# Transforming dependency artifacts on resolution

version 7.6.6-20250823033406+0000

As described in different kinds of configurations, there may be different variants for the same dependency. For example, an external Maven dependency has a variant which should be used when compiling against the dependency (`java-api`), and a variant for running an application which uses the dependency (`java-runtime`). A project dependency has even more variants, for example the classes of the project which are used for compilation are available as classes directories (`org.gradle.usage=java-api, org.gradle.libraryelements=classes`) or as JARs (`org.gradle.usage=java-api, org.gradle.libraryelements=jar`).

The variants of a dependency may differ in its transitive dependencies or in the artifact itself. For example, the `java-api` and `java-runtime` variants of a Maven dependency only differ in the transitive dependencies and both use the same artifact — the JAR file. For a project dependency, the `java-api,classes` and the `java-api,jars` variants have the same transitive dependencies and different artifacts — the classes directories and the JAR files respectively.

Gradle identifies a variant of a dependency uniquely by its set of attributes. The `java-api` variant of a dependency is the variant identified by the `org.gradle.usage` attribute with value `java-api`.

When Gradle resolves a configuration, the attributes on the resolved configuration determine the requested attributes. For all dependencies in the configuration, the variant with the requested attributes is selected when resolving the configuration. For example, when the configuration requests `org.gradle.usage=java-api, org.gradle.libraryelements=classes` on a project dependency, then the classes directory is selected as the artifact.

When the dependency does not have a variant with the requested attributes, resolving the configuration fails. Sometimes it is possible to transform the artifact of the dependency into the requested variant without changing the transitive dependencies. For example, unzipping a JAR transforms the artifact of the `java-api,jars` variant into the `java-api,classes` variant. Such a transformation is called Artifact Transform. Gradle allows registering artifact transforms, and when the dependency does not have the requested variant, then Gradle will try to find a chain of artifact transforms for creating the variant.

## Artifact transform selection and execution

As described above, when Gradle resolves a configuration and a dependency in the configuration does not have a variant with the requested attributes, Gradle tries to find a chain of artifact transforms to create the variant. The process of finding a matching chain of artifact transforms is called artifact transform selection. Each registered transform converts from a set of attributes to a set of attributes. For example, the unzip transform can convert from `org.gradle.usage=java-api, org.gradle.libraryelements=jars` to `org.gradle.usage=java-api, org.gradle.libraryelements=classes`.

In order to find a chain, Gradle starts with the requested attributes and then considers all transforms which modify some of the requested attributes as possible paths leading there. Going backwards, Gradle tries to obtain a path to some existing variant using transforms.

For example, consider a `minified` attribute with two values: `true` and `false`. The minified attribute represents a variant of a dependency with unnecessary class files removed. There is an artifact transform registered, which can transform `minified` from `false` to `true`. When `minified=true` is requested for a dependency, and there are only variants with `minified=false`, then Gradle selects the registered minify transform. The minify transform is able to transform the artifact of the dependency with `minified=false` to the artifact with `minified=true`.

Of all the found transform chains, Gradle tries to select the best one:

- If there is only one transform chain, it is selected.

- If there are two transform chains, and one is a suffix of the other one, it is selected.

- If there is a shortest transform chain, then it is selected.

- In all other cases, the selection fails and an error is reported.

| Gradle does not try to select artifact transforms when there is already a variant of the dependency matching the requested attributes.

| The `artifactType` attribute is special, since it is only present on resolved artifacts and not on dependencies. As a consequence, any transform which is only mutating `artifactType` will never be selected when resolving a configuration with only the `artifactType` as requested attribute. It will only be considered when using an ArtifactView.

After selecting the required artifact transforms, Gradle resolves the variants of the dependencies which are necessary for the initial transform in the chain. As soon as Gradle finishes resolving the artifacts for the variant, either by downloading an external dependency or executing a task producing the artifact, Gradle starts transforming the artifacts of the variant with the selected chain of artifact transforms. Gradle executes the transform chains in parallel when possible.

Picking up the minify example above, consider a configuration with two dependencies, the external `guava` dependency and a project dependency on the `producer` project. The configuration has the attributes `org.gradle.usage=java-runtime,org.gradle.libraryelements=jar,minified=true`. The external `guava` dependency has two variants:

- `org.gradle.usage=java-runtime,org.gradle.libraryelements=jar,minified=false` and

- `org.gradle.usage=java-api,org.gradle.libraryelements=jar,minified=false`.

