Most applications using Gradle can get away with utilizing the core Gradle functionality. In this blog, I will go over how templates can be defined to allow multi-module projects to share code.

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Getting Started

At the root of your repository, create a folder named buildSrc. This is a special by-convention directory that Gradle has which can allow you to hook in to some cool features. Let's make a generic java template we can use as a baseline for all of our submodules.

Reusable Java Module

In the buildSrc directory, create the path src/main/groovy, and inside that, create a java-template.gradle file. Use the following sample code:

plugins {
    id 'java'
}

tasks.withType(Test).configureEach {
    useJUnitPlatform()
}

repositories {
    mavenCentral()
}

dependencies {
    testImplementation platform("org.junit:junit-bom:5.10.0")
    testImplementation "org.junit.jupiter:junit-jupiter"
}

Utilizing The Module

Utilizing the module is straightforward. Create a new gradle module under your root project (or really wherever you want it in your project structure). Be sure to register it and add a base build.gradle. Now here's where the magic begins. Register the template you created as a plugin.

plugins {
    id 'java-template'
}

Conclusion

And just like that, you now have a Gradle project that automatically has the Java plugin, JUnit pre-configured and imported, and uses maven central for all dependencies.