How Gradle Is Javamaxxing

Gradle is aggressively adopting newer JDK releases to improve build performance, a strategy they call 'Javamaxxing.' Gradle 9.0 raised the minimum daemon JVM to Java 17, and Gradle 10 will require Java 21. Newer JDKs bring free performance gains through better GC, JIT compilation, and new APIs like Compact Object Headers (JEP 519) and the Class-File API (JEP 484). Critically, upgrading the JDK that runs Gradle does not force projects to target newer Java versions — JVM toolchains fully decouple the daemon JVM from the compilation and test JVMs, so you can run Gradle on JDK 26 while still producing Java 8 bytecode. About 80% of Gradle 9 users are already on Java 21+, making it a reasonable new minimum floor.