Gradle is an open source build automation system designed to automate the building, testing, and deployment of software applications. It uses a Domain Specific Language (DSL) based on the Groovy programming language to define the build logic, allowing developers to write custom logic in an intuitive way. Gradle is designed to be highly extensible, allowing developers to easily add new plugins and libraries to customize the build process. It is designed to be used in large-scale, distributed software projects and to provide a consistent, repeatable build process for projects of any size. Gradle can also be used to manage the development of Android applications, allowing developers to quickly and easily configure, build, and deploy their applications to the Android platform.
It is native to Java, which means that the build scripts are pure Java classes. It is very convenient to create a build script from a Java IDE (auto-completion, refactoring, debarking, ...).