Agp 9 Upgrade

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Android Gradle plugin 9.0 is a major release that brings API and behavior changes.

To update to Android Gradle plugin 9.0.1, use the Android Gradle plugin Upgrade Assistant. The AGP upgrade assistant helps preserve existing behaviors when upgrading your project whenever appropriate, so you can upgrade your project to use AGP 9.0 even if you're not ready to adopt all the new defaults in AGP 9.0.

There are also two agent skills available to make the upgrade process easier. For a non-KMP app, try the AGP 9 upgrade skill from the Android skills repository. For a KMP app, try the AGP 9 upgrade skill from JetBrains. For more information about using skills in Android Studio, see Extend Agent Mode with skills.

Compatibility

The maximum API level that Android Gradle plugin 9.0 supports is API level 36.1. Here is other compatibility info:

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The android DSL classes now only implement the new public interfaces

Over the last several years, we have introduced new interfaces for our DSL and API in order to better control which APIs are public. AGP versions 7.x and 8.x still used the old DSL types (for example BaseExtension) which also implemented the new public interfaces, in order to maintain compatibility as work progressed on the interfaces.

AGP 9.0 uses our new DSL interfaces exclusively, and the implementations have changed to new types that are fully hidden. This also removes access to the old, deprecated variant API.

To update to AGP 9.0, you might need to do the following:

• Ensure your project is compatible with built-in Kotlin: The org.jetbrains.kotlin.android plugin is not compatible with the new DSL.

• Switch KMP projects to the Android Gradle Library Plugin for KMP: Using the org.jetbrains.kotlin.multiplatform plugin in the same Gradle subproject as the com.android.library and com.android.application plugins is not compatible with the new DSL.

  [!NOTE] Note: The new KMP integration does not support using KMP and the Android Application plugin in the same Gradle subproject. To migrate, extract your Android app to a separate subproject.

• Update your build files: While the change of interfaces is meant to keep the DSL as similar as possible, there might be some small changes.

• Update your custom build logic to reference the new DSL and API: Replace any references to the internal DSL with the public DSL interfaces. In most cases this will be a one-to-one replacement. Replace any use of the applicationVariants and similar APIs with the new androidComponents API. This might be more complex, as the androidComponents API is designed to be more stable to keep plugins compatible longer. Check our Gradle Recipes for examples.

• Update third-party plugins: Some third-party plugins might still depend on interfaces or APIs that are no longer exposed. Migrate to versions of those plugins which are compatible with AGP 9.0.

The switch to the new DSL interfaces prevents plugins and Gradle build scripts using various deprecated APIs, including:

If you update to AGP 9.0 and see the following error message, it means that your project is still referencing some of the old types:

java.lang.ClassCastException: class com.android.build.gradle.internal.dsl.ApplicationExtensionImpl$AgpDecorated_Decorated
cannot be cast to class com.android.build.gradle.BaseExtension

If you are blocked by incompatible third-party plugins, you can opt out and get back the old implementations for the DSL, as well as the old variant API. While doing this, the new interfaces are also available, and you can still update your own build logic to the new API. To opt out, include this line in your gradle.properties file:

android.newDsl=false

Alternatively, for a more gradual migration, AGP 9.4 lets you opt out individual modules. To learn how, see Variant API module opt-out.

The previous classes are marked as deprecated in AGP 9.0. This means projects that opt out of the newDsl flag will see deprecation warnings, including on the android block itself.

[!CAUTION] Caution: The ability to opt-out will be removed in AGP 10.0 (mid-2026).

You can also start upgrading to the new APIs before upgrading to AGP 9.0. The new interfaces have been present for many AGP versions and so you can have a mix of new and old. The AGP API reference docs show the API surface for each AGP version, and when each class, method and field was added.

We're reaching out to the authors of commonly used plugins to help them adapt and release plugins that are fully compatible with the new modes, and will continue to enhance the AGP Upgrade Assistant in Android Studio to guide you through the migration.

