Gradle Project Dependents Plugin

Gradle Plugin to list project dependents of a project in multi-projects.

Usage

Using the https://docs.gradle.org/current/userguide/plugins.html#sec:plugins_block:

plugins {
    id("io.github.bjoernmayer.gradle-project-dependents") version "<version>"
}

Using legacy plugin application:

buildscript {
    repositories {
        maven {
            url = uri("https://plugins.gradle.org/m2/")
        }
    }
    dependencies {
        classpath("io.github.bjoernmayer:plugin:<version>")
    }
}

apply(plugin = "io.github.bjoernmayer.gradle-project-dependents")

Tasks

dependents

Displays a tree of dependent projects on the project, where the task was executed in.

Example:

Imagine a multi-project with Project A, Project B, Project C

Project A build.gradle.kts:

dependencies {
    implementation(project(":projectB"))
    implementation(project(":projectC"))
}

Project B build.gradle.kts:

dependencies {    
    implementation(project(":projectC"))
}

Executing the task:

./gradlew :projectA:dependents

Expected output:

+--- project root-project-name:projectA
|    +--- project root-project-name:projectB (implementation)
|    |    \--- project root-project-name:projectC (implementation)
|    \--- project root-project-name:projectC (implementation)

Configuration

excludedConfigurations

Configurations can be excluded from the printed graph by adding them to excludedConfigurations:

// build.gradle.kts

projectDependents {
    excludedConfigurations.add("testImplementation")
}

depth

Limit the depth of the dependency tree to display. When not set, the full tree is displayed.

// build.gradle.kts

projectDependents {
    // Show only direct dependents
    depth.set(1)

    // Or show dependents and their dependents
    depth.set(2)
}

outputFormats

Configure which output formats to generate. Available formats:

Format	Description	Output
STDOUT	Tree format printed to console	Console output
YAML	YAML representation of the graph	build/projectDependents/graph.yaml
JSON	JSON representation of the graph	build/projectDependents/graph.json
MERMAID	Mermaid flowchart in Markdown	build/projectDependents/graph.md

Default is STDOUT only.

// build.gradle.kts
import io.github.bjoernmayer.gradleProjectDependents.OutputFormat

projectDependents {
    // Use only YAML output (replaces default STDOUT)
    outputFormats.set(setOf(OutputFormat.YAML))

    // Or use multiple formats
    outputFormats.set(setOf(OutputFormat.STDOUT, OutputFormat.JSON, OutputFormat.MERMAID))
}

STDOUT Output Example

+--- project root-project-name:projectA
|    +--- project root-project-name:projectB (implementation)
|    |    \--- project root-project-name:projectC (implementation)
|    \--- project root-project-name:projectC (implementation)

JSON Output Example

{
  "name": "root-project-name:projectA",
  "dependents": {
    "implementation": [
      {
        "name": "root-project-name:projectB",
        "dependents": {
          "implementation": [
            {
              "name": "root-project-name:projectC",
              "dependents": {}
            }
          ]
        }
      }
    ]
  }
}

Mermaid Output Example

The Mermaid output generates a flowchart that can be rendered in GitHub, GitLab, or any Mermaid-compatible viewer:

flowchart BT
    root_project_name_projectB["root-project-name:projectB"] -->|implementation| root_project_name_projectA["root-project-name:projectA"]
    root_project_name_projectC["root-project-name:projectC"] -->|implementation| root_project_name_projectB["root-project-name:projectB"]

Loading

Developing

Checkout this repository next to some project, where you want to use it. Then in the settings.gradle.kts of said project, add this:

// settings.gradle.kts

pluginManagement {
    includeBuild("../gradle-project-dependents")
}

Then, you can just apply the plugin like usual:

// build.gradle.kts

id("io.github.bjoernmayer.gradle-project-dependents")