---
description: Never touch Gradle caches — no reads, writes, or searches there
alwaysApply: true
---

# Gradle caches — never touch

The agent must **never interact with Gradle cache directories** in any way.

## Forbidden (including “read-only”)

- **Do not** read, open, list, traverse, copy, move, delete, or modify anything under Gradle cache paths (e.g. `~/.gradle/caches`, `**/.gradle/caches`, Gradle user home caches, transform outputs, jars that exist only under caches).
- **Do not** run `grep`, `ripgrep` (`rg`), `find`, `ls`, glob tools, or **any** search or directory listing **inside** those paths — even for “read-only” research.
- **Do not** cite cache paths as the source of truth for framework or dependency source code.

## Use instead

- Project source under the **workspace**
- Official documentation and dependency coordinates in **`gradle/libs.versions.toml`** / **`*.gradle.kts`**
- IDE navigation in the repo

Normal Gradle builds on the developer machine may still use the daemon and local caches; this rule governs **agent** behavior only.