If you find that the new DSL or Variant API are missing capabilities or features, please file an issue as soon as possible.

Built-in Kotlin

Android Gradle plugin 9.0 introduces built-in Kotlin support and enables it by default. That means you no longer have to apply the org.jetbrains.kotlin.android (or kotlin-android) plugin in your build files to compile Kotlin source files. This simplifies the Kotlin integration with AGP, avoids the use of deprecated APIs, and improves performance in some cases.

Therefore, when you upgrade your project to AGP 9.0, you need to also migrate to built-in Kotlin or opt out.

You can also selectively disable built-in Kotlin support for Gradle subprojects that don't have Kotlin sources.

Runtime dependency on Kotlin Gradle plugin

To provide built-in Kotlin support, Android Gradle plugin 9.0 now has a runtime dependency on Kotlin Gradle plugin (KGP) 2.2.10. That means you no longer have to declare a KGP version, and if you use a KGP version lower than 2.2.10, Gradle will automatically upgrade your KGP version to 2.2.10. Likewise, if you use a KSP version lower than 2.2.10-2.0.2, AGP will upgrade it to 2.2.10-2.0.2 to match the KGP version.

Upgrade to a higher KGP version

To use a higher version of KGP or KSP, add the following to your top-level build file:

buildscript {
    dependencies {
        // For KGP
        classpath("org.jetbrains.kotlin:kotlin-gradle-plugin:KGP_VERSION")

        // For KSP
        classpath("com.google.devtools.ksp:symbol-processing-gradle-plugin:KSP_VERSION")
    }
}

Downgrade to a lower KGP version

You can only downgrade the KGP version if you've opted out of built-in Kotlin. This is because AGP 9.0 enables built-in Kotlin by default, and built-in Kotlin requires KGP 2.2.10 or higher.

To use a lower version of KGP or KSP, declare that version in your top-level build file using a strict version declaration:

buildscript {
    dependencies {
        // For KGP
        classpath("org.jetbrains.kotlin:kotlin-gradle-plugin") {
            version { strictly("KGP_VERSION") }
        }

        // For KSP
        classpath("com.google.devtools.ksp:symbol-processing-gradle-plugin") {
            version { strictly("KSP_VERSION") }
        }
    }
}

Note that the minimum KGP version you can downgrade to is 2.0.0.

[!CAUTION] Caution: When you downgrade the KGP version, your project might not be compatible with future minor releases of AGP 9, and it might not work with test fixtures.

IDE support for test fixtures

AGP 9.0 brings full Android Studio IDE support for test fixtures.

Fused Library Plugin

The Fused Library Plugin (Preview) lets you publish multiple libraries as a single Android Library AAR. This can make it easier for your users to depend on your published artifacts.

For information about getting started, see Publish multiple Android libraries as one with Fused Library.

Behavior changes

Android Gradle plugin 9.0 has the following new behaviors:

AGP 9.0 includes updates to the following Gradle properties' defaults. This gives you the choice to preserve the AGP 8.13 behavior when upgrading:

Removed features

Android Gradle plugin 9.0 removes the following functionality:

• Embedded Wear OS app support
  AGP 9.0 removes support for embedding Wear OS apps, which is no longer supported in Play. This includes removing the wearApp configurations and the AndroidSourceSet.wearAppConfigurationName DSL. See Distribute to Wear OS for how to publish your app to Wear OS.

• androidDependencies and sourceSets report task

• Density split APK support
  AGP 9.0 removes support for creating split APKs based on screen density. The functionality and the related APIs have been removed. To split APKs based on screen density using AGP 9.0 or higher, use app bundles.

Changed DSL

Android Gradle plugin 9.0 has the following breaking DSL changes:

• The parameterization of CommonExtension has been removed.

