diff --git a/src/iceberg/test/merging_snapshot_update_test.cc b/src/iceberg/test/merging_snapshot_update_test.cc
index 00c4f6426..70c6a1c1a 100644
--- a/src/iceberg/test/merging_snapshot_update_test.cc
+++ b/src/iceberg/test/merging_snapshot_update_test.cc
@@ -139,6 +139,10 @@ class TestMergeAppend : public MergingSnapshotUpdate {
   std::string operation() override { return "append"; }
 
   // Expose protected API for test access
+  using MergingSnapshotUpdate::Apply;
+  using MergingSnapshotUpdate::CleanUncommitted;
+  using MergingSnapshotUpdate::Summary;
+
   Status AddFile(std::shared_ptr<DataFile> file) { return AddDataFile(std::move(file)); }
   Status AddDelete(std::shared_ptr<DataFile> file) {
     return AddDeleteFile(std::move(file));
@@ -285,6 +289,8 @@ class TestOverwriteUpdate : public MergingSnapshotUpdate {
   std::string operation() override { return DataOperation::kOverwrite; }
   int64_t GeneratedSnapshotId() { return SnapshotId(); }
 
+  using MergingSnapshotUpdate::Apply;
+
   Status AddDelete(std::shared_ptr<DataFile> file) {
     return AddDeleteFile(std::move(file));
   }
diff --git a/src/iceberg/update/merging_snapshot_update.h b/src/iceberg/update/merging_snapshot_update.h
index 6b9d90c40..65c3f6d3f 100644
--- a/src/iceberg/update/merging_snapshot_update.h
+++ b/src/iceberg/update/merging_snapshot_update.h
@@ -64,6 +64,7 @@ class ICEBERG_EXPORT MergingSnapshotUpdate : public SnapshotUpdate {
  public:
   ~MergingSnapshotUpdate() override = default;
 
+ protected:
   // SnapshotUpdate overrides
   Result<std::vector<ManifestFile>> Apply(
       const TableMetadata& metadata_to_update,
@@ -73,7 +74,6 @@ class ICEBERG_EXPORT MergingSnapshotUpdate : public SnapshotUpdate {
 
   std::unordered_map<std::string, std::string> Summary() override;
 
- protected:
   /// \brief Constructor; reads merge configuration from table properties.
   explicit MergingSnapshotUpdate(std::string table_name,
                                  std::shared_ptr<TransactionContext> ctx);