Gradle Management: Different types of Dependency handlers - devrath/RunTracer GitHub Wiki

Dependency Handlers in Android Kotlin Project

Handler	Usage	Purpose	Scenarios
`implementation`	`implementation "dependency"`	Adds dependency to compile and runtime classpath.	Most common. Use for dependencies needed by the module itself.
`api`	`api "dependency"`	Adds dependency to compile and runtime classpath and exposes it to dependent modules.	Use when the dependency should be exposed to modules that depend on this module.
`compileOnly`	`compileOnly "dependency"`	Adds dependency to compile classpath only.	Use for dependencies needed only at compile time, such as annotations processors.
`runtimeOnly`	`runtimeOnly "dependency"`	Adds dependency to runtime classpath only.	Use for dependencies needed only at runtime, such as logging frameworks.
`testImplementation`	`testImplementation "dependency"`	Adds dependency to both compile and runtime classpath for the test source set.	Use for test dependencies, such as JUnit or Mockito.
`testCompileOnly`	`testCompileOnly "dependency"`	Adds dependency to compile classpath of test source set only.	Use for compile-time dependencies needed only for tests.
`testRuntimeOnly`	`testRuntimeOnly "dependency"`	Adds dependency to runtime classpath of test source set only.	Use for dependencies needed only at test runtime.
`annotationProcessor`	`annotationProcessor "dependency"`	Adds an annotation processor to the project.	Use for dependencies that process annotations at compile time, such as Dagger or Room.
`kapt`	`kapt "dependency"`	Adds an annotation processor specifically for Kotlin projects.	Use when using annotation processors with Kotlin, such as Dagger or Room.