  In itself, this is only a source-level breaking change to help avoid future source-level breaking changes, but it also means that the block methods need to move from CommonExtension to ApplicationExtension, LibraryExtension, DynamicFeatureExtension and TestExtension.

  When upgrading your project to AGP 9.0, refactor Gradle plugin code which uses those parameters or the block methods. For example the following plugin is updated to remove the type parameter and not rely on the removed block methods:

  AGP 8.13

  Copy

  val commonExtension: CommonExtension<*, *, *, *, *, *> =
          extensions.getByType(CommonExtension::class)
  commonExtension.apply {
      defaultConfig {
          minSdk {
              version = release(28)
          }
      }
  }

  AGP 9.0

  Copy

  val commonExtension: CommonExtension =
          extensions.getByType(CommonExtension::class)
  commonExtension.apply {
      defaultConfig.apply {
          minSdk {
              version = release(28)
          }
      }
  }

  For plugins which target a range of AGP versions, using the getter directly is binary compatible with AGP versions lower than 9.0.

Removed DSL

Android Gradle plugin 9.0 removes:

• AndroidSourceSet.jni, because it was not functional.

• AndroidSourceSet.wearAppConfigurationName, as it relates to the removed embedded Wear OS app support.

• BuildType.isRenderscriptDebuggable, because it was not functional.

• DependencyVariantSelection. It is replaced By DependencySelection, which is exposed as kotlin.android.localDependencySelection

• Installation.installOptions(String). It is replaced by the mutable property of Installation.installOptions.

• The experimental, but never stabilized PostProcessing block.

• ProductFlavor.setDimension, which is replaced by the dimension property

• LanguageSplitOptions, which was only useful for Google Play Instant, which is deprecated.

• DensitySplit, because the feature is no longer supported. Replacement is to use App Bundles.

Removed APIs

Android Gradle plugin 9.0 removes:

• AndroidComponentsExtension.finalizeDSl. It is replaced by finalizeDsl

• Component.transformClassesWith. It is replaced by Instrumentation.transformClassesWith

• Component.setAsmFramesComputationMode. It is replaced by Instrumentation.setAsmFramesComputationMode

• ComponentBuilder.enabled. It is replaced by ComponentBuilder.enable.

• DependenciesInfoBuilder.includedInApk. Is is replaced by includeInApk

• DependenciesInfoBuilder.includedInBundle. Is is replaced by includeInBundle

• GeneratesApk.targetSdkVersion. Is is replaced by targetSdk

• Variant.minSdkVersion. Is is replaced by minSdk

• Variant.maxSdkVersion. Is is replaced by maxSdk

• Variant.targetSdkVersion. Is is replaced by targetSdk

• Variant.unitTest, as it was not applicable to the com.android.test plugin. unitTest is available on VariantBuilder subtypes extending HasUnitTest.

• VariantBuilder.targetSdk and targetSdkPreview, as they were not meaningful in libraries. Use GeneratesApkBuilder.targetSdk or GeneratesApkBuilder.targetSdkPreview instead.

• VariantBuilder.enableUnitTest, as it was not applicable to the com.android.test plugin. enableUnitTest is available on VariantBuilder subtypes extending HasUnitTestBuilder.

• VariantBuilder.unitTestEnabled is removed in favor of the more consistently named enableUnitTest on the VariantBuilder subtypes extending HasUnitTestBuilder.

• VariantOutput.enable. Is is replaced by enabled

• The deprecated and disabled FeaturePlugin and FeatureExtension.

• The deprecated and disabled BaseExtension.registerTransform APIs, which only remained to allow compiling against the latest AGP version while targeting running on AGP 4.2 or lower.

Removed Gradle properties

The following Gradle properties were initially added as ways to globally disable features that were enabled by default.

These features have been disabled by default since AGP 8.0 or lower. Enable these features in only the sub-projects that use them for a more efficient build.

Enforced Gradle properties

AGP 9.0 throws an error if you set the following Gradle properties.

