Release notes for Android Gradle plugin preview

This page contains release notes for preview releases of the Android Gradle plugin (AGP).

Android Gradle plugin 9.0

Android Gradle plugin 9.0 is a new major release of AGP, and brings API and behavior changes.

To update to Android Gradle plugin 9.0.0-alpha04, use the Android Gradle plugin Upgrade Assistant in Android Studio Narwhal 4 Feature Drop | 2025.1.4.

The AGP upgrade assistant helps preserve existing behaviors when upgrading your project when appropriate, allowing you to upgrade your project to use AGP 9.0, even if you're not ready to adopt all the new defaults in AGP 9.0.

Compatibility

The maximum Android API level that Android Gradle plugin 9.0.0-alpha04 supports is API level 36.

Android Gradle plugin 9.0.0-alpha04 requires Gradle 9.0.0.

	Minimum version	Default version	Notes
Gradle	9.0.0	9.0.0	To learn more, see updating Gradle.
SDK Build Tools	36.0.0	36.0.0	Install or configure SDK Build Tools.
NDK	N/A	28.2.13676358	Install or configure a different version of the NDK.
JDK	17	17	To learn more, see setting the JDK version.

Internal DSL implementations and deprecated variant API now require explicit opt in

The Android Gradle plugin now has a defined API surface, with supported APIs defined in the com.android.tools.build:gradle-api maven artifact.

For compatibility with existing binary plugins and build scripts, the previous DSL implementations that predate that defined API surface were still exposed By default in AGP 8.13 and lower. This allows code in Gradle plugins and build scripts to access to both internal implementation details of the DSL as well as the deprecated android.applicationVariants, android.libraryVariants, android.testVariants and android.unitTestVariants APIs, which will be removed in 2026 in AGP 10.

To make this transition more visible, both the legacy variant API and the internal DSL are not accessible by default Android Gradle plugin 9.0.0-alpha04.

You can opt-back in to use the deprecated API by setting android.newDsl=false in gradle.properties.

During the 9.0 alpha series we're reaching out to plugin authors to help them adapt and release plugins that are fully compatible with the new modes, and will enhance the AGP Upgrade Assistant in Android Studio to guide you through the migration.

Built-in Kotlin

Android Gradle plugin 9 includes built-in support compiling Kotlin, replacing the separately applied Kotlin plugin. This simplifies the integration with AGP, avoiding the use of the deprecated APIs and improving performance in some cases.

Android Gradle plugin 9 has a runtime dependency on Kotlin Gradle plugin 2.2.0, which is the minimum version required for built-in kotlin support.

You can opt out of built-in Kotlin by setting android.builtInKotlin=false. If you have opted out and also need to use an older version of the kotlin Gradle plugin, you can force the downgrade

buildscript {
    dependencies {
        classpath("org.jetbrains.kotlin:kotlin-gradle-plugin") {
            version { strictly("2.0.0") } // or another version that you want to use
        }
    }
}

Behavior changes

Android Gradle plugin 9.0 has the following new behaviors:

Behavior	Recommendation
Android Gradle plugin 9.0 uses NDK version `r28c` by default.	Consider specifying the NDK version you want to use explicitly.
Android Gradle plugin 9.0 by default requires consumers of a library to use the same or higher compile SDK version.	Use the same or higher compile SDK when consuming a library. If this is not possible, or you want to give consumers of a library you publish more time to switch, set `AarMetadata.minCompileSdk` explicitly.

AGP 9.0 includes updates to the following Gradle properties' defaults. This gives you the choice to preserve the AGP 8.13 behavior when upgrading:

