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Mobile Added 10 January 2026

Gradle: Execution failed for task ':app:...'

Generic Android build failure. Often due to cached dependencies, JDK version mismatch, or XML layout errors.

Quick fix

Read the commands before running them. Anything that restarts a service, deletes data or changes permissions should be tried on a non-production system first.

Quick fix
# Clean project
./gradlew clean
# Run with stacktrace for details
./gradlew assembleDebug --stacktrace
# Check JDK version matches Gradle requirements

How to diagnose Mobile errors

Mobile build errors are overwhelmingly toolchain and dependency version conflicts rather than code problems. Android builds fail on Gradle, JDK and Android Gradle Plugin version combinations; iOS builds fail on code signing, provisioning profiles and CocoaPods lockfile drift. The productive instinct is to check version compatibility matrices before reading stack traces.

If the quick fix above does not resolve it, work through these steps. They apply to this whole class of error, not just to this one message, which is usually what saves the time.

  1. Run the build with full output: ./gradlew assembleDebug --stacktrace --info. Gradle's default output hides the actual failing task.
  2. Verify the JDK the build is using (./gradlew -version), not the one on your PATH. Android Gradle Plugin has strict JDK requirements.
  3. For CocoaPods, run pod install, not pod update, after pulling changes, and open the .xcworkspace rather than the .xcodeproj.
  4. For code signing, check the provisioning profile's expiry, bundle identifier and device list in Xcode's Signing & Capabilities tab before touching certificates.
  5. Clear caches only as a last resort and one at a time (./gradlew clean, rm -rf ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData, watchman watch-del-all), so you learn which one mattered.

Tools worth reaching for

  • ./gradlew --stacktrace --info
  • pod install
  • xcodebuild -showBuildSettings
  • flutter doctor -v
  • adb logcat

Authoritative references

Primary documentation for this error, worth reading before applying any fix in production.

developer.android.com

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