Gradle templates

Gradle templates configure how to build an Android application using GradleAn Android build system that automates several build processes. This automation means that many common build errors are less likely to occur. More info
See in Glossary. Each Gradle template represents a single Gradle project. Gradle projects can include, and depend on, other Gradle projects.

Gradle template files

A Gradle template consists of the following files:

File	Location	Contains
`baseProjectTemplate.gradle`	In the exported project, `root/build.gradle` folder	Configuration information that affects all modules in the final Gradle project. It specifies which Android Gradle Plugin version to use and locations of java plugins. The locations are a combination of online repositories and java plugins inside of this project.
`launcherTemplate.gradle_`	In the exported project, `root/launcher/build.gradle` folder	Instructions on how to build the Android application. This includes bundling, signing, and whether to split the apkThe Android Package format output by Unity. An APK is automatically deployed to your device when you select File > Build & Run. More info See in Glossary. It depends on the unityLibrary project and outputs either an .apk file or an app bundle.
`mainTemplate.gradle`	In the exported project, `root/unityLibrary/build.gradle` folder	Instructions on how to build Unity as a Library. This outputs an .aar file. You can override the Unity template with a custom template in the Unity Editor. See the Providing a custom Gradle build template section on this page for more details.
`libTemplate.gradle`	Varies	If an Android Library Project plug-inA set of code created outside of Unity that creates functionality in Unity. There are two kinds of plug-ins you can use in Unity: Managed plug-ins (managed .NET assemblies created with tools like Visual Studio) and Native plug-ins (platform-specific native code libraries). More info See in Glossary doesn’t include a `build.gradle` file, Unity uses the `libTemplate.gradle` file as a template to generate one. After Unity generates the `build.gradle` file, or if one already exists in the plug-in’s directory, Unity copies the plug-in into the Gradle project.

Using a custom Gradle template

There are two .gradle files that control the Gradle build process for the unityLibrary module:

build.gradle: Specifies build instructions.
settings.gradle: Contains the names of modules that the Gradle build system should include when it builds the project.project components that the instructions in the build.gradle file use in the build process.

build.gradle

The build.gradle file contains template variables that specify build instructions.

By default, Unity uses the mainTemplate.gradle file from the Unity install directory to create the build.gradle file for the unityLibrary module. To create your own mainTemplate.gradle file:

Open the Project Settings window (menu: Edit > Project Settings).
Select the Player tab then open Android Player Settings:
In the Publishing Settings section, enable Custom Main Gradle Template. This creates a Gradle template file called mainTemplate.gradle and displays the path to the file. Unity now uses this mainTemplate.gradle file to create the build.gradle file. For a list of template variables and a description of what each does, see Template variables.

Template variables

The mainTemplate.gradle file can contain the following variables:

Variable	Description
DEPS	The list of project dependencies. This is the list of libraries that the project uses.
APIVERSION	The API version to build for. Unity sets the and TARGETSDKVERSION to the same value (Target API Level in the Android Player Settings).
MINSDKVERSION	The minimum API version that supports the application.
BUILDTOOLS	The SDK build tools to use.
TARGETSDKVERSION	The API version to target. Unity sets the and APIVERSION to the same value (Target API Level in the Android Player Settings).
APPLICATIONID	Android Application ID. For example, com.mycompany.myapp.
MINIFY_DEBUG	Indicates whether to minify debug builds.
PROGUARD_DEBUG	Indicates whether to use ProGuard for minification in debug builds.
MINIFY_RELEASE	Indicates whether to minify release builds.
PROGUARD_RELEASE	Indicates whether to use ProGuard for minification in release builds.
USER_PROGUARD	Specifies a custom ProGuard file to use for minification.
SIGN	Complete the signingConfigs section if this build is signed.
SIGNCONFIG	Indicates whether the build is signed. If this property is set to `signingConfig.release`, the build is signed.
DIR_GRADLEPROJECT	The directory where Unity creates the Gradle project.
DIR_UNITYPROJECT	The directory of your Unity project.

settings.gradle

The settings.gradle file contains project components used in the build process.

By default, Unity uses the settingsTemplate.gradle file from the Unity install directory to create the settings.gradle file for your build. To create your own settingsTemplate.gradle file, create a settingsTemplate.gradle file in your project’s Assets/Plugins/Android/ folder. This overrides the default template.

If you create a custom settings.gradle file, be aware of the following:

Unity creates the launcher and unityLibrary components by default and you must include them in your settingsTemplate.gradle file. To do this, add include ':launcher', ':unityLibrary' as an entry to your settingsTemplate.gradle.
If you use Android Library plug-ins, Unity includes them in the final settings.gradle file by replacing the **INCLUDES** entry. This means you must add **INCLUDES** as an entry to your settingsTemplate.gradle.

Modifying the exported Gradle project using C#

To modify the Gradle project after Unity assembles it, create a class that inherits from IPostGenerateGradleAndroidProject and override the OnPostGenerateGradleAndroidProject function. This function receives the path to the unityLibrary module as a parameter and you can use it to reach the application’s manifest and resources through C# scripting.

Warning: Unity now uses an incremental build pipeline which means Unity reuses the same Gradle project for consecutive builds. This means that any modifications you do using this API accumulate since Unity no longer creates a new Gradle project for every build. For example, if you use this API to add an additional file to the Gradle project, the first build works as expected, but during the second build the file already exists. A second example is if you use this API to add a permission to a particular file. Each successive build adds another entry for the permission. It is crucial to make sure that modifications you want to make aren’t already present in the build.

Building and delivering for Android

Override the Android App Manifest