Using the minify transform, Gradle can convert the variant `org.gradle.usage=java-runtime,org.gradle.libraryelements=jar,minified=false` of `guava` to `org.gradle.usage=java-runtime,org.gradle.libraryelements=jar,minified=true`, which are the requested attributes. The project dependency also has variants:

- `org.gradle.usage=java-runtime,org.gradle.libraryelements=jar,minified=false`,

- `org.gradle.usage=java-runtime,org.gradle.libraryelements=classes,minified=false`,

- `org.gradle.usage=java-api,org.gradle.libraryelements=jar,minified=false`,

- `org.gradle.usage=java-api,org.gradle.libraryelements=classes,minified=false`

- and a few more.

Again, using the minify transform, Gradle can convert the variant `org.gradle.usage=java-runtime,org.gradle.libraryelements=jar,minified=false` of the project `producer` to `org.gradle.usage=java-runtime,org.gradle.libraryelements=jar,minified=true`, which are the requested attributes.

When the configuration is resolved, Gradle needs to download the `guava` JAR and minify it. Gradle also needs to execute the `producer:jar` task to generate the JAR artifact of the project and then minify it. The downloading and the minification of the `guava.jar` happens in parallel to the execution of the `producer:jar` task and the minification of the resulting JAR.

Here is how to setup the `minified` attribute so that the above works. You need to register the new attribute in the schema, add it to all JAR artifacts and request it on all resolvable configurations.

Example 1. Artifact transform attribute setup
build.gradle

    def artifactType = Attribute.of('artifactType', String)
    def minified = Attribute.of('minified', Boolean)
    dependencies {
        attributesSchema {
            attribute(minified)                      (1)
        }
        artifactTypes.getByName("jar") {
            attributes.attribute(minified, false)    (2)
        }
    }

    configurations.all {
        afterEvaluate {
            if (canBeResolved) {
                attributes.attribute(minified, true) (3)
            }
        }
    }

    dependencies {
        registerTransform(Minify) {
            from.attribute(minified, false).attribute(artifactType, "jar")
            to.attribute(minified, true).attribute(artifactType, "jar")
        }
    }

    dependencies {                                 (4)
        implementation('com.google.guava:guava:27.1-jre')
        implementation(project(':producer'))
    }

build.gradle.kts

    val artifactType = Attribute.of("artifactType", String::class.java)
    val minified = Attribute.of("minified", Boolean::class.javaObjectType)
    dependencies {
        attributesSchema {
            attribute(minified)                      (1)
        }
        artifactTypes.getByName("jar") {
            attributes.attribute(minified, false)    (2)
        }
    }

    configurations.all {
        afterEvaluate {
            if (isCanBeResolved) {
                attributes.attribute(minified, true) (3)
            }
        }
    }

    dependencies {
        registerTransform(Minify::class) {
            from.attribute(minified, false).attribute(artifactType, "jar")
            to.attribute(minified, true).attribute(artifactType, "jar")
        }
    }

    dependencies {                                 (4)
        implementation("com.google.guava:guava:27.1-jre")
        implementation(project(":producer"))
    }

1 | Add the attribute to the schema
2 | All JAR files are not minified
3 | Request `minified=true` on all resolvable configurations
4 | Add the dependencies which will be transformed

You can now see what happens when we run the `resolveRuntimeClasspath` task which resolves the `runtimeClasspath` configuration. Observe that Gradle transforms the project dependency before the `resolveRuntimeClasspath` task starts. Gradle transforms the binary dependencies when it executes the `resolveRuntimeClasspath` task.

