diff --git a/build.gradle.kts b/build.gradle.kts
index cedd7d8..d16f43b 100644
--- a/build.gradle.kts
+++ b/build.gradle.kts
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 plugins {
   java
+  id("shader")
   `maven-publish`
   signing
-  id("com.gradleup.shadow")
   id("pl.allegro.tech.build.axion-release")
   id("io.github.gradle-nexus.publish-plugin")
 }
@@ -31,25 +31,33 @@ dependencies {
   embed(project(":utils"))
   embed(project(":class-inject"))
   embed(project(":class-match"))
+  embed(libs.asm)
 
-  implementation(libs.asm)
-
+  // to satisfy javadoc
+  compileOnly(libs.asm)
   compileOnly(libs.spotbugs.annotations)
 }
 
-// collect all subproject output into a single jar
-fun allSources(): List<SourceDirectorySet> {
-  return subprojects.filter { it.name != "testing" }.map { it.sourceSets.main.get().allSource }
+// relocate embedded copy of asm to avoid clashes on classpath
+shader {
+  relocate("org/objectweb/" to "datadog/instrument/")
 }
+
+// collect all subproject output into a single jar
 tasks.jar {
   dependsOn(embed)
   from(embed.map { zipTree(it) })
+  // drop this file when embedding asm
+  exclude("module-info.class")
+}
+fun allSources(): List<SourceDirectorySet> {
+  return subprojects.filter { it.name != "testing" }.map { it.sourceSets.main.get().allSource }
 }
 tasks.javadoc {
   dependsOn(embed)
   setSource(allSources())
   exclude("datadog/instrument/glue", "datadog/instrument/utils/JVM.java")
-  var javadocOptions = (options as StandardJavadocDocletOptions)
+  val javadocOptions = (options as StandardJavadocDocletOptions)
   if (JavaVersion.current().isJava9Compatible) {
     javadocOptions.addBooleanOption("html5", true)
   }
@@ -61,16 +69,6 @@ tasks.named<Jar>("sourcesJar") {
   from(allSources())
 }
 
