We've written a pretty cool Gradle plugin I wanted to share.

It turns out if you native-image the Java and Kotlin compilers, you can experience a serious gain, especially for "smaller" projects (under 10,000 classes).

By compiling the compiler with native image, JIT warmup normally experienced by Gradle/Maven et al is skipped. Startup time is extremely fast, since native image seals the heap into the binary itself. The native version of javac produces identical outputs from inputs. It's the same exact code, just AOT-compiled, translated to machine code, and pre-optimized by GraalVM.

Of course, native image isn't optimal in all cases. Warm JIT still outperforms NI, but I think most projects never hit fully warmed JIT through Gradle or Maven, because the VM running the compiler so rarely survives for long enough.

Elide (the tool used by this plugin) also supports fetching Maven dependencies. When active, it prepares a local m2 root where Gradle can find your dependencies already on-disk when it needs them. Preliminary benchmarking shows a 100x+ gain since lockfiles prevent needless re-resolution and native-imaging the resolver results in a similar gain to the compiler.

We (the authors) are very much open to feedback in improving this Gradle plugin or the underlying toolchain. Please, let us know what you think!