[BUG] v1.0.8 Android build fails: plugin pins AGP 8.7.3 which cannot be resolved from Google Maven

[ryaa]

Bug Report

Capacitor Version

💊   Capacitor Doctor  💊 

Latest Dependencies:

  @capacitor/cli: 8.0.0
  @capacitor/core: 8.0.0
  @capacitor/android: 8.0.0
  @capacitor/ios: 8.0.0

Installed Dependencies:

  @capacitor/cli: 7.2.0
  @capacitor/core: 7.2.0
  @capacitor/android: 7.2.0
  @capacitor/ios: 7.2.0

[success] iOS looking great! 👌
[success] Android looking great! 👌

Platform(s)

• Android (Android Studio / Gradle sync)

Current Behavior

When using @capacitor/file-transfer@1.0.8, opening the Android project in Android Studio (or running a Gradle sync/build) fails while configuring the :capacitor-file-transfer module with errors like:

• Could not find gradle-8.7.3.jar (com.android.tools.build:gradle:8.7.3)
• plus a cascade of missing Android tooling/lint artifacts (e.g. 31.7.3)

See below

Root cause: the plugin’s Android build.gradle includes a buildscript dependency that pins the Android Gradle Plugin (AGP) to 8.7.3:

buildscript {
  repositories {
    google()
    mavenCentral()
  }
  dependencies {
    classpath "com.android.tools.build:gradle:8.7.3"
  }
}

This forces Gradle to resolve AGP 8.7.3 (and matching tooling/lint artifacts like 31.7.3) from Google Maven, but those exact artifacts are not available at the expected coordinates, so dependency resolution fails.

Expected Behavior

@capacitor/file-transfer@1.0.8 should build / Gradle sync successfully in Android Studio.

Ideally, the plugin should not pin AGP inside the plugin module and instead inherit AGP from the consuming app/root project (common pattern for Capacitor/Android plugins).

Steps To Reproduce

1. Install the plugin:

   npm i @capacitor/file-transfer@1.0.8
   npx cap sync android

2. Open the Android project in Android Studio (or run ./gradlew assembleDebug)
3. Observe Gradle sync/build failure for :capacitor-file-transfer with missing AGP/tooling artifacts.

Additional Context

• This appears to be addressed in @capacitor/file-transfer v2.0.0+ (compare v1.0.8...v2.0.0), but v2.x targets the Capacitor 8 plugin/tooling baseline, while we are currently on Capacitor 7.x and cannot upgrade yet:
  v1.0.8...v2.0.0

• As a temporary workaround we can patch the plugin by removing the module-local AGP classpath so it uses the app’s AGP, but it would be great if v1.x and v2.x could be adjusted to avoid pinning an unresolvable AGP version.

[ryaa]

I’ve opened two PRs to fix this across both release lines:

• PR for v1.x (Capacitor 7 baseline): [BUG] v1.0.8 Android build fails: plugin pins AGP 8.7.3 which cannot be resolved from Google Maven #52 #53
• PR for v2.x (Capacitor 8 baseline): [BUG] v1.0.8 Android build fails: plugin pins AGP 8.7.3 which cannot be resolved from Google Maven #52 #54

[OS-pedrogustavobilro]

Hey @ryaa, this seems like a strange issue to be happening just with this plugin, I'd assume it would apply to basically any other official Capacitor Plugin. e.g. camera plugin - although camera is using 8.7.2, is this issue happening with 8.7.3 only? AGP 8.7.3 is shown in google docs, and in maven

I saw your solution involves removing AGP from the plugin's build.gradle, but unsure if it's the solution we want because again, AGP is declared for all official Capacitor Plugins. First I'm trying to understand why this error happens in the first place.

Are you getting this error using @capacitor/file-transfer plugin in isolation, with other plugins? What Android Studio version are you using?