# The Base Plugin

version 8.14.5-20260321040636+0000

The Base Plugin provides some tasks and conventions that are common to most builds and adds a structure to the build that promotes consistency in how they are run. Its most significant contribution is a set of lifecycle tasks that act as an umbrella for the more specific tasks provided by other plugins and build authors.

## Usage

Example 1. Applying the Base Plugin
build.gradle.kts

    plugins {
        base
    }

build.gradle

    plugins {
        id 'base'
    }

## Task

`clean` — `Delete`

  Deletes the build directory and everything in it, i.e. the path specified by the layout.buildDirectory project property.

`check` — lifecycle task

  Plugins and build authors should attach their verification tasks, such as ones that run tests, to this lifecycle task using `check.dependsOn(task)`.

`assemble` — lifecycle task

  Plugins and build authors should attach tasks that produce distributions and other consumable artifacts to this lifecycle task. For example, `jar` produces the consumable artifact for Java libraries. Attach tasks to this lifecycle task using `assemble.dependsOn(task)`.

`build` — lifecycle task

  Depends on: `check`, `assemble`

  Intended to build everything, including running all tests, producing the production artifacts and generating documentation. You will probably rarely attach concrete tasks directly to `build` as `assemble` and `check` are typically more appropriate.

`buildConfiguration` — task rule

  Assembles those artifacts attached to the named configuration. For example, `buildRuntimeElements` will execute any task that is required to create any artifact attached to the `runtimeElements` configuration.

`cleanTask` — task rule

  Removes the defined outputs of a task, e.g. `cleanJar` will delete the JAR file produced by the `jar` task of the Java Plugin.

## Dependency management

The Base Plugin adds no configurations for dependencies, but it does add the following configurations:

`default`

  A fallback configuration used when dependency resolution is performed without request attributes.

  New builds and plugins should not be using the `default` configuration! It remains solely for backwards compatibility. Dependency resolution should be performed with request attributes.

`archives`

  All artifacts defined on the `archives` configuration are automatically built by the `assemble` task.

  New builds and plugins should not be using the `archives` configuration! It remains solely for backwards compatibility. Instead, task dependencies should be declared directly on the `assemble` task.

## Contributed extensions

The Base Plugin adds the `base` extension to the project. This allows to configure the following properties inside a dedicated DSL block.

Example 2. Using the `base` extension
build.gradle.kts

    base {
        archivesName = "gradle"
        distsDirectory = layout.buildDirectory.dir("custom-dist")
        libsDirectory = layout.buildDirectory.dir("custom-libs")
    }

build.gradle

    base {
        archivesName = "gradle"
        distsDirectory = layout.buildDirectory.dir('custom-dist')
        libsDirectory = layout.buildDirectory.dir('custom-libs')
    }

`archivesName` — default: `$project.name`

  Provides the default AbstractArchiveTask.getArchiveBaseName() for archive tasks.

`distsDirectory` — default: `layout.buildDirectory.dir("distributions")`

  Default name of the directory in which distribution archives, i.e. non-JARs, are created.

`libsDirectory` — default: `layout.buildDirectory.dir("libs")`

  Default name of the directory in which library archives, i.e. JARs, are created.

The plugin also provides default values for the following properties on any task that extends AbstractArchiveTask:

`destinationDirectory`

  Defaults to `distsDirectory` for non-JAR archives and `libsDirectory` for JARs and derivatives of JAR, such as WARs.

`archiveVersion`

  Defaults to `$project.version` or 'unspecified' if the project has no version.

`archiveBaseName`

  Defaults to `$archivesBaseName`.

## Conventions (deprecated)

The Base Plugin also adds conventions related to the creation of archives, such as ZIPs, TARs and JARs. These are deprecated and superseded by the extension described above. See the BasePluginConvention DSL documentation for information on them.