Building the client library for Java from source

We recommend using the client library through Maven. We also provide binary distributions on our releases page and through the Maven central repository (see our quick start guide for details). However, you can build the library yourself using the build process described below.

The client library is built with Gradle. Dependencies are downloaded from the Maven Central repository.

Install Java development kit

JDK 1.8 or later is required to build the library. We'll assume that Java is installed on your machine for the purposes of this guide.

Building with Gradle

We recommend using the included Gradle wrapper. See gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties for the current version. You do not need a separate Gradle installation.

Build the library

Clone this project in the directory of your choice. The .git suffix in the URL is optional.
```
git clone https://github.com/googleads/google-ads-java.git
```
Navigate to the google-ads-java directory.
```
cd google-ads-java
```
Run the following command to build the snapshot version of the library and examples project.
```
./gradlew build
```
Note: On Windows, use gradlew instead of ./gradlew.
Export the client library to a local Maven repository.
```
./gradlew publishToMavenLocal
```
Note: You can export the library to a local repository even if you have not used or installed Maven previously. Directories are created as needed.

Use the client library in a local Maven repository

After a successful build and export, the artifacts for the client library are available to Maven/Gradle from the local repository (typically ~/.m2/repository/com/google/api-ads/google-ads/). Add a dependency on the SNAPSHOT version that was just built to any subsequent project build files. The version is defined in gradle.properties.