The Android Gradle plugin Upgrade Assistant won't upgrade projects to AGP 9.0 that use these properties.

R8 changes

The following R8 changes are included in AGP 9.0.0.

New configuration option -processkotlinnullchecks

We've added the new R8 option -processkotlinnullchecks to configure R8 for processing Kotlin null checks. The option takes a mandatory argument that must be one of the following three values: keep, remove_message and remove. The option processes the following null checks added by the Kotlin compiler:

class kotlin.jvm.internal.Intrinsics {
  void checkNotNull(java.lang.Object);
  void checkNotNull(java.lang.Object, java.lang.String);
  void checkExpressionValueIsNotNull(
      java.lang.Object, java.lang.String);
  void checkNotNullExpressionValue(
      java.lang.Object, java.lang.String);
  void checkReturnedValueIsNotNull(
      java.lang.Object, java.lang.String);
  void checkReturnedValueIsNotNull(
      java.lang.Object, java.lang.String, java.lang.String);
  void checkFieldIsNotNull(java.lang.Object, java.lang.String);
  void checkFieldIsNotNull(
      java.lang.Object, java.lang.String, java.lang.String);
  void checkParameterIsNotNull(java.lang.Object, java.lang.String);
  void checkNotNullParameter(java.lang.Object, java.lang.String);
}

The option values, ordered from the weakest to the strongest, have the following effect:

• keep doesn't change the checks.

• remove_message rewrites each check method call to a call to getClass() on the first argument of the call (effectively keeping the null check, but without any message).

• remove completely removes the checks.

By default R8 uses remove_message. Any specification of -processkotlinnullchecks will override that. If specified multiple times the strongest value is used.

Stop propagating keep info to companion methods

When keep rules match interface methods that are subject to desugaring, R8 previously internally transferred the disallow optimization and disallow shrinking bits to the synthesized companion methods.

Starting with AGP 9.0, keep rules no longer apply to companion methods. This is consistent with the fact that keep rules are not applicable to other compiler synthesized fields/methods/classes.

By transferring the disallow optimization and disallow shrinking bits to the companion methods, the following use case was previously supported:

1. Compile a library with default/static/private interface methods to DEX with minSdk < 24 and rules that keep the interface methods.

2. Compile an app with the library on classpath and -applymapping.

3. Merge the app and the library.

Note that this only works with -applymapping since the disallow obfuscation bit is not transferred to the companion methods---that is, the companion classes generated from step 1 would have obfuscated method names.

Going forward this use case is no longer supported for minSdk < 24. The workaround is to do the following:

1. Desugar the library with default/static/private interface methods to class files with minSdk < 24.

2. Compile the desugared artifact using R8 and rules that keep the interface methods on the companion classes.

3. Compile the app with the library on classpath.

4. Merge the app and the desugared artifact.

Another side effect of this is that it is no longer possible to keep the inner class and enclosing method attributes for anonymous and local classes inside interface companion methods.

Change the default emitted source file to r8-map-id-<MAP_ID>

This change is in AGP starting from 8.12.0.

The default emitted source file attribute for a class changes from SourceFile to r8-map-id-<MAP_ID> when retracing is required (that is, when either obfuscation or optimization is enabled).

Given an obfuscated stack trace, the new source file attribute makes it possible to extract the ID of the mapping file that is required for retracing, which can be used to support automated retracing of stack traces in Logcat.

If a custom source file attribute is used (-renamesourcefileattribute) this custom source file attribute continues to take precedence.

In ProGuard compatibility mode (when gradle.properties contains android.enableR8.fullMode=false), emitting a source file attribute of r8-map-id-<MAP_ID> only takes effect if the SourceFile attribute is not kept. Apps that use ProGuard compatibility mode and want to include the mapping file ID in their stack traces should remove -keepattributes SourceFile (or migrate to R8 full mode).

