Gradle Repositories in JFrog Artifactory

← Back to JFrog Tutorials

---

JFrog Artifactory provides full Gradle (Maven-compatible) repository support. Gradle projects can resolve dependencies from Artifactory and publish artifacts — making it the central hub for all Java/Kotlin/Android build artifacts in your organization.

All steps use JFrog SaaS at https://<company>.jfrog.io.

---

What You'll Build

gradle-dev-local       [LOCAL]  → snapshot/dev builds from Gradle
gradle-libs-local      [LOCAL]  → stable Gradle artifacts
gradle-central-remote  [REMOTE] → proxy of Maven Central + Gradle plugin portal
gradle-virtual         [VIRTUAL]→ single URL for all Gradle projects

---

Step 1: Create Local Repositories

Development builds: 1. Go to Administration → Repositories → + New Repository 2. Select Local → Gradle 3. Repository Key: gradle-dev-local 4. Handle Snapshots: ✅ | Handle Releases: ❌ 5. Click Create

Stable/release artifacts: 1. Repeat — Key: gradle-libs-local 2. Handle Releases: ✅ | Handle Snapshots: ❌

---

Step 2: Create a Remote Repository — Maven Central + Gradle Plugins

1. Go to Administration → Repositories → + New Repository
2. Select Remote → Gradle
3. Repository Key: gradle-central-remote
4. URL: https://repo1.maven.org/maven2
5. Click Create Remote Repository

Create a second one for the Gradle Plugin Portal: 1. Repository Key: gradle-plugins-remote 2. URL: https://plugins.gradle.org/m2

---

Step 3: Create a Virtual Repository

1. Go to Administration → Repositories → + New Repository
2. Select Virtual → Gradle
3. Repository Key: gradle-virtual
4. Add repositories:
5. gradle-libs-local
6. gradle-dev-local
7. gradle-central-remote
8. gradle-plugins-remote
9. Default Deployment Repository: gradle-dev-local
10. Click Create Virtual Repository

---

Step 4: Configure build.gradle for JFrog SaaS

Resolve dependencies from JFrog:

// build.gradle (Groovy DSL)
repositories {
    maven {
        url "https://<company>.jfrog.io/artifactory/gradle-virtual"
        credentials {
            username = project.findProperty("jfrogUser") ?: System.getenv("JFROG_USER")
            password = project.findProperty("jfrogToken") ?: System.getenv("JFROG_TOKEN")
        }
    }
}

Kotlin DSL (build.gradle.kts):

repositories {
    maven {
        url = uri("https://<company>.jfrog.io/artifactory/gradle-virtual")
        credentials {
            username = project.findProperty("jfrogUser") as String? ?: System.getenv("JFROG_USER")
            password = project.findProperty("jfrogToken") as String? ?: System.getenv("JFROG_TOKEN")
        }
    }
}

---

Step 5: Publish Artifacts to JFrog

Add the maven-publish plugin and configure publishing:

plugins {
    id 'java'
    id 'maven-publish'
}

publishing {
    publications {
        mavenJava(MavenPublication) {
            from components.java
        }
    }
    repositories {
        maven {
            // Publish to snapshot or release repo based on version
            def releasesRepo = "https://<company>.jfrog.io/artifactory/gradle-libs-local"
            def snapshotsRepo = "https://<company>.jfrog.io/artifactory/gradle-dev-local"
            url = version.endsWith('SNAPSHOT') ? snapshotsRepo : releasesRepo

            credentials {
                username = System.getenv("JFROG_USER")
                password = System.getenv("JFROG_TOKEN")
            }
        }
    }
}

Publish:

JFROG_USER=your-user JFROG_TOKEN=your-token ./gradlew publish

---

Step 6: Store credentials in gradle.properties

Add to ~/.gradle/gradle.properties (not committed to Git):

jfrogUser=your-username
jfrogToken=your-access-token

---

Repository Comparison Summary

Feature	Local	Remote	Virtual
Store your JARs	✅	❌	❌
Proxy Maven Central	❌	✅	❌
Single Gradle repo URL	❌	❌	✅
Publish with ./gradlew publish	✅	❌	Delegates to local
Resolve dependencies	Internal only	External only	Both ✅

---

Use Cases

Scenario	Solution
Multiple Java microservices share a library	Publish to gradle-libs-local, resolve via gradle-virtual
Gradle build pulls external JARs	Served from gradle-central-remote cache
Maven Central unavailable	Builds still work — cached in JFrog
Apply Gradle plugin from plugin portal	gradle-plugins-remote caches and proxies

---

Next Steps

👉 Terraform Repositories 👉 Build Info & Promotion

---

🧠 Quick Quiz

#

In a Gradle build.gradle file, what block is used to configure the JFrog Artifactory repository for dependency resolution?

dependencies {}

repositories {}

publishing {}

configurations {}

The repositories {} block defines where Gradle looks for dependencies. The publishing {} block is used for artifact publishing.

---

📬 DevopsPilot Weekly — Learn DevOps, Cloud & Gen AI the simple way.
👉 Subscribe here