--- title: First look at Declarative Gradle | daily.dev description: Gradle has released the first Early Access Preview (EAP) of Declarative Gradle, introducing a new Declarative Configuration Language (DCL) with `.gradle.dcl`... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/first-look-at-declarative-gradle-8lyomk4yc twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: First look at Declarative Gradle | daily.dev og:description: Gradle has released the first Early Access Preview (EAP) of Declarative Gradle, introducing a new Declarative Configuration Language (DCL) with `.gradle.dcl`... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/first-look-at-declarative-gradle-8lyomk4yc og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/8LyOmK4yC.png og:image:alt: First look at Declarative Gradle 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. # First look at Declarative Gradle **[Gradle Blog](https://daily.dev/sources/gradle-blog)** · 12 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Gradle has released the first Early Access Preview (EAP) of Declarative Gradle, introducing a new Declarative Configuration Language (DCL) with `.gradle.dcl` files. The DCL is a non-procedural subset of Kotlin syntax that forbids loops, conditionals, and arbitrary code, making builds faster to parse and easier for IDEs to understand. A key concept is 'software types' — higher-level abstractions (e.g., javaApplication, javaLibrary) that separate developer concerns from build engineer concerns, reducing boilerplate and eliminating the need for convention plugins in common scenarios. The EAP includes basic Android Studio support with syntax highlighting and code completion, plus a Gradle Client GUI demonstrating model inspection and 'mutations' — programmatic changes to build configuration like adding dependencies or upgrading versions. Future plans include AGP compatibility without extra plugins, Kotlin Multiplatform support, and IDE integration with IntelliJ IDEA, VS Code, and Eclipse. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Three Gradle Talks from KotlinConf 2026 \(and What to Steal from Each\)](https://daily.dev/posts/three-gradle-talks-from-kotlinconf-2026-and-what-to-steal-from-each--wpsaetrq7) · Gradle Blog · 1 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#kotlin](https://daily.dev/tags/kotlin), [#android-studio](https://daily.dev/tags/android-studio), [#gradle](https://daily.dev/tags/gradle) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/first-look-at-declarative-gradle-8lyomk4yc) ```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":"First look at Declarative Gradle","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/first-look-at-declarative-gradle-8lyomk4yc","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/first-look-at-declarative-gradle-8lyomk4yc"},"datePublished":"2026-03-16T08:12:52.148Z","dateModified":"2026-03-16T08:13:43.140Z","description":"Gradle has released the first Early Access Preview (EAP) of Declarative Gradle, introducing a new Declarative Configuration Language (DCL) with `.gradle.dcl`...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/7a5983a796e94642614b81471cfe22b3?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/7a5983a796e94642614b81471cfe22b3?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Gradle 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":"Gradle Blog","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--Mtc4Cp4O--/f_auto,q_auto/v1773648768/logos/gradle-blog?_a=BAMAMiiu0","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/gradle-blog"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/first-look-at-declarative-gradle-8lyomk4yc","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"kotlin,android-studio,gradle","timeRequired":"PT12M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Gradle Blog","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/gradle-blog"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"First look at Declarative Gradle"}]} ```