 | This article needs to beupdated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(June 2020) |
| Gradle Build Tool | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developers | Hans Dockter, Adam Murdoch, Szczepan Faber, Peter Niederwieser, Luke Daley, Rene Gröschke, Daz DeBoer |
| Initial release | 21 April 2008; 17 years ago (2008-04-21) |
| Stable release | |
| Preview release | 9.2.0 RC3 / 24 October 2025; 30 days ago (2025-10-24) |
| Repository | |
| Written in | Java,Groovy,Kotlin |
| Type | Build tool |
| License | Apache License 2.0 |
| Website | gradle |
Gradle Build Tool ("Gradle") is abuild automation tool for multi-languagesoftware development. It manages tasks like compilation, packaging, testing, deployment, and publishing. Supported languages includeJava (as well asJDK-based languagesKotlin,Groovy,Scala),C/C++, andJavaScript.[2]Gradle builds on the concepts ofApache Ant andApache Maven, and introduces aGroovy- andKotlin-baseddomain-specific language contrasted with theXML-based project configuration used by Maven.[3] Gradle uses adirected acyclic graph to provide dependency management. The graph is used to determine the order in which tasks should be executed. Gradle runs on theJava Virtual Machine.[4]
Gradle was designed for multi-project builds, which can grow to be large. It operates based on a series of build tasks that can run serially or inparallel.Incremental builds are supported by determining the parts of the build tree that are already up to date; any task dependent only on those parts does not need to be re-executed. It also supportscaching of build components, potentially across a shared network using the Gradle Build Cache. Combined with the proprietary hosted service of Develocity, it produces web-based build visualizations calledGradle Build Scans. The software is extensible for new features andprogramming languages with aplugin subsystem.
Gradle is distributed asFree Software under theApache License 2.0, and was first released in 2008.[5]
Founder and CEO Hans Dockter has said that he originally wanted to name the project "Cradle". However, to make the name unique and less "diminutive" he instead chose "Gradle", taking the "G" from the use ofGroovy.[6]
| Version | Date |
|---|---|
| 0.1 | 21 April 2008[7] |
| 1.0 | 12 June 2012[8] |
| 2.0 | 1 July 2014 |
| 3.0 | 15 August 2016 |
| 4.0 | 14 June 2017 |
| 5.0 | 26 November 2018 |
| 6.0 | 8 November 2019 |
| 7.0 | 9 April 2021 |
| 8.0 | 13 February 2023 |
| 9.0 | 31 July 2025[8] |
Gradle offers support for all phases of a build process including compilation, verification, dependency resolving, test execution, source code generation, packaging and publishing.Because Gradle follows aconvention over configuration approach, it is possible to describe all of these build phases in short configuration files.Conventions include the folder structure of the project, standard tasks and their order as well as dependency repositories. However, all conventions can be overridden by the project configuration if necessary.[9]
Plugins are a central component of Gradle. They allow for integration of a set of configurations and tasks into a project and can be included from a central plugin repository or custom-developed for a single project.
Gradle is available as a separate download, but can also be found bundled in products such asAndroid Studio. Gradle Wrapper is the recommended way to invoke Gradle. It can download the declared version of Gradle beforehand if necessary.[10]
