That parameter tells Gradle that the action only wants to process the changed inputs.

In addition, the task needs to declare at least one incremental file input property by using either link:{javadocPath}/org/gradle/work/Incremental.html[`@Incremental`] or link:{javadocPath}/org/gradle/api/tasks/SkipWhenEmpty.html[`@SkipWhenEmpty`]:

====
[.multi-language-sample]
=====
[source,kotlin]
.build.gradle.kts
----

                    ${getDefaultDeprecation("Task", "incremental")}
                    return self.getIncremental().getOrElse(false);
                }

                public static Task access_set_setIncremental(Task self, boolean arg0) {
                    ${getDefaultDeprecation("Task", "incremental")}
                    self.getIncremental().set(arg0);
                    return self;

                outgoing.artifact(it)
            }
        }
    }
}

fun configureCompileTask(options: CompileOptions) {
    options.release = 8
    options.encoding = "utf-8"
    options.isIncremental = true
    options.isFork = true
    options.forkOptions.jvmArgs?.add("-XX:+HeapDumpOnOutOfMemoryError")
    options.forkOptions.memoryMaximumSize = "1g"

    @Internal
    public boolean isIncremental() {
        return incremental;
    }

    /**
     * Used to enable or disable incremental compilation after a failure.
     * <p>
     * By default, incremental compilation after a failure is enabled for Java and Groovy.
     * It has no effect for Scala. It has no effect if incremental compilation is not enabled.
     * <p>

====

For more information about incremental builds, check out the
<<incremental_build.adoc#incremental_build,incremental build documentation>>.

=== Visualize incremental builds with build scan timelines

Look at the build scan timeline view to identify tasks that could benefit from incremental builds.
This can also help you understand why tasks execute when you expect Gradle to skip them.

        if (result instanceof InternalIncrementalTaskResult) {
            InternalIncrementalTaskResult taskResult = (InternalIncrementalTaskResult) result;
            return TaskExecutionDetails.of(taskResult.isIncremental(), taskResult.getExecutionReasons());
        }
        return TaskExecutionDetails.unsupported();
    }

    private static @Nullable WorkItemOperationResult toWorkItemResult(InternalOperationResult result) {

# tag::registering-incremental-annotation-processors[]
org.gradle.EntityProcessor,isolating
org.gradle.ServiceRegistryProcessor,dynamic

<section>
    <section>
        <title>Properties</title>
        <table>
            <thead>
                <tr>
                    <td>Name</td>
                </tr>
            </thead>
            <tr><td>incremental</td></tr>
        </table>
    </section>
    <section>
        <title>Methods</title>
        <table>
            <thead>
                <tr>
                    <td>Name</td>
                </tr>

Alex Semin <******@****.***> 1696261454 +0200

        'Change Java files'                         | ['J', 'G']   | ['J.changed', 'G']   | ['Incremental compilation of', "UP-TO-DATE"]                 | ['J.changed', 'G']   | ['UP-TO-DATE', 'UP-TO-DATE']