Gradle Kit

A collection of Gradle plugins that streamline Java project development and publication to Maven Central Repository via Sonatype.

Overview

Gradle Kit provides four convention plugins designed to simplify CI/CD workflows for Java projects. These plugins automatically configure standard Gradle functionality with sensible defaults while allowing customization through environment variables, system properties, or project properties.

Key Features:

• Automatic configuration of Java compiler versions and toolchains
• Integrated code quality tools (JaCoCo, SpotBugs, Javadoc)
• Simplified Maven Central publishing via Sonatype’s new API
• In-memory GPG signing for secure CI/CD pipelines
• CI/CD optimized with GitHub Actions support
• Flexible configuration via environment variables or project properties

Plugins

java-kit

Java Kit Plugin

Extends Gradle’s standard java plugin with automatic configuration for modern Java projects.

Features:

• Automatically applies the java plugin
• Configures Java compiler, source, and target versions (default: Java 17)
• Integrates JaCoCo for code coverage reporting
• Adds SpotBugs for static analysis
• Configures Javadoc generation with modern styling
• Supports version tagging for releases
• Supports environment variable, system property, and project property overrides

Usage:

plugins {
    id 'io.github.jonloucks.java-kit' version '1.2.2'
}

java-library-kit

Java Library Kit Plugin

Extends Gradle’s java-library plugin with the same automatic configuration as java-kit, optimized for library projects.

Features:

• Automatically applies the java-library plugin
• Configures Java compiler, source, and target versions (default: Java 17)
• Integrates JaCoCo for code coverage reporting
• Adds SpotBugs for static analysis
• Configures Javadoc generation with modern styling
• Supports version tagging for releases
• Supports environment variable, system property, and project property overrides

Usage:

plugins {
    id 'io.github.jonloucks.java-library-kit' version '1.2.2'
}

maven-publish-kit

Maven Publish Kit Plugin

Simplifies publishing to Maven Central Repository via Sonatype’s new Central Publishing API.

Features:

• Automatically applies the maven-publish plugin
• Creates staging repositories for deployments
• Generates publication bundles for Sonatype Central
• Uploads bundles via REST API to https://central.sonatype.com/publishing
• Configures checksums and metadata
• Supports environment variable, system property, and project property overrides

Usage:

plugins {
    id 'io.github.jonloucks.maven-publish-kit' version '1.2.2'
}

Tasks:

• createPublisherBundle - Creates a ZIP bundle of all publications
• uploadPublisherBundle - Uploads the bundle to Sonatype Central

signing-kit

Signing Kit Plugin

Handles GPG signing for Maven publications using in-memory keys, ideal for CI/CD environments.

Features:

• Automatically applies the signing plugin
• Uses in-memory PGP keys for secure signing in CI/CD
• No need to store keyring files on build servers
• Supports environment variable, system property, and project property overrides

Usage:

plugins {
    id 'io.github.jonloucks.signing-kit' version '1.2.2'
}

Configuration: Provide GPG credentials via environment variables:

• KIT_GPG_SECRET_KEY - ASCII-armored private key
• KIT_GPG_SECRET_KEY_PASSWORD - Key password

Quick Start

For Application Projects

plugins {
    id 'io.github.jonloucks.java-kit' version '1.2.2'
    id 'io.github.jonloucks.maven-publish-kit' version '1.2.2'
    id 'io.github.jonloucks.signing-kit' version '1.2.2'
}

For Library Projects

plugins {
    id 'io.github.jonloucks.java-library-kit' version '1.2.2'
    id 'io.github.jonloucks.maven-publish-kit' version '1.2.2'
    id 'io.github.jonloucks.signing-kit' version '1.2.2'
}

CI/CD Example (GitHub Actions)

- name: Build and Publish
  run: ./gradlew check jacocoTestReport publish createPublisherBundle uploadPublisherBundle
  env:
    KIT_PROJECT_WORKFLOW: 'main-release'
    KIT_GPG_SECRET_KEY: $
    KIT_GPG_SECRET_KEY_PASSWORD: $
    KIT_OSSRH_USERNAME: $
    KIT_OSSRH_PASSWORD: $

• License
• Contributing
• Code of conduct
• Coding standards
• Security policy
• Pull request template
• Variables
• How to use Java API
• Java test coverage report

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