-// produce "-all" jar with a shaded copy of ASM
-tasks.shadowJar {
-  dependsOn(embed)
-  from(embed.map { zipTree(it) })
-  relocate("org.objectweb.asm", "datadog.instrument.asm")
-}
-tasks.assemble {
-  dependsOn(tasks.shadowJar)
-}
-
 publishing {
   publications {
     create<MavenPublication>("maven") {
@@ -97,16 +95,6 @@ publishing {
           developerConnection = "scm:git@github.com:datadog/dd-instrument-java.git"
           url = "https://github.com/datadog/dd-instrument-java"
         }
-        withXml {
-          // mark ASM dependency as optional
-          var doc = asElement().ownerDocument
-          var deps = doc.getElementsByTagName("dependency")
-          for (i in 0 ..< deps.length) {
-            var optional = doc.createElement("optional")
-            optional.textContent = "true"
-            deps.item(i).appendChild(optional)
-          }
-        }
       }
     }
   }
diff --git a/buildSrc/build.gradle.kts b/buildSrc/build.gradle.kts
index 6f6599b..3de5399 100644
--- a/buildSrc/build.gradle.kts
+++ b/buildSrc/build.gradle.kts
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ repositories {
 dependencies {
   // needed to re-use the 'libs' version catalog between the main project and buildSrc
   implementation(files(libs.javaClass.superclass.protectionDomain.codeSource.location))
-  implementation(libs.shadow)
+  implementation(libs.asm.commons)
   implementation(libs.spotless)
   implementation(libs.spotbugs)
   implementation(libs.axion.release)
diff --git a/buildSrc/src/main/kotlin/shader.gradle.kts b/buildSrc/src/main/kotlin/shader.gradle.kts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5dab640
--- /dev/null
+++ b/buildSrc/src/main/kotlin/shader.gradle.kts
@@ -0,0 +1,88 @@
+import org.objectweb.asm.ClassReader
+import org.objectweb.asm.ClassVisitor
+import org.objectweb.asm.ClassWriter
+import org.objectweb.asm.Opcodes
+import org.objectweb.asm.commons.ClassRemapper
+import org.objectweb.asm.commons.Remapper
+import java.io.FilterReader
+import java.io.Reader
+import java.io.StringReader
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets
+
+// support configuration of relocations via extension
+extensions.create("shader", Shader::class)
+
+// automatically apply shading to the main jar task
+tasks.named<Jar>("jar").configure {
+  // prune away unused directories after relocation
+  exclude { it.isDirectory }
+  // apply relocations as we add resources to the jar
+  eachFile(Shader())
+  // this charset supports safe filtering of binary content, as chars map 1:1 to bytes
+  filteringCharset = "ISO-8859-1"
+}
+
+/** Applies configured relocations as resources are copied into the jar. */
+open class Shader : Action<FileCopyDetails> {
+  companion object {
+    var relocations: Map<String, String> = mapOf()
+  }
+
+  // accepts relocations from build.gradle.kts
+  fun relocate(entry: Pair<String, String>) {
+    relocations += entry
+  }
+
+  override fun execute(t: FileCopyDetails) {
+    var resourcePath: String = t.path
+    // relocate any class-file references
+    if (resourcePath.endsWith(".class")) {
+      t.filter(ShadeClass::class)
+    }
+    // relocate file-name for consistency
+    relocations.forEach { (oldPath, newPath) ->
+      resourcePath = resourcePath.replace(oldPath, newPath)
+    }
+    t.path = resourcePath
+  }
+}
+
+/** Filters class-files using remapper from asm-commons. */
+class ShadeClass(reader: Reader) : FilterReader(shade(reader)) {
+  companion object {
+    fun shade(reader: Reader): Reader {
+      val remapper = object : Remapper(Opcodes.ASM9) {
+        override fun map(internalName: String?): String? {
+          var result: String? = internalName
+          Shader.relocations.forEach { (oldPath, newPath) ->
+            result = result?.replace(oldPath, newPath)
+          }
+          return result
+        }
+
+        override fun mapValue(value: Any?): Any? {
+          return if (value is String) {
+            map(value)
+          } else {
+            super.mapValue(value)
+          }
+        }
+      }
+      // rebuild constant-pool from scratch and make sure every method has a stack-map
+      val cw = ClassWriter(ClassWriter.COMPUTE_FRAMES)
+      // apply relocation to class-file and upgrade pre-Java 8 class-files to Java 8
+      val cr = ClassReader(reader.readText().toByteArray(StandardCharsets.ISO_8859_1))
+      cr.accept(ClassRemapper(ToJava8(cw), remapper), 0)
+      return StringReader(String(cw.toByteArray(), StandardCharsets.ISO_8859_1))
+    }
+  }
+}
+
+/** Upgrades pre-Java 8 class-files to Java 8, to allow faster verification at runtime. */
+class ToJava8(cv: ClassVisitor) : ClassVisitor(Opcodes.ASM9, cv) {
+  override fun visit(
+    version: Int, access: Int, name: String?, signature: String?, superName: String?, interfaces: Array<out String?>?
+  ) {
+    super.visit(version.coerceAtLeast(Opcodes.V1_8), access, name, signature, superName, interfaces)
+  }
+}
diff --git a/gradle/libs.versions.toml b/gradle/libs.versions.toml
index e3b68d3..d41178c 100644
--- a/gradle/libs.versions.toml
+++ b/gradle/libs.versions.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 [versions]
 asm = "9.9"
-shadow = "9.2.2"
 junit-jupiter = "5.13.4"
 junit-platform = "1.13.4"
 assertj = "3.27.5"
@@ -13,7 +12,7 @@ jmh-plugin = "0.7.3"
 
 [libraries]
 asm = { module = "org.ow2.asm:asm", version.ref = "asm" }
-shadow = { module = "com.gradleup.shadow:shadow-gradle-plugin", version.ref = "shadow" }
+asm-commons = { module = "org.ow2.asm:asm-commons", version.ref = "asm" }
 junit-jupiter = { module = "org.junit.jupiter:junit-jupiter", version.ref = "junit-jupiter" }
 junit-launcher = { module = "org.junit.platform:junit-platform-launcher", version.ref = "junit-platform" }
 assertj-core = { module = "org.assertj:assertj-core", version.ref = "assertj" }