Spring Boot 3 requires at least Java 17, but that also means the Java version used by Gradle must also be at least 17. Otherwise we will get the following error message when we build our Spring Boot project in IntelliJ using Gradle:

A problem occurred configuring root project 'springboot'.
> Could not resolve all files for configuration ':classpath'.
   > Could not resolve org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-gradle-plugin:3.1.5.
     Required by:
         project : > org.springframework.boot:org.springframework.boot.gradle.plugin:3.1.5
      > No matching variant of org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-gradle-plugin:3.1.5 was found. The consumer was configured to find a library for use during runtime, compatible with Java 11, packaged as a jar, and its dependencies declared externally, as well as attribute 'org.gradle.plugin.api-version' with value '8.4' but:
          - Variant 'apiElements' capability org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-gradle-plugin:3.1.5 declares a library, packaged as a jar, and its dependencies declared externally:
              - Incompatible because this component declares a component for use during compile-time, compatible with Java 17 and the consumer needed a component for use during runtime, compatible with Java 11
              - Other compatible attribute:
                  - Doesn't say anything about org.gradle.plugin.api-version (required '8.4')
          - Variant 'javadocElements' capability org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-gradle-plugin:3.1.5 declares a component for use during runtime, and its dependencies declared externally:
              - Incompatible because this component declares documentation and the consumer needed a library
              - Other compatible attributes:
                  - Doesn't say anything about its target Java version (required compatibility with Java 11)
                  - Doesn't say anything about its elements (required them packaged as a jar)
                  - Doesn't say anything about org.gradle.plugin.api-version (required '8.4')
          - Variant 'mavenOptionalApiElements' capability org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-gradle-plugin-maven-optional:3.1.5 declares a library, packaged as a jar, and its dependencies declared externally:
              - Incompatible because this component declares a component for use during compile-time, compatible with Java 17 and the consumer needed a component for use during runtime, compatible with Java 11
              - Other compatible attribute:
                  - Doesn't say anything about org.gradle.plugin.api-version (required '8.4')
          - Variant 'mavenOptionalRuntimeElements' capability org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-gradle-plugin-maven-optional:3.1.5 declares a library for use during runtime, packaged as a jar, and its dependencies declared externally:
              - Incompatible because this component declares a component, compatible with Java 17 and the consumer needed a component, compatible with Java 11
              - Other compatible attribute:
                  - Doesn't say anything about org.gradle.plugin.api-version (required '8.4')
          - Variant 'runtimeElements' capability org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-gradle-plugin:3.1.5 declares a library for use during runtime, packaged as a jar, and its dependencies declared externally:
              - Incompatible because this component declares a component, compatible with Java 17 and the consumer needed a component, compatible with Java 11
              - Other compatible attribute:
                  - Doesn't say anything about org.gradle.plugin.api-version (required '8.4')
          - Variant 'sourcesElements' capability org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-gradle-plugin:3.1.5 declares a component for use during runtime, and its dependencies declared externally:
              - Incompatible because this component declares documentation and the consumer needed a library
              - Other compatible attributes:
                  - Doesn't say anything about its target Java version (required compatibility with Java 11)
                  - Doesn't say anything about its elements (required them packaged as a jar)
                  - Doesn't say anything about org.gradle.plugin.api-version (required '8.4')

* Try:
> Run with --stacktrace option to get the stack trace.
> Run with --info or --debug option to get more log output.
> Run with --scan to get full insights.
> Get more help at https://help.gradle.org.

The issue is that the Spring Boot Gradle plugin 3.1.5 requires Java 17, but our project is using Java 11. We can fix this by explicitly setting the Java version that Gradle uses in IntelliJ. Go to Settings > Build, Execution, Deployment > Build Tools > Gradle and change the JVM used for Gradle to a JDK version of at least version 17.

intellij gradle springboot

Written with Spring Boot 3.1.5 and IntelliJ 2023.2.4.

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