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[[best_practices_index]]
= Best Practices Index

The table below provides a complete list of documented Gradle Best Practices.

****
There are currently *33 Best Practices*.
****

Use this as a quick reference to track newly added recommendations, check adoption status, or explore areas for improving your build:

[.table]
|===
| Title | Section | Added in Gradle Version

| <<best_practices_general.adoc#use_kotlin_dsl,Use Kotlin DSL>> | General | 8.14
| <<best_practices_general.adoc#use_latest_minor_versions,Use the Latest Minor Version of Gradle>> | General | 8.14
| <<best_practices_general.adoc#use_the_plugins_block,Apply Plugins Using the plugins Block>> | General | 8.14
| <<best_practices_general.adoc#do_not_use_internal_apis,Do Not Use Internal APIs>> | General | 8.14
| <<best_practices_general.adoc#use_the_gradle_properties_file,Set build flags in gradle.properties>> | General | 9.0.0
| <<best_practices_general.adoc#name_your_root_project,Name Your Root Project>> | General | 9.2.0
| <<best_practices_general.adoc#do_not_use_gradle_properties_in_subprojects,Do not use gradle.properties in subprojects>> | General | 9.2.0

| <<best_practices_structuring_builds.adoc#modularize_builds,Modularize Your Builds>> | Structuring Builds | 9.0.0
| <<best_practices_structuring_builds.adoc#no_source_in_root,Do Not Put Source Files in the Root Project>> | Structuring Builds | 9.0.0
| <<best_practices_structuring_builds.adoc#favor_composite_builds,Favor build-logic Composite Builds for Build Logic>> | Structuring Builds | 9.0.0
| <<best_practices_structuring_builds.adoc#avoid_empty_projects,Avoid Unintentionally Creating Empty Projects>> | Structuring Builds | 9.1.0
| <<best_practices_structuring_builds.adoc#use_convention_plugins,Use Convention Plugins>> | Structuring Builds | 9.3.0

| <<best_practices_dependencies.adoc#single-gav-string,Single GAV String>> | Dependencies | 8.14
| <<best_practices_dependencies.adoc#use_version_catalogs,Use Version Catalogs to Centralize Dependency Versions>> | Dependencies | 9.0.0
| <<best_practices_dependencies.adoc#name_version_catalog_entries,Name Version Catalog Entries Appropriately>> | Dependencies | 9.0.0
| <<best_practices_dependencies.adoc#set_up_repositories_in_settings,Set up your Dependency Repositories in the Settings file>> | Dependencies | 9.0.0
| <<best_practices_dependencies.adoc#dont_depend_on_kotlin_stdlib,Don’t Explicitly Depend on the Kotlin Standard Library>> | Dependencies | 9.0.0
| <<best_practices_dependencies.adoc#avoid_duplicate_dependencies,Avoid Redundant Dependency Declarations>> | Dependencies | 9.0.0
| <<best_practices_dependencies.adoc#use_content_filtering,Use Content Filtering with multiple Repositories>> | Dependencies | 9.1.0
| <<best_practices_dependencies.adoc#apply_exclusions_narrowly,Apply Exclusions Narrowly>> | Dependencies | 9.2.0

| <<best_practices_tasks.adoc#avoid_depends_on,Avoid DependsOn>> | Task | 8.14
| <<best_practices_tasks.adoc#use_cacheability_annotations, Favor @CacheableTask and @DisableCachingByDefault over cacheIf(Spec) and doNotCacheIf(String, Spec)>> | Task | 8.14
| <<best_practices_tasks.adoc#group_describe_tasks,Group and Describe custom Tasks>> | Task | 9.0.0
| <<best_practices_tasks.adoc#avoid_provider_get_outside_task_action,Do not call `get()` on a Provider outside a Task action>> | Task | 9.1.0
| <<best_practices_tasks.adoc#dont_resolve_configurations_before_task_execution,Don't resolve Configurations before Task Execution>> | Task | 9.1.0
| <<best_practices_tasks.adoc#avoid_eager_file_collection_apis,Avoid using eager APIs on File Collections>> | Task | 9.1.0
| <<best_practices_tasks.adoc#default_path_sensitivities,Prefer `@PathSensitivity.NONE` for file inputs and `@PathSensitivity.RELATIVE` for directories>> | Task | 9.2.0

| <<best_practices_performance.adoc#use_utf8_encoding,Enable UTF‑8>> | Performance | 9.0.0
| <<best_practices_performance.adoc#use_build_cache,Use the Build Cache>> | Performance | 9.1.0
| <<best_practices_performance.adoc#use_configuration_cache,Use the Configuration Cache>> | Performance | 9.1.0
| <<best_practices_performance.adoc#avoid_computations_in_configuration_phase,Avoid Expensive Computations in Configuration Phase>> | Performance | 9.0.0
| <<best_practices_performance.adoc#prefer_bin_distribution,Prefer the `-bin` Gradle Distribution>> | Performance | 9.4.0

| <<best_practices_security.adoc#best_practices_for_security,Validate the Gradle Distribution SHA-256 Checksum>> | Security | 9.1.0
| <<best_practices_security.adoc#validate_wrapper_checksum,Validate the Gradle Wrapper on every Upgrade>> | Security | 9.3.0
|===