The map ID used in r8-map-id-<MAP_ID> is the full map hash, and not a 7 character prefix of the map hash which was previously used.

Enable use of minimized synthetic names in L8 desugaring

The name of synthetic classes generated by D8 normally contains the substring $$ExternalSynthetic that tells you that this is a synthetic generated by D8. Moreover, the name of the synthetic also encodes the synthetic kind (for example, Backport, Lambda). This has a negative impact on the resulting DEX size, since the class names take up more space in the string pool.

AGP 9.0 configures L8 (core library desugaring) so that the DEX file containing all j$ classes uses a new shortened class name format for synthetic classes. The new class name uses a numeric ID (for example, $1).

Remove support for -addconfigurationdebugging

AGP 9.0 removes support for -addconfigurationdebugging. The compiler now reports a warning if the flag is used.

Remove support for generating L8 rules from D8/R8

This change is only relevant for developers using the D8/R8 command line or APIs directly.

R8 9.0 removes support for generating keep rules for L8 from D8 and R8. You should instead use TraceReferences for this purpose.

More specifically, the methods D8Command.builder.setDesugaredLibraryKeepRuleConsumer and R8Command.Builder.setDesugaredLibraryKeepRuleConsumer are removed, and the support for --desugared-lib-pg-conf-output is removed from the command line options of D8 and R8.