Output when resolving the runtimeClasspath configuration

    > gradle resolveRuntimeClasspath

    > Task :producer:compileJava
    > Task :producer:processResources NO-SOURCE
    > Task :producer:classes
    > Task :producer:jar

    > Transform producer.jar (project :producer) with Minify
    Nothing to minify - using producer.jar unchanged

    > Task :resolveRuntimeClasspath
    Minifying guava-27.1-jre.jar
    Nothing to minify - using listenablefuture-9999.0-empty-to-avoid-conflict-with-guava.jar unchanged
    Nothing to minify - using jsr305-3.0.2.jar unchanged
    Nothing to minify - using checker-qual-2.5.2.jar unchanged
    Nothing to minify - using error_prone_annotations-2.2.0.jar unchanged
    Nothing to minify - using j2objc-annotations-1.1.jar unchanged
    Nothing to minify - using animal-sniffer-annotations-1.17.jar unchanged
    Nothing to minify - using failureaccess-1.0.1.jar unchanged

    BUILD SUCCESSFUL in 0s
    3 actionable tasks: 3 executed

## Implementing artifact transforms

Similar to task types, an artifact transform consists of an action and some parameters. The major difference to custom task types is that the action and the parameters are implemented as two separate classes.

The implementation of the artifact transform action is a class implementing TransformAction. You need to implement the `transform()` method on the action, which converts an input artifact into zero, one or multiple of output artifacts. Most artifact transforms will be one-to-one, so the transform method will transform the input artifact to exactly one output artifact.

The implementation of the artifact transform action needs to register each output artifact by calling TransformOutputs.dir() or TransformOutputs.file().

You can only supply two types of paths to the `dir` or `file` methods:

- An absolute path to the input artifact or in the input artifact (for an input directory).

- A relative path.

Gradle uses the absolute path as the location of the output artifact. For example, if the input artifact is an exploded WAR, then the transform action can call `TransformOutputs.file()` for all jar files in the `WEB-INF/lib` directory. The output of the transform would then be the library JARs of the web application.

For a relative path, the `dir()` or `file()` method returns a workspace to the transform action. The implementation of the transform action needs to create the transformed artifact at the location of the provided workspace.

The output artifacts replace the input artifact in the transformed variant in the order they were registered. For example, if the configuration consists of the artifacts `lib1.jar`, `lib2.jar`, `lib3.jar`, and the transform action registers a minified output artifact `<artifact-name>-min.jar` for the input artifact, then the transformed configuration consists of the artifacts `lib1-min.jar`, `lib2-min.jar` and `lib3-min.jar`.

Here is the implementation of an `Unzip` transform which transforms a JAR file into a classes directory by unzipping it. The `Unzip` transform does not require any parameters. Note how the implementation uses `@InputArtifact` to inject the artifact to transform into the action. It requests a directory for the unzipped classes by using `TransformOutputs.dir()` and then unzips the JAR file into this directory.

Example 2. Artifact transform without parameters
build.gradle

    abstract class Unzip implements TransformAction<TransformParameters.None> { (1)
        @InputArtifact                                                          (2)
        abstract Provider<FileSystemLocation> getInputArtifact()

        @Override
        void transform(TransformOutputs outputs) {
            def input = inputArtifact.get().asFile
            def unzipDir = outputs.dir(input.name)                              (3)
            unzipTo(input, unzipDir)                                            (4)
        }

        private static void unzipTo(File zipFile, File unzipDir) {
            // implementation...
        }
    }

build.gradle.kts

    abstract class Unzip : TransformAction<TransformParameters.None> {          (1)
        @get:InputArtifact                                                      (2)
        abstract val inputArtifact: Provider<FileSystemLocation>

        override
        fun transform(outputs: TransformOutputs) {
            val input = inputArtifact.get().asFile
            val unzipDir = outputs.dir(input.name)                              (3)
            unzipTo(input, unzipDir)                                            (4)
        }

        private fun unzipTo(zipFile: File, unzipDir: File) {
            // implementation...
        }
    }

1 | Use `TransformParameters.None` if the transform does not use parameters
2 | Inject the input artifact
3 | Request an output location for the unzipped files
4 | Do the actual work of the transform

An artifact transform may require parameters, like a `String` determining some filter, or some file collection which is used for supporting the transformation of the input artifact. In order to pass those parameters to the transform action, you need to define a new type with the desired parameters. The type needs to implement the marker interface TransformParameters. The parameters must be represented using managed properties and the parameters type must be a managed type. You can use an interface or abstract class declaring the getters and Gradle will generate the implementation. All getters need to have proper input annotations, see the table in the section on incremental build.

You can find out more about implementing artifact transform parameters in Developing Custom Gradle Types.

