The build.gradle file

See how IntelliJ IDEA makes it easier to work with Gradle's configuration file.

Let's take a look at the build.gradle file IntelliJ IDEA generated for us.

plugins {
    id 'java'
}

group 'org.example'
version '1.0-SNAPSHOT'

repositories {
    mavenCentral()
}

dependencies {
    testImplementation 'org.junit.jupiter:junit-jupiter-api:5.7.0'
    testRuntimeOnly 'org.junit.jupiter:junit-jupiter-engine:1.7.0'
}

test {
    useJUnitPlatform()
}

In the plugins section we have the java plugin. The metadata underneath this is the group and version information that we left as the defaults. We're using Maven Central as the default dependency repository.

IntelliJ IDEA has set us up with a couple of default dependencies that we probably need for the project. We have JUnit 5, specifically 5.7 at the time of recording, set up as a test dependency. We also have junit-jupiter-engine, since we need this to run any JUnit 5 tests that we write.

Note that IntelliJ IDEA uses the updated configuration names for the dependencies, for example testImplementation instead of testCompile. It also uses the compact form for dependency declaration, with the group name, artifact name and version number separated by colons.

In order for Gradle to run JUnit 5 tests, the test section of the build.gradle file needs to say useJUnitPlatform, so IntelliJ IDEA has generated this for us too.

Now that we know where the dependencies should be declared for a Gradle project, let's look at how to add or update dependencies.