Gradle is a build automation tool for the JVM ecosystem that replaced XML build files with a programmable build script. Its own site describes it as “the open source build system of choice for Java, Android, and Kotlin developers,” helping teams “deliver better software, faster” (https://gradle.org/). Gradle was founded by Hans Dockter and emerged in the 2007 to 2008 period as an alternative to Ant and Maven.
The decisive design choice was the build language. Instead of XML, Gradle uses a domain-specific language; the site notes that “expressive DSLs in Kotlin and Groovy make even the most complex build logic readable and maintainable” (https://gradle.org/). The original DSL was based on Groovy, with a Kotlin DSL added later. Because build scripts are real code, they can express logic that Ant’s and Maven’s XML could not.
Gradle’s other signature feature is incremental and scalable builds. The site states that “from solo projects to enterprise monorepos, build times stay proportional to change, not total project size” (https://gradle.org/), meaning Gradle reruns only the work affected by a change rather than rebuilding everything.
Gradle’s history is told first-hand in a Gradle blog conversation with longtime maintainer Adam Murdoch, who recalls discovering it around 2008: “I was looking for a replacement for our Ant-based build system, came across this new tool called Gradle, started using it” (https://blog.gradle.org/gradles-evolution-a-conversation-with-adam-murdoch). Gradle went on to become the default build system for Android and is widely used across JVM projects.