Set up the Compose Compiler Gradle plugin

For Gradle, use the Compose Compiler Gradle plugin to set up and configure Compose.

Set up with Gradle version catalogs

Set up the Compose Compiler Gradle plugin:

  1. In the libs.versions.toml file, remove any reference to the Compose Compiler.

  2. In the versions and plugins sections, add the new dependency:

    [versions]
kotlin = "2.3.21"

[plugins]
org-jetbrains-kotlin-android = { id = "org.jetbrains.kotlin.android", version.ref = "kotlin" }

// Add this line
compose-compiler = { id = "org.jetbrains.kotlin.plugin.compose", version.ref = "kotlin" }

  3. In the project's root build.gradle.kts file, add the following to the plugins section.

    plugins {
// Existing plugins
alias(libs.plugins.compose.compiler) apply false
}

  4. In each module that uses Compose, apply the plugin:

    plugins {
// Existing plugins
alias(libs.plugins.compose.compiler)
}

The project should now build and compile if it was using the default set up. If it had configured custom options on the Compose compiler, follow the next section.

Set up the Compose Compiler without Gradle version catalogs

Add the plugin to build.gradle.kts files associated with modules where Compose is used:

plugins {
    id("org.jetbrains.kotlin.plugin.compose") version "2.3.21" // this version matches your Kotlin version
}

Add the classpath to your top-level project build.gradle.kts file:

buildscript {
    dependencies {
        classpath("org.jetbrains.kotlin.plugin.compose:org.jetbrains.kotlin.plugin.compose.gradle.plugin:2.3.21")
    }
}

Configuration options with the Compose Compiler Gradle Plugin

To configure the Compose compiler using the Gradle plugin, add the composeCompiler block to the module's build.gradle.kts file at the top level:

android { … }

composeCompiler {
    reportsDestination = layout.buildDirectory.dir("compose_compiler")
    stabilityConfigurationFile = rootProject.layout.projectDirectory.file("stability_config.conf")
}

For the full list of available options, see the documentation.

Set up Compose dependencies

Always use the latest Compose BOM version: 2026.06.00.

Set the compose flag to true inside the Android BuildFeatures to enable Compose functionality in Android Studio.

Add the following definition to your app's build.gradle file:

Groovy

android {
    buildFeatures {
        compose true
    }
}

Kotlin

android {
    buildFeatures {
        compose = true
    }
}

Add the Compose BOM and the subset of Compose library dependencies:

Groovy

dependencies {

    def composeBom = platform('androidx.compose:compose-bom:2026.06.00')
    implementation composeBom
    androidTestImplementation composeBom

    // Choose one of the following:
    // Material Design 3
    implementation 'androidx.compose.material3:material3'
    // or skip Material Design and build directly on top of foundational components
    implementation 'androidx.compose.foundation:foundation'
    // or only import the main APIs for the underlying toolkit systems,
    // such as input and measurement/layout
    implementation 'androidx.compose.ui:ui'

    // Android Studio Preview support
    implementation 'androidx.compose.ui:ui-tooling-preview'
    debugImplementation 'androidx.compose.ui:ui-tooling'

    // UI Tests
    androidTestImplementation 'androidx.compose.ui:ui-test-junit4'
    debugImplementation 'androidx.compose.ui:ui-test-manifest'

    // Optional - Add window size utils
    implementation 'androidx.compose.material3.adaptive:adaptive'

    // Optional - Integration with activities
    implementation 'androidx.activity:activity-compose:1.13.0'
    // Optional - Integration with ViewModels
    implementation 'androidx.lifecycle:lifecycle-viewmodel-compose:2.10.0'
    // Optional - Integration with LiveData
    implementation 'androidx.compose.runtime:runtime-livedata'
    // Optional - Integration with RxJava
    implementation 'androidx.compose.runtime:runtime-rxjava2'

}

Kotlin

dependencies {

    val composeBom = platform("androidx.compose:compose-bom:2026.06.00")
    implementation(composeBom)
    androidTestImplementation(composeBom)

    // Choose one of the following:
    // Material Design 3
    implementation("androidx.compose.material3:material3")
    // or skip Material Design and build directly on top of foundational components
    implementation("androidx.compose.foundation:foundation")
    // or only import the main APIs for the underlying toolkit systems,
    // such as input and measurement/layout
    implementation("androidx.compose.ui:ui")

    // Android Studio Preview support
    implementation("androidx.compose.ui:ui-tooling-preview")
    debugImplementation("androidx.compose.ui:ui-tooling")

    // UI Tests
    androidTestImplementation("androidx.compose.ui:ui-test-junit4")
    debugImplementation("androidx.compose.ui:ui-test-manifest")

    // Optional - Add window size utils
    implementation("androidx.compose.material3.adaptive:adaptive")

    // Optional - Integration with activities
    implementation("androidx.activity:activity-compose:1.13.0")
    // Optional - Integration with ViewModels
    implementation("androidx.lifecycle:lifecycle-viewmodel-compose:2.10.0")
    // Optional - Integration with LiveData
    implementation("androidx.compose.runtime:runtime-livedata")
    // Optional - Integration with RxJava
    implementation("androidx.compose.runtime:runtime-rxjava2")

}

compileSdk and Android Gradle Plugin compatibility

Compose library releases continually adopt the latest compileSdk versions to provide access to the latest Android features. Newer compileSdk versions require newer versions of Android Gradle Plugin, so adopting new Compose releases also requires projects to adopt new versions of the Android Gradle Plugin. We recommend keeping your project's compileSdk up to date with the latest released versions. compileSdk is unrelated from targetSdk.

For example, starting with Compose 1.12.0, projects are required to use compileSdk 37 and Android Gradle Plugin (AGP) 9.

To check which version of AGP is supported for different API levels, see the Android Gradle plugin API level support documentation.