--- title: Buck - life is too short to spend a minute for each build description: A developer compares Ant, Gradle, and Buck build systems for Android development, sharing benchmark numbers showing Buck is roughly 10x faster for clean,... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/buck---life-is-too-short-to-spend-a-minute-for-each-build-bc64atnc4 twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Buck - life is too short to spend a minute for each build | daily.dev og:description: A developer compares Ant, Gradle, and Buck build systems for Android development, sharing benchmark numbers showing Buck is roughly 10x faster for clean,... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/buck---life-is-too-short-to-spend-a-minute-for-each-build-bc64atnc4 og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/bC64ATnc4.png og:image:alt: Buck - life is too short to spend a minute for each build og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Buck - life is too short to spend a minute for each build **[zserge's blog](https://daily.dev/sources/zserge)** · 6 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A developer compares Ant, Gradle, and Buck build systems for Android development, sharing benchmark numbers showing Buck is roughly 10x faster for clean, incremental, and no-op builds. Buck's speed comes from keeping the JVM running via nailgun, threading, caching, and an optimized dx utility, but it suffers from outdated documentation, a small community, no Windows support, and manual dependency setup. The author shares a Bash script called Buckbone that generates Buck Android project skeletons, including experimental Kotlin support that cut Kotlin build times from over a minute (with Gradle) to 15 seconds. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### How much faster is Buck compared to Gradle for Android incremental builds? Buck incremental builds took about 0.8 seconds compared to 12-30 seconds with Gradle in one developer's testing on a small Android project. For a larger 3000 LOC project, Buck took 3 seconds versus Gradle's 30 seconds, roughly a 10x speedup across clean, incremental, and no-op builds. _Developers weighing Android build tools can compare real-world speed tradeoffs like these on daily.dev._ ### What are the downsides of using the Buck build system for Android development? Buck has outdated documentation, a small community with few Stack Overflow answers or tutorials, no Windows support, and requires manually writing build scripts including downloading dependencies and creating rules pointing to JARs yourself. It also lacks a plugin system, making it hard to extend for languages like Kotlin, Scala, or Clojure. _Teams evaluating unfamiliar build tools can weigh tradeoffs like these before adopting on daily.dev._ ### How does using Kotlin with Buck compare to Kotlin with Gradle for Android build times? Kotlin builds with Gradle took over one minute, while switching to Buck reduced that to about 15 seconds using an experimental buckbonekotlin generator. Manually running nailgun for the Kotlin compiler pushed build time down to roughly 5 seconds, though that setup relied on hardcoded paths unsuitable for general use. _Developers optimizing Kotlin Android build times can track workarounds like these on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Scaling Developer Experience: How We Improved Android Studio in a Large Monorepo](https://daily.dev/posts/scaling-developer-experience-how-we-improved-android-studio-in-a-large-monorepo-c27iviirr) · Grab Tech Blog · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Tech Notes: The smallest build system](https://daily.dev/posts/tech-notes-the-smallest-build-system-ru2fjysp4) · Lobsters · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Kotlin Multiplatform iOS build times: what's actually driving the cost](https://daily.dev/posts/kotlin-multiplatform-ios-build-times-what-s-actually-driving-the-cost-2nsnkix7k) · John O'Reilly · 5 upvotes · 0 comments - [Faster Than Ninja](https://daily.dev/posts/faster-than-ninja-6ikxtjizq) · Hacker News · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#android](https://daily.dev/tags/android), [#kotlin](https://daily.dev/tags/kotlin), [#gradle](https://daily.dev/tags/gradle), [#build-systems](https://daily.dev/tags/build-systems) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/buck---life-is-too-short-to-spend-a-minute-for-each-build-bc64atnc4) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Buck - life is too short to spend a minute for each build","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/buck---life-is-too-short-to-spend-a-minute-for-each-build-bc64atnc4","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/buck---life-is-too-short-to-spend-a-minute-for-each-build-bc64atnc4"},"datePublished":"2026-08-23T10:20:15.027Z","dateModified":"2026-08-23T10:21:11.177Z","description":"A developer compares Ant, Gradle, and Buck build systems for Android development, sharing benchmark numbers showing Buck is roughly 10x faster for clean,...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--foaA6JGU--/f_auto/v1722860399/public/Placeholder%2004","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--foaA6JGU--/f_auto/v1722860399/public/Placeholder%2004","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"zserge's blog","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"zserge's blog","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--KQnFBOIT--/f_auto,q_auto/v1787480407/logos/zserge","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/zserge"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/buck---life-is-too-short-to-spend-a-minute-for-each-build-bc64atnc4","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"android,kotlin,gradle,build-systems","timeRequired":"PT6M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"zserge's blog","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/zserge"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Buck - life is too short to spend a minute for each build"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/buck---life-is-too-short-to-spend-a-minute-for-each-build-bc64atnc4#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"How much faster is Buck compared to Gradle for Android incremental builds?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Buck incremental builds took about 0.8 seconds compared to 12-30 seconds with Gradle in one developer's testing on a small Android project. For a larger 3000 LOC project, Buck took 3 seconds versus Gradle's 30 seconds, roughly a 10x speedup across clean, incremental, and no-op builds. Developers weighing Android build tools can compare real-world speed tradeoffs like these on daily.dev."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"What are the downsides of using the Buck build system for Android development?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Buck has outdated documentation, a small community with few Stack Overflow answers or tutorials, no Windows support, and requires manually writing build scripts including downloading dependencies and creating rules pointing to JARs yourself. It also lacks a plugin system, making it hard to extend for languages like Kotlin, Scala, or Clojure. Teams evaluating unfamiliar build tools can weigh tradeoffs like these before adopting on daily.dev."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"How does using Kotlin with Buck compare to Kotlin with Gradle for Android build times?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Kotlin builds with Gradle took over one minute, while switching to Buck reduced that to about 15 seconds using an experimental buckbonekotlin generator. Manually running nailgun for the Kotlin compiler pushed build time down to roughly 5 seconds, though that setup relied on hardcoded paths unsuitable for general use. Developers optimizing Kotlin Android build times can track workarounds like these on daily.dev."}}]} ```