# Gradle Best Practices - A Path to Build Happiness

DevFeed: [Gradle Best Practices - A Path to Build Happiness](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/gradle-best-practices-a-path-to-build-happiness-24623.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://blog.gradle.org/gradle-best-practices>)

Author: Laura Kassovic

Published: 2025-05-01T04:00:00Z

Content type: article

Language: en

Sources: [The Gradle Blog](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/the-gradle-blog.md>)

Topics: [Gradle](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/gradle.md>), [Google](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/google.md>), [Tooling](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/tooling.md>)

Tags: [best-practices](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/best-practices.md>), [build-system](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/build-system.md>), [developer](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/developer.md>), [gradle](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/gradle.md>), [jetbrains](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/jetbrains.md>)

## AI overview

Gradle, Google, and JetBrains formed a working group to define best practices for structuring and configuring Gradle builds. The initiative responds to developer difficulties caused by Gradle's flexibility, including build instability, suboptimal solutions, and maintenance challenges.

## Source excerpt

Gradle Build Tool, also known as Gradle, is a highly flexible and extensible build system. It supports multiple ways to structure and configure builds, making it incredibly powerful--but also somewhat daunting, especially for teams just getting started. Even experienced developers and tooling providers sometimes struggle with Gradle's complexity. We've heard this loud and clear from the community and also in our recent Developer Survey. Whether it's setting up a build from scratch, improving performance, or avoiding pitfalls, teams often find themselves searching for clear guidance on the best way to do things. That's why we partnered with JetBrains and Google to create the Gradle Best Practices guide--an essential resource to help teams build with confidence and settle debates over the proper way to use Gradle. How This Initiative Started This effort began during a Gradle, Google, and JetBrains Summit in Fall 2024, where teams from each company meet annually to align on product roadmaps and discuss the future of the ecosystem. These summits have been pivotal in shaping major initiatives--Declarative Gradle emerged from one of these discussions, and Kotlin itself has been deeply influenced by them. At the 2024 Summit, a key question emerged: Beyond new features, how can we improve the Gradle experience today? The answer was clear: we need to establish best practices. While it's easy to focus on exciting new Gradle features, existing build setups often lack clear guidance. The Gradle teams at Google, JetBrains, and Gradle recognized that developers frequently struggle with too many ways to do the same thing--leading to suboptimal solutions, build instability, and maintenance headaches. This realization led to the formation of a dedicated working group, with representatives from all three companies. Over the past months, we've been meeting weekly to define best practices that provide firm foundations and help teams avoid future problems. Why Best Practices Matter Gradle's