Here is the implementation of a `Minify` transform that makes JARs smaller by only keeping certain classes in them. The `Minify` transform requires the classes to keep as parameters. Observe how you can obtain the parameters by `TransformAction.getParameters()` in the `transform()` method. The implementation of the `transform()` method requests a location for the minified JAR by using `TransformOutputs.file()` and then creates the minified JAR at this location.

Example 3. Minify transform implementation
build.gradle

    abstract class Minify implements TransformAction<Parameters> { (1)
        interface Parameters extends TransformParameters {         (2)
            @Input
            Map<String, Set<String>> getKeepClassesByArtifact()
            void setKeepClassesByArtifact(Map<String, Set<String>> keepClasses)
        }

        @PathSensitive(PathSensitivity.NAME_ONLY)
        @InputArtifact
        abstract Provider<FileSystemLocation> getInputArtifact()

        @Override
        void transform(TransformOutputs outputs) {
            def fileName = inputArtifact.get().asFile.name
            for (entry in parameters.keepClassesByArtifact) {      (3)
                if (fileName.startsWith(entry.key)) {
                    def nameWithoutExtension = fileName.substring(0, fileName.length() - 4)
                    minify(inputArtifact.get().asFile, entry.value, outputs.file("${nameWithoutExtension}-min.jar"))
                    return
                }
            }
            println "Nothing to minify - using ${fileName} unchanged"
            outputs.file(inputArtifact)                            (4)
        }

        private void minify(File artifact, Set<String> keepClasses, File jarFile) {
            println "Minifying ${artifact.name}"
            // Implementation ...
        }
    }

build.gradle.kts

    abstract class Minify : TransformAction<Minify.Parameters> {   (1)
        interface Parameters : TransformParameters {               (2)
            @get:Input
            var keepClassesByArtifact: Map<String, Set<String>>

        }

        @get:PathSensitive(PathSensitivity.NAME_ONLY)
        @get:InputArtifact
        abstract val inputArtifact: Provider<FileSystemLocation>

        override
        fun transform(outputs: TransformOutputs) {
            val fileName = inputArtifact.get().asFile.name
            for (entry in parameters.keepClassesByArtifact) {      (3)
                if (fileName.startsWith(entry.key)) {
                    val nameWithoutExtension = fileName.substring(0, fileName.length - 4)
                    minify(inputArtifact.get().asFile, entry.value, outputs.file("${nameWithoutExtension}-min.jar"))
                    return
                }
            }
            println("Nothing to minify - using ${fileName} unchanged")
            outputs.file(inputArtifact)                            (4)
        }

        private fun minify(artifact: File, keepClasses: Set<String>, jarFile: File) {
            println("Minifying ${artifact.name}")
            // Implementation ...
        }
    }

1 | Declare the parameter type
2 | Interface for the transform parameters
3 | Use the parameters
4 | Use the unchanged input artifact when no minification is required

Remember that the input artifact is a dependency, which may have its own dependencies. If your artifact transform needs access to those transitive dependencies, it can declare an abstract getter returning a `FileCollection` and annotate it with @InputArtifactDependencies. When your transform runs, Gradle will inject the transitive dependencies into that `FileCollection` property by implementing the getter. Note that using input artifact dependencies in a transform has performance implications, only inject them when you really need them.

Moreover, artifact transforms can make use of the build cache for their outputs. To enable the build cache for an artifact transform, add the `@CacheableTransform` annotation on the action class. For cacheable transforms, you must annotate its @InputArtifact property — and any property marked with @InputArtifactDependencies — with normalization annotations such as @PathSensitive.

The following example shows a more complicated transform. It moves some selected classes of a JAR to a different package, rewriting the byte code of the moved classes and all classes using the moved classes (class relocation). In order to determine the classes to relocate, it looks at the packages of the input artifact and the dependencies of the input artifact. It also does not relocate packages contained in JAR files in an external classpath.

