diff --git a/src/main/java/com/seyed/ali/timeentryservice/model/domain/TimeEntry.java b/src/main/java/com/seyed/ali/timeentryservice/model/domain/TimeEntry.java
index b01c561..3278c8e 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/seyed/ali/timeentryservice/model/domain/TimeEntry.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/seyed/ali/timeentryservice/model/domain/TimeEntry.java
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 package com.seyed.ali.timeentryservice.model.domain;
 
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.JsonManagedReference;
 import jakarta.persistence.CascadeType;
 import jakarta.persistence.Entity;
 import jakarta.persistence.Id;
@@ -30,6 +31,7 @@ public class TimeEntry implements Serializable {
     @OneToMany(mappedBy = "timeEntry", cascade = CascadeType.ALL)
     @ToString.Exclude
     @Builder.Default
+    @JsonManagedReference // this is the forward part of the relationship – the one that gets serialized normally
     private List<TimeSegment> timeSegmentList = new ArrayList<>();
 
     private String userId;
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/seyed/ali/timeentryservice/model/domain/TimeSegment.java b/src/main/java/com/seyed/ali/timeentryservice/model/domain/TimeSegment.java
index c7e2081..047ba7f 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/seyed/ali/timeentryservice/model/domain/TimeSegment.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/seyed/ali/timeentryservice/model/domain/TimeSegment.java
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 package com.seyed.ali.timeentryservice.model.domain;
 
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.JsonBackReference;
 import jakarta.persistence.CascadeType;
 import jakarta.persistence.Entity;
 import jakarta.persistence.Id;
@@ -26,6 +27,7 @@ public class TimeSegment implements Serializable {
     private Duration duration;
 
     @ManyToOne(cascade = CascadeType.ALL)
+    @JsonBackReference // this is the back part of the relationship – it will be omitted from serialization to avoid the infinite loop
     private TimeEntry timeEntry;
 
 }
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