Custom WorkManager Configuration and Initialization

By default, WorkManager configures itself automatically when your app starts, using reasonable options that are suitable for most apps. If you require more control of how WorkManager manages and schedules work, you can customize the WorkManager configuration by initializing WorkManager yourself.

On-Demand Initialization

On-demand initialization lets you create WorkManager only when that component is needed, instead of every time the app starts up. Doing so moves WorkManager off your critical startup path, improving app startup performance. To use on-demand initialization:

Remove the default initializer

To provide your own configuration, you must first remove the default initializer. To do so, update AndroidManifest.xml using the merge rule tools:node="remove".

Since WorkManager 2.6, App Startup is used internally within WorkManager. To provide a custom initializer you need to remove the androidx.startup node.

If you don't use App Startup in your app, you can remove it completely.

 <!-- If you want to disable android.startup completely. -->
 <provider
    android:name="androidx.startup.InitializationProvider"
    android:authorities="${applicationId}.androidx-startup"
    tools:node="remove">
 </provider>

Otherwise, remove only the WorkManagerInitializer node.

 <provider
    android:name="androidx.startup.InitializationProvider"
    android:authorities="${applicationId}.androidx-startup"
    android:exported="false"
    tools:node="merge">
    <!-- If you are using androidx.startup to initialize other components -->
    <meta-data
        android:name="androidx.work.WorkManagerInitializer"
        android:value="androidx.startup"
        tools:node="remove" />
 </provider>

While using a version of WorkManager older than 2.6, remove workmanager-init instead:

<provider
    android:name="androidx.work.impl.WorkManagerInitializer"
    android:authorities="${applicationId}.workmanager-init"
    tools:node="remove" />

To learn more about using merge rules in your manifest, see the documentation on merging multiple manifest files.

Implement Configuration.Provider

Have your Application class implement the Configuration.Provider interface, and provide your own implementation of Configuration.Provider.getWorkManagerConfiguration. When you need to use WorkManager, make sure to call the method WorkManager.getInstance(Context). WorkManager calls your app's custom getWorkManagerConfiguration() method to discover its Configuration. (You do not need to call WorkManager.initialize yourself.)

Here's an example of a custom getWorkManagerConfiguration() implementation:

class MyApplication() : Application(), Configuration.Provider {
     override fun getWorkManagerConfiguration() =
           Configuration.Builder()
                .setMinimumLoggingLevel(android.util.Log.INFO)
                .build()
}

class MyApplication extends Application implements Configuration.Provider {
    @Override
    public Configuration getWorkManagerConfiguration() {
        return new Configuration.Builder()
                .setMinimumLoggingLevel(android.util.Log.INFO)
                .build();
    }
}

Custom initialization before WorkManager 2.1.0

For versions of WorkManager before version 2.1.0, there are two initialization options. In most cases, the default initialization is all you need. For more precise control of WorkManager, you can specify your own configuration.

Default initialization

WorkManager uses a custom ContentProvider to initialize itself when your app starts. This code lives in the internal class androidx.work.impl.WorkManagerInitializer and uses the default Configuration. The default initializer is automatically used unless you explicitly disable it. The default initializer is suitable for most apps.

Custom initialization

If you want to control the initialization process, you must disable the default initializer, then define your own custom configuration.

Once the default initializer is removed, you can manually initialize WorkManager:

// provide custom configuration
val myConfig = Configuration.Builder()
    .setMinimumLoggingLevel(android.util.Log.INFO)
    .build()

// initialize WorkManager
WorkManager.initialize(this, myConfig)

// provide custom configuration
Configuration myConfig = new Configuration.Builder()
    .setMinimumLoggingLevel(android.util.Log.INFO)
    .build();

//initialize WorkManager
WorkManager.initialize(this, myConfig);

Make sure the initialization of the WorkManager singleton runs either in Application.onCreate() or in a ContentProvider.onCreate().

For the complete list of customizations available, see the Configuration.Builder() reference documentation.