Fixed issues

Android Gradle plugin 9.0.0

Fixed Issues Android Gradle Plugin Issue #171293712 Feature Request: Inject ideal AGP version as a property Issue #443976533 Stabilize SingleArtifact.VERSION_CONTROL_INFO_FILE Issue #223643506 androidTest connectedCheck logcat output is broken Issue #386221070 Built-in Kotlin support in AGP should not synchronize with the Kotlin sourcesets Issue #460094802 missingDimensionStrategy prefers a flavor maching its own name even from an unrelated dimension Issue #386221070 Built-in Kotlin support in AGP should not synchronize with the Kotlin sourcesets Issue #471410336 AGP 9.0.0-rc01 doesn't resolve Kotlin libraries via kotlin() function Issue #450851465 Built-in-kotlin does not publish kotlin-stdlib dependency constraint in maven pom Issue #420592288 Add a test case for divergence between compileSdk and targetSdk Issue #449153004 empty resConfigs value leads to obscure aapt error Issue #447375921 Pure Java project have dependency on kotlin stdlib. Issue #368600704 Remove deprecated KotlinMultiplatformAndroidCompilationBuilder properties in AGP 9.0 Issue #445209309 `com.android.tools.build:gradle:9.0.0-alpha05` should have an api dependency on KGP and gradle-api Issue #452645779 Rename com.android.experimental.built-in-kotlin Gradle plugin Issue #446220448 AGP9: `variant.sources.kotlin!!.addGeneratedSourceDirectory()` is not working Issue #448450771 Aar metadata checks on compile Sdk uses the old DSL Issue #441523448 Remove deprecated `com.android.build.api.dsl.ManagedDevices.devices` property Issue #386221070 Built-in Kotlin support in AGP should not synchronize with the Kotlin sourcesets Issue #433758231 Fail android library publishing if consumer keep file contains -dontobfuscate Issue #241955408 No Options to Print Mapping for Optimized Resources Issue #436595826 Make it an error to call finalizeDsl after this phase has been passed Issue #457089670 AGP initializes jetifier config even when jetifier is disabled Issue #452246814 built in kotlin does not add kotlinStdlib as a compile time dependency when `kotlin.stdlib.default.dependency` is true to module and pom files Issue #442250902 New optimizaation DSL does not create configuration.txt by default Issue #443587266 AGP 8.13.0 fails to verify nav graph in a module Issue #444260628 AGP uses deprecated Gradle API: multi-string notation Issue #347732357 Warn users trying to use legacy multidex library with minSdkVersion >=21 Issue #333831734 A build fails if there are code generation tasks Issue #446123111 With `android.builtInKotlin=false` and `android.newDsl=false` and `android.enableLegacyVariantApi=false`, using `kotlin-android` plugin will fail with "API 'applicationVariants' is obsolete" Issue #443037365 Built-in Kotlin fails to resolve unversioned kotlin-stdlib when kotlin.stdlib.default.dependency=false Issue #445967244 DexData opens a file without closing, preventing cleanup Issue #368609737 AndroidSourceDirectorySet should stop extending PatternFilterable in AGP 9.0 Issue #389707041 Test Fixture Error in test only modules Issue #353249347 Incorrect error when using context receivers in test fixtures Issue #351046197 Incorrect IDE errors for Kotlin code in testFixtures Issue #446889652 `legacy-kapt` plugin skips annotation processing unlike `kotlin-kapt` Issue #446492061 compileSdkSpec.minorApiLevel is not working with SettingsExtension Issue #429253579 [fused lib - public] Generated fused library does not include sources Issue #149770867 extractNativeLibs and useEmbeddedDex should not be coming from the manifest Issue #449114518 Warnings from R8 in AGP 9.0.0-alpha09 Issue #368426598 Remove deprecated AndroidSourceSet.jni in AGP 9.0 Issue #368484483 Remove Installation.installOptions() in AGP 9.0 Issue #368482484 Remove BuildType.isRenderscriptDebuggable in AGP 9.0. Issue #428646179 Remove android.defaults.buildfeatures.renderscript Issue #436887358 `com.android.kotlin.multiplatform.library` crashes with Gradle Managed Devices Issue #428645763 Remove `android.defaults.buildfeatures.aidl` defaults gradle.properties flags Issue #294183018 Fail build when proguard file does not exist Issue #254305041 remove buildconfig defaults gradle.properties flags Issue #280674230 Change the app's targetSdk default value to be based on compileSdk instead of minSdk Issue #436878535 When `isIncludeAndroidResources` is enabled, `process{Variant}UnitTestManifest` fails to merge tools:overrideLibrary usages in AGP 8.12.0 Issue #411739086 AGP causing deprecation warnings in Gradle for JVM test tasks Issue #235457021 DependencyReportTask is incompatible with the configuration cache Issue #369246556 Switch default source/target Java version from Java 8 to Java 11 in AGP 9.0 Issue #258855275 Flip android.useAndroidX default to true Issue #442763200 Better exception when applying kapt plugin with built-in Kotlin. Issue #441679226 android.proguard.failOnMissingFiles is not working for consumerProguardFiles Issue #443051391 Update Kotlin Gradle plugin dependency to 2.2.10 Issue #429981132 Create KotlinJvmAndroidCompilation using KGP API Issue #442869731 Kotlin explicit API mode applied to test sources Lint Issue #430991549 AGP 8.11.0: lintAnalyzeRelease task crashes when applying .gradle.kts files with apply(from = "...") Issue #441536820 Lint ChecksSdkIntAtLeast Check does not check if the annotated value is correct Issue #446696613 Built-in Kotlin does not add .kotlin_module to META-INF Issue #449031505 Lint classpath contains duplicate classes at different versions Issue #448148350 Overriding private resources workaround not working (tools:override = "true") Issue #405676712 Bug: removal of unused resources doesn't also remove the translations of them, and doesn't ask about it either Issue #440415636 Lint throwing warning "Could not clean up K2 caches" Issue #440415636 Lint throwing warning "Could not clean up K2 caches" Lint Integration Issue #460068798 AndroidLintAnalysisTask cache misses across different JDK vendors or minor versions due to systemPropertyInputs.javaVersion differences Issue #444447002 Lint automatically uses latest installed SDK despite compileSdk, doesn't register as task input and breaks caching Shrinker (R8) Issue #454927488 R8 optimized resource shrinking silently fails if using final resource IDs

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