How to use
- Copy the installation command and review the source package before installing it in your own agent environment.
- Check the source document for required tools, credentials and supported hosts.
- Describe your input and desired deliverable; review the output against the source material.
npx skills add https://github.com/rcosteira79/android-skills --skill gradle-build-performanceBefore you start
- Installation does not include a model subscription, API allowance or permission to access your files.
- Repository stars and installation counts describe activity, not an independent quality or security test.
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Gradle Build Performance
This reference covers the workflow discipline plus the patterns that move the needle and are easy to get wrong, not the standard knobs (org.gradle.caching, org.gradle.parallel, org.gradle.jvmargs, android.nonTransitiveRClass, kapt → ksp).
Workflow: measure a baseline (clean + incremental) → ./gradlew assembleDebug --scan (or --profile for a no-upload report) → find the slow phase (configuration / execution / dependency resolution) in the Build Scan timeline → apply one optimization at a time → measure again. Batching changes means you never learn what helped.
Configuration phase — the cheapest wins
- Configuration cache (
org.gradle.configuration-cache=true, AGP 8+) skips the entire configuration phase when inputs are unchanged. Start withorg.gradle.configuration-cache.problems=warn, move tofailonce clean. - No I/O during configuration. A
file("version.txt").readText(), a network call, orexec {}at configuration time breaks the configuration cache and slows every build — defer it to execution:providers.fileContents(layout.projectDirectory.file("version.txt")).asText. - Lazy task registration —
tasks.register("x") { … }(configured only if it's in the execution graph), nevertasks.create("x") { … }(eager). - Convention plugins, not `subprojects {}` / `allprojects {}` — those root-build blocks eagerly evaluate every subproject. Move shared config into convention plugins (see
android-skills:android-gradle-logic).
kapt → KSP (mandatory on AGP 9)
KSP is ~2× faster than kapt, and AGP 9 makes the migration mandatory — it has built-in Kotlin support and org.jetbrains.kotlin.kapt is incompatible with it. Migrate to KSP (requires KSP 2.3.1+ on AGP 9; Hilt / Room / Moshi all support it), or fall back to com.android.legacy-kapt (same version as AGP) for annotation processors with no KSP equivalent. See JetBrains' `kotlin-tooling-agp9-migration` skill for the broader AGP 9 mechanics.
Dependency resolution
- Pin versions — a dynamic
1.0.+or-SNAPSHOTforces a network resolution check on every build. Pin1.2.3. - Repository order — Gradle checks repositories in declaration order; put the most-used first (
google()thenmavenCentral(), third-party last).
A reasonable gradle.properties baseline
org.gradle.configuration-cache=true
org.gradle.caching=true
org.gradle.parallel=true
org.gradle.jvmargs=-Xmx4g -XX:+UseParallelGC
android.nonTransitiveRClass=true