Property	Function	Change from AGP 8.13 to AGP 9.0	Recommendation
`android.newDsl`	Use the new DSL interfaces, without exposing the legacy implementations of the `android` block. This also means the legacy variant API, such as `android.applicationVariants` is no longer accessible.	`false` → `true`	You can opt out by setting `android.newDsl=false`. Once all plugins and build logic your project uses are compatible, remove the opt out.
`android.builtInKotlin`	Enabled support for compiling Kotlin code directly in the Android Gradle plugin, without the `org.jetbrains.kotlin.android` plugin.	`false` → `true`	Adopt built-in Kotlin by removing use of the `org.jetbrains.kotlin.android` plugin if you can. If not, opt out by setting `android.builtInKotlin=false`
`android.uniquePackageNames`	Enforces that each library has a distinct package name.	`false` → `true`	Specify unique package names for all libraries within your project. If that is not possible, you can disable this flag while you migrate.
`android.dependency.useConstraints`	Controls the use of dependency constraints between configurations. The default in AGP 9.0 is `false` which only uses constraints in application device tests (AndroidTest). Setting this to `true` will revert back to the 8.13 behavior.	`true` → `false`	Don't use dependency constraints everywhere unless you need them. Accepting the new default of this flag also enables optimizations in the project import process which should reduce the import time for builds with many android library subprojects.
`aandroid.enableAppCompileTimeRClass`	Compile code in applications against a non-final R class, bringing application compilation in line with library compilation. This improves incrementality and paves the way for future performance optimizations to the resource processing flow.	`false` → `true`	Many projects can just adopt the new behavior with no source changes. If the R class fields are used anywhere that requires a constant, such as switch cases, refactor to use chained if statements.
`android.sdk.defaultTargetSdkToCompileSdkIfUnset`	Uses the compile SDK version as the default value for the target SDK version in apps and tests. Before this change, the target SDK version would default to the min SDK version.	`false` → `true`	Specify the target SDK version explicitly for apps and tests.
`android.onlyEnableUnitTestForTheTestedBuildType`	Only creates unit test components for the tested build type. In the default project this results in a single unit test for debug, where the previous behavor was to have unit tests run for debug or release.	`false` → `true`	If your project doesn't require tests to run for both debug and release, no change is required.
`android.proguard.failOnMissingFiles`	Fails the build with an error if any of the keep files specified in the AGP DSL don't exist on disk. Before this change typos in filenames would result in files being silently ignored.	`false` → `true`	Remove any invalid proguard files declarations
`android.r8.optimizedResourceShrinking`	Allows R8 to keep fewer Android resources by considering classes and Android resources together.	`false` → `true`	If your project's keep rules are already complete, no change is required.
`android.r8.strictFullModeForKeepRules`	Allows R8 to keep less by not implicitly keeping the default constructor when a class is kept. That is, `-keep class A` no longer implies `-keep class A { <init>(); }`	`false` → `true`	If your project's keep rules are already complete, no change is required. Replace `-keep class A` with `-keep class A { <init>(); }` in your project's keep rules for any cases where you need the default constructor to be kept.
`android.defaults.buildfeatures.shaders`	Enables shader compilation in all subprojects	`true` → `false`	Enable shader compilation in only the subprojects that contain shaders to be compiled by setting the following in those projects' Gradle build files: android { buildFeatures { shaders = true } }

Removed features

Android Gradle plugin 9.0 removes the following functionality:

Embedded Wear OS app support
AGP 9.0 removes support for embedding Wear OS apps, which is no longer supported in Play. This includes removing the wearApp configurations and the AndroidSourceSet.wearAppConfigurationName DSL. See Distribute to Wear OS for how to publish your app to Wear OS.
androidDependencies and sourceSets report task

Changed DSL

Android Gradle plugin 9.0 has the following breaking DSL changes:

The parameterization of CommonExtension has been removed. In itself, this is only a source-level breaking change to help avoid future source level breaking changes, but it also means that the DSL block methods need to move from CommonExtension to ApplicationExtension, LibraryExension, DynamicFeatureExtension and TestExtension.

Removed DSL

Android Gradle plugin 9.0 removes:

AndroidSourceSet.jni, because it was not functional.
AndroidSourceSet.wearAppConfigurationName, as it relates to the removed embedded Wear OS app support.
BuildType.isRenderscriptDebuggable, because it was not functional.
ComponentBuilder.enabled. It is replaced by ComponentBuilder.enable.
DependencyVariantSelection. It is replaced By DependencySelection, which is exposed as kotlin.android
Installation.installOptions(String). It is replaced by the mutable property of Installation.installOptions.
VariantBuilder.targetSdk and targetSdkPreview, as they were not meaningful in libraries. Use GeneratesApkBuilder.targetSdk or GeneratesApkBuilder.targetSdkPreview instead.
The experimental, but never stabilized PostProcessing block.
ProductFlavor.setDimension, which is replaced by the dimension property
LanguageSplitOptions, which was only useful for Google Play Instant, which is deprecated.
Variant.unitTest, as it was not applicable to the com.android.test plugin. unitTest is available on VariantBuilder subtypes extending HasUnitTest.
VariantBuilder.enableUnitTest, as it was not applicable to the com.android.test plugin. enableUnitTest is available on VariantBuilder subtypes extending HasUnitTestBuilder.
VariantBuilder.unitTestEnabled is removed in favor of the more consistently named enableUnitTest on the VariantBuilder subtypes extending HasUnitTestBuilder.

Removed Gradle properties

The following Gradle properties were initially added as ways to globally disable features that were enabled by default.

These features have been disabled by default since AGP 8.0 or lower. Enable these features in only the sub-projects that use them for a more efficient build.

Property	Function	Replacement
`android.defaults.buildfeatures.aidl`	Enables AIDL compilation in all subprojects	Enable AIDL compilation in only the subprojects where there are AIDL sources by setting the following property in those projects' Gradle build files: android { buildFeatures { aidl = true } } in the Gradle build file of each subproject containing AIDL sources
`android.defaults.buildfeatures.renderscript`	Enables RenderScript compilation in all subprojects	Enable renderscript compilation in only the subprojects where there are renderscript sources by setting the following property in those projects' Gradle build files: android { buildFeatures { renderScript = true } }

Removed APIs