:analyzer/src/dart/analysis/driver_based_analysis_context.dart';
 import 'package:analyzer/src/dart/analysis/feature_set_provider.dart';
 import 'package:analyzer/src/dart/analysis/file_content_cache.dart';
 import 'package:analyzer/src/dart/analysis/file_state.dart';
@@ -132,10 +132,10 @@
   final macro.MultiMacroExecutor? macroExecutor;
 
   /// The declared environment variables.
-  DeclaredVariables declaredVariables = DeclaredVariables();
+  final DeclaredVariables declaredVariables;
 
   /// The analysis context that created this driver / session.
-  api.AnalysisContext? analysisContext;
+  DriverBasedAnalysisContext? analysisContext;
 
   /// The salt to mix into all hashes used as keys for unlinked data.
   Uint32List _saltForUnlinked = Uint32List(0);
@@ -256,9 +256,11 @@
     required Packages packages,
     this.macroKernelBuilder,
     this.macroExecutor,
+    this.analysisContext,
     FileContentCache? fileContentCache,
     this.enableIndex = false,
     SummaryDataStore? externalSummaries,
+    DeclaredVariables? declaredVariables,
     bool retainDataForTesting = false,
   })  : _scheduler = scheduler,
         _resourceProvider = resourceProvider,
@@ -270,7 +272,9 @@
         _packages = packages,
         _sourceFactory = sourceFactory,
         _externalSummaries = externalSummaries,
+        declaredVariables = declaredVariables ?? DeclaredVariables(),
         testingData = retainDataForTesting ? TestingData() : null {
+    analysisContext?.driver = this;
     _onResults = _resultController.stream.asBroadcastStream();
     _testView = AnalysisDriverTestView(this);
     _createFileTracker();
@@ -569,8 +573,9 @@
   ///
   /// At least one of the optional parameters should be provided, but only those
   /// that represent state that has actually changed need be provided.
+  @Deprecated('Provide all necessary values to the constructor')
   void configure({
-    api.AnalysisContext? analysisContext,
+    DriverBasedAnalysisContext? analysisContext,
     AnalysisOptionsImpl? analysisOptions,
     Packages? packages,
     SourceFactory? sourceFactory,
diff --git a/pkg/analyzer/lib/src/dart/analysis/driver_based_analysis_context.dart b/pkg/analyzer/lib/src/dart/analysis/driver_based_analysis_context.dart
index b54b4c4..5eeaae4 100644
--- a/pkg/analyzer/lib/src/dart/analysis/driver_based_analysis_context.dart
+++ b/pkg/analyzer/lib/src/dart/analysis/driver_based_analysis_context.dart
@@ -19,18 +19,17 @@
   final ContextRoot contextRoot;
 
   /// The driver on which this context is based.
-  final AnalysisDriver driver;
+  late final AnalysisDriver driver;
 
   /// Initialize a newly created context that uses the given [resourceProvider]
   /// to access the file system and that is based on the given analysis
   /// [driver].
   DriverBasedAnalysisContext(
     this.resourceProvider,
-    this.contextRoot,
-    this.driver,
-  ) {
-    driver.analysisContext = this;
-  }
+    this.contextRoot, [
+    @Deprecated('AnalysisDriver will set itself, remove this')
+        AnalysisDriver? analysisDriver,
+  ]);
 
   @override
   AnalysisOptions get analysisOptions => driver.analysisOptions;
diff --git a/pkg/analyzer/test/src/dart/analysis/uri_converter_test.dart b/pkg/analyzer/test/src/dart/analysis/uri_converter_test.dart
index 563cba7..be3bdb2 100644
--- a/pkg/analyzer/test/src/dart/analysis/uri_converter_test.dart
+++ b/pkg/analyzer/test/src/dart/analysis/uri_converter_test.dart
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@
 // for details. All rights reserved. Use of this source code is governed by a
 // BSD-style license that can be found in the LICENSE file.
 
-import 'package:analyzer/dart/analysis/analysis_context.dart';
 import 'package:analyzer/file_system/file_system.dart';
 import 'package:analyzer/src/context/packages.dart';
 import 'package:analyzer/src/dart/analysis/context_root.dart';
@@ -56,7 +55,7 @@
     driver.resourceProvider = resourceProvider;
     driver.sourceFactory = sourceFactory;
     driver.analysisContext =
-        DriverBasedAnalysisContext(resourceProvider, contextRoot, driver);
+        DriverBasedAnalysisContext(resourceProvider, contextRoot);
 
     uriConverter = DriverBasedUriConverter(driver);
   }
@@ -104,7 +103,7 @@
   late final SourceFactory sourceFactory;
 
   @override
-  AnalysisContext? analysisContext;
+  DriverBasedAnalysisContext? analysisContext;
 
   @override
   dynamic noSuchMethod(Invocation invocation) {
diff --git a/tools/VERSION b/tools/VERSION
index 83da292..7e37bbe 100644
--- a/tools/VERSION
+++ b/tools/VERSION
@@ -27,5 +27,5 @@
 MAJOR 2
 MINOR 18
 PATCH 0
-PRERELEASE 175
+PRERELEASE 176
 PRERELEASE_PATCH 0
\ No newline at end of file