Example 4. Artifact transform for class relocation
build.gradle

    @CacheableTransform                                                          (1)
    abstract class ClassRelocator implements TransformAction<Parameters> {
        interface Parameters extends TransformParameters {                       (2)
            @CompileClasspath                                                    (3)
            ConfigurableFileCollection getExternalClasspath()
            @Input
            Property<String> getExcludedPackage()
        }

        @Classpath                                                               (4)
        @InputArtifact
        abstract Provider<FileSystemLocation> getPrimaryInput()

        @CompileClasspath
        @InputArtifactDependencies                                               (5)
        abstract FileCollection getDependencies()

        @Override
        void transform(TransformOutputs outputs) {
            def primaryInputFile = primaryInput.get().asFile
            if (parameters.externalClasspath.contains(primaryInput)) {           (6)
                outputs.file(primaryInput)
            } else {
                def baseName = primaryInputFile.name.substring(0, primaryInputFile.name.length - 4)
                relocateJar(outputs.file("$baseName-relocated.jar"))
            }
        }

        private relocateJar(File output) {
            // implementation...
            def relocatedPackages = (dependencies.collectMany { readPackages(it) } + readPackages(primaryInput.get().asFile)) as Set
            def nonRelocatedPackages = parameters.externalClasspath.collectMany { readPackages(it) }
            def relocations = (relocatedPackages - nonRelocatedPackages).collect { packageName ->
                def toPackage = "relocated.$packageName"
                println("$packageName -> $toPackage")
                new Relocation(packageName, toPackage)
            }
            new JarRelocator(primaryInput.get().asFile, output, relocations).run()
        }
    }

build.gradle.kts

    @CacheableTransform                                                          (1)
    abstract class ClassRelocator : TransformAction<ClassRelocator.Parameters> {
        interface Parameters : TransformParameters {                             (2)
            @get:CompileClasspath                                                (3)
            val externalClasspath: ConfigurableFileCollection
            @get:Input
            val excludedPackage: Property<String>
        }

        @get:Classpath                                                           (4)
        @get:InputArtifact
        abstract val primaryInput: Provider<FileSystemLocation>

        @get:CompileClasspath
        @get:InputArtifactDependencies                                           (5)
        abstract val dependencies: FileCollection

        override
        fun transform(outputs: TransformOutputs) {
            val primaryInputFile = primaryInput.get().asFile
            if (parameters.externalClasspath.contains(primaryInputFile)) {       (6)
                outputs.file(primaryInput)
            } else {
                val baseName = primaryInputFile.name.substring(0, primaryInputFile.name.length - 4)
                relocateJar(outputs.file("$baseName-relocated.jar"))
            }
        }

        private fun relocateJar(output: File) {
            // implementation...
            val relocatedPackages = (dependencies.flatMap { it.readPackages() } + primaryInput.get().asFile.readPackages()).toSet()
            val nonRelocatedPackages = parameters.externalClasspath.flatMap { it.readPackages() }
            val relocations = (relocatedPackages - nonRelocatedPackages).map { packageName ->
                val toPackage = "relocated.$packageName"
                println("$packageName -> $toPackage")
                Relocation(packageName, toPackage)
            }
            JarRelocator(primaryInput.get().asFile, output, relocations).run()
        }
    }

1 | Declare the transform cacheable
2 | Interface for the transform parameters
3 | Declare input type for each parameter
4 | Declare a normalization for the input artifact
5 | Inject the input artifact dependencies
6 | Use the parameters

## Registering artifact transforms

You need to register the artifact transform actions, providing parameters if necessary, so that they can be selected when resolving dependencies.

In order to register an artifact transform, you must use registerTransform() within the `dependencies {}` block.

There are a few points to consider when using `registerTransform()`:

- The `from` and `to` attributes are required.

- The transform action itself can have configuration options. You can configure them with the `parameters {}` block.

- You must register the transform on the project that has the configuration that will be resolved.

- You can supply any type implementing TransformAction to the `registerTransform()` method.

For example, imagine you want to unpack some dependencies and put the unpacked directories and files on the classpath. You can do so by registering an artifact transform action of type `Unzip`, as shown here:

Example 5. Artifact transform registration without parameters
build.gradle

    def artifactType = Attribute.of('artifactType', String)

    dependencies {
        registerTransform(Unzip) {
            from.attribute(artifactType, 'jar')
            to.attribute(artifactType, 'java-classes-directory')
        }
    }

build.gradle.kts

    val artifactType = Attribute.of("artifactType", String::class.java)

    dependencies {
        registerTransform(Unzip::class) {
            from.attribute(artifactType, "jar")
            to.attribute(artifactType, "java-classes-directory")
        }
    }

Another example is that you want to minify JARs by only keeping some `class` files from them. Note the use of the `parameters {}` block to provide the classes to keep in the minified JARs to the `Minify` transform.

