Extending Gradle

Internal

• Gradle Concepts
• Gradle Plugin Concepts

Overview

The simplest way to extend Gradle is to write a custom task, which can be declared in-line in the project's build.gradle or in a script plugin, in the projects's buildSrc directory or in can be external to project and provided back to the Gradle runtime as a JAR. More complex behavior that goes beyond the capabilities of a custom task can be implemented as a custom object plugin, which has the same choice in terms of where the code lives.

Extensions Code Location

In-line in build.gradle

Both custom simple or enhanced tasks and binary plugins can be fully declared in-line in build.gradle. Placing the extension code here has the benefit that it is automatically compiled and included in the classpath of the build script. While declaring simple tasks in-line is acceptable, provided that the task or the plugin are not intended for reuse and sharing among other projects, declaring enhanced tasks or even full binary plugin in-line is, albeit possible, not recommended. The extension code declared in build.gradle is not visible outside the build script and it cannot be reused outside the build script.

Examples:

• Custom simple task declared in-line in build.gradle
• Custom ehanced Java task declared in-line in build.gradle

In-line in a script plugin

A script plugin is a regular Gradle build script that can be imported into another build script. Both custom tasks and "binary" plugin code can be declared in-line in a script plugin.

Examples:

• Custom simple task declared in-line in a script plugin.
• Custom enhanced task declared in-line in a script plugin.

In the Project's buildSrc Directory

This is a good choice while developing a custom task or a plugin, because it gives a quick feedback loop and allows for in-line debugging. The 'buildSrc' directory is itself a Gradle project and has a standard Maven layout. It could have a build.gradle, but it seems that for simple Java compilation that does not require external dependencies works without it. buildSrc/build.gradle starts to become useful when the custom code task being developed requires external dependencies. In that case, the dependencies must be declared in buildSrc/build.gradle.

.
├── build.gradle
├── buildSrc
│   ├── build.gradle
│   └── src
│       └── main
│           └── java
│               └── playground
│                   └── gradle
│                       └── CustomEnhancedTask.java
└ ...

Examples:

• Custom enhanced task developed in buildSrc

External Standalone Project

Extension code can live in separate standalone projects that publish JARs. Those JARs can be declared as dependencies by a Gradle project that can then use the custom task or the binary plugin externally developed.

Custom Task

Extending Gradle with Custom Tasks

Custom Binary Plugin

Extending Gradle with Binary Plugins