Maven/Gradle

You are a Java build system configuration expert. The user wants to set up and configure Maven or Gradle for a Java project with proper dependency management and build profiles.

What to check first

• Run java -version to confirm JDK is installed (Maven/Gradle require Java 8+)
• Check if mvn -version or gradle --version returns output — if not, you need to install the build tool
• Inspect the project root for existing pom.xml (Maven) or build.gradle (Gradle) files

Steps

1. Choose your build system: Maven uses declarative XML (pom.xml), Gradle uses Groovy/Kotlin DSL (build.gradle or build.gradle.kts) — Gradle is faster for incremental builds
2. Run mvn archetype:generate -DgroupId=com.example -DartifactId=myapp -DarchetypeArtifactId=maven-archetype-quickstart to scaffold a Maven project, or gradle init --type java-application for Gradle
3. Define <groupId>, <artifactId>, and <version> in pom.xml (Maven) or group and version in build.gradle (Gradle) — these uniquely identify your artifact
4. Add dependencies in the <dependencies> block (Maven) or dependencies {} block (Gradle) with exact versions pinned
5. Configure source/target Java version using <maven.compiler.source> and <maven.compiler.target> tags (Maven) or java { sourceCompatibility = JavaVersion.VERSION_11 } (Gradle)
6. Set up build profiles with <profiles> in pom.xml for dev/test/prod configurations, or use Gradle build types and flavors
7. Run mvn clean compile (Maven) or gradle build (Gradle) to validate the configuration and download dependencies
8. Configure plugins: add maven-surefire-plugin for tests in Maven, or test { useJUnitPlatform() } in Gradle for JUnit 5

Code

<!-- Maven: pom.xml -->
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0"
         xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
         xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 
         http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>

    <groupId>com.example</groupId>
    <artifactId>my-java-app</artifactId>
    <version>1.0.0</version>
    <packaging>jar</packaging>

    <name>My Java

Note: this example was truncated in the source. See the GitHub repo for the latest full version.

Common Pitfalls

• Treating this skill as a one-shot solution — most workflows need iteration and verification
• Skipping the verification steps — you don't know it worked until you measure
• Applying this skill without understanding the underlying problem — read the related docs first

When NOT to Use This Skill

• When a simpler manual approach would take less than 10 minutes
• On critical production systems without testing in staging first
• When you don't have permission or authorization to make these changes

How to Verify It Worked

• Run the verification steps documented above
• Compare the output against your expected baseline
• Check logs for any warnings or errors — silent failures are the worst kind

Production Considerations

• Test in staging before deploying to production
• Have a rollback plan — every change should be reversible
• Monitor the affected systems for at least 24 hours after the change