Example 6. Artifact transform registration with parameters
build.gradle

    def artifactType = Attribute.of('artifactType', String)
    def minified = Attribute.of('minified', Boolean)
    def keepPatterns = [
        "guava": [
            "com.google.common.base.Optional",
            "com.google.common.base.AbstractIterator"
        ] as Set
    ]

    dependencies {
        registerTransform(Minify) {
            from.attribute(minified, false).attribute(artifactType, "jar")
            to.attribute(minified, true).attribute(artifactType, "jar")

            parameters {
                keepClassesByArtifact = keepPatterns
            }
        }
    }

build.gradle.kts

    val artifactType = Attribute.of("artifactType", String::class.java)
    val minified = Attribute.of("minified", Boolean::class.javaObjectType)
    val keepPatterns = mapOf(
        "guava" to setOf(
            "com.google.common.base.Optional",
            "com.google.common.base.AbstractIterator"
        )
    )

    dependencies {
        registerTransform(Minify::class) {
            from.attribute(minified, false).attribute(artifactType, "jar")
            to.attribute(minified, true).attribute(artifactType, "jar")

            parameters {
                keepClassesByArtifact = keepPatterns
            }
        }
    }

## Implementing incremental artifact transforms

Similar to incremental tasks, artifact transforms can avoid work by only processing changed files from the last execution. This is done by using the InputChanges interface. For artifact transforms, only the input artifact is an incremental input, and therefore the transform can only query for changes there. In order to use InputChanges in the transform action, inject it into the action. For more information on how to use InputChanges, see the corresponding documentation for incremental tasks.

Here is an example of an incremental transform that counts the lines of code in Java source files:

Example 7. Artifact transform for lines of code counting
build.gradle

    abstract class CountLoc implements TransformAction<TransformParameters.None> {

        @Inject                                                             (1)
        abstract InputChanges getInputChanges()

        @PathSensitive(PathSensitivity.RELATIVE)
        @InputArtifact
        abstract Provider<FileSystemLocation> getInput()

        @Override
        void transform(TransformOutputs outputs) {
            def outputDir = outputs.dir("${input.get().asFile.name}.loc")
            println("Running transform on ${input.get().asFile.name}, incremental: ${inputChanges.incremental}")
            inputChanges.getFileChanges(input).forEach { change ->          (2)
                def changedFile = change.file
                if (change.fileType != FileType.FILE) {
                    return
                }
                def outputLocation = new File(outputDir, "${change.normalizedPath}.loc")
                switch (change.changeType) {
                    case ADDED:
                    case MODIFIED:
                        println("Processing file ${changedFile.name}")
                        outputLocation.parentFile.mkdirs()

                        outputLocation.text = changedFile.readLines().size()

                    case REMOVED:
                        println("Removing leftover output file ${outputLocation.name}")
                        outputLocation.delete()

                }
            }
        }
    }

build.gradle.kts

    abstract class CountLoc : TransformAction<TransformParameters.None> {

        @get:Inject                                                         (1)
        abstract val inputChanges: InputChanges

        @get:PathSensitive(PathSensitivity.RELATIVE)
        @get:InputArtifact
        abstract val input: Provider<FileSystemLocation>

        override
        fun transform(outputs: TransformOutputs) {
            val outputDir = outputs.dir("${input.get().asFile.name}.loc")
            println("Running transform on ${input.get().asFile.name}, incremental: ${inputChanges.isIncremental}")
            inputChanges.getFileChanges(input).forEach { change ->          (2)
                val changedFile = change.file
                if (change.fileType != FileType.FILE) {
                    return@forEach
                }
                val outputLocation = outputDir.resolve("${change.normalizedPath}.loc")
                when (change.changeType) {
                    ChangeType.ADDED, ChangeType.MODIFIED -> {

                        println("Processing file ${changedFile.name}")
                        outputLocation.parentFile.mkdirs()

                        outputLocation.writeText(changedFile.readLines().size.toString())
                    }
                    ChangeType.REMOVED -> {
                        println("Removing leftover output file ${outputLocation.name}")
                        outputLocation.delete()
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }

1 | Inject `InputChanges`
2 | Query for changes in the input artifact