Gradle builds on the standard Java `{javaApi}/java/io/File.html[File]` class, which represents the location of a single file and provides APIs for dealing with collections of paths.

=== Using `ProjectLayout`

The link:{groovyDslPath}/org.gradle.api.file.ProjectLayout.html[`ProjectLayout`] class is used to access various directories and files within a project.

    }

    @SuppressWarnings("unused")
    static class BasicServicesRules extends RuleSource {
        @Hidden
        @Model
        ProjectLayout projectLayoutService(ServiceRegistry serviceRegistry) {
            return serviceRegistry.get(ProjectLayout.class);
        }

        @Hidden
        @Model
        ObjectFactory objectFactory(ServiceRegistry serviceRegistry) {

 ** `PropertyState`
 ** `DirectoryVar`
 ** `RegularFileVar`
 ** `ProjectLayout.newDirectoryVar()`
 ** `ProjectLayout.newFileVar()`
 ** `Project.property(Class)`
 ** `Script.property(Class)`
 ** `ProviderFactory.property(Class)`

import org.gradle.api.artifacts.transform.TransformOutputs
import org.gradle.api.artifacts.transform.TransformParameters
import org.gradle.api.file.FileSystemOperations
import org.gradle.api.file.ProjectLayout
import org.gradle.api.internal.AbstractTask
import org.gradle.api.model.ObjectFactory
import org.gradle.api.provider.Property
import org.gradle.api.provider.Provider
import org.gradle.api.provider.ProviderFactory

import org.gradle.api.file.ConfigurableFileTree;
import org.gradle.api.file.CopySpec;
import org.gradle.api.file.DeleteSpec;
import org.gradle.api.file.FileTree;
import org.gradle.api.file.ProjectLayout;
import org.gradle.api.file.SyncSpec;
import org.gradle.api.initialization.dsl.ScriptHandler;
import org.gradle.api.invocation.Gradle;
import org.gradle.api.logging.Logger;
import org.gradle.api.logging.LoggingManager;

| `project.relativePath(path)`
| link:{javadocPath}/org/gradle/api/file/ProjectLayout.html#getProjectDirectory--[ProjectLayout.projectDirectory].link:{javadocPath}/org/gradle/api/file/Directory.html#file-java.lang.String-[file(path)]

| `project.files(paths)`

It is replaced by a `link:{javadocPath}/org/gradle/api/file/DirectoryProperty.html[DirectoryProperty]` found at `Project.layout.buildDirectory`.
See the `link:{groovyDslPath}/org.gradle.api.file.ProjectLayout.html[ProjectLayout]` interface for details.

Note that, at this stage, Gradle will not print deprecation warnings if you still use `Project.buildDir`.