For external plugins, it's difficult for an object to be used outside the application of a plugin, so following best practices is relatively straightforward.  For core plugins in gradle/gradle, it's easy for an object to be created without applying its associated plugin. For instance, Spring has a plugin that uses the Checkstyle task directly without applying the Checkstyle plugin.

     * Creates a new class realm for the specified plugin.
     *
     * @param plugin The plugin for which to create a realm, must not be {@code null}.
     * @param parent The parent realm for the new realm, may be {@code null}.
     * @param parentImports The packages/types to import from the parent realm, may be {@code null}.
     * @param foreignImports The packages/types to import from foreign realms, may be {@code null}.

 * specific language governing permissions and limitations
 * under the License.
 */
package org.apache.maven.plugin.internal;

import javax.inject.Inject;
import javax.inject.Named;
import javax.inject.Singleton;

import org.apache.maven.api.DependencyScope;
import org.apache.maven.plugin.PluginValidationManager;
import org.eclipse.aether.RepositorySystemSession;
import org.eclipse.aether.artifact.Artifact;

        InputLocation pluginLocation = null;
        for (Plugin plugin : project.getBuildPlugins()) {
            if (plugin.getKey().equals("org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-clean-plugin")) {
                pluginLocation = plugin.getLocation("version");
            }
        }
        assertNotNull(pluginLocation, "missing build plugin");
        assertEquals(

 * under the License.
 */

/**
 * Provides annotations for Maven plugin development, including mojo configuration,
 * parameter definitions, and lifecycle bindings. These annotations are used to
 * generate plugin descriptors and configure plugin behavior.
 *
 * @since 4.0.0
 */

        Object result = new PluginParameterExpressionEvaluator(session, exec).evaluate("${plugin}");

        System.out.println("Result: " + result);

        assertSame(
                exec.getMojoDescriptor().getPluginDescriptor(),
                result,
                "${plugin} expression does not return plugin descriptor.");
    }

    @Test
    void testPluginArtifactsExpressionReference() throws Exception {

    void testBuildReader() throws Exception {
        PluginDescriptor pd = build("/plugin.xml");

        assertEquals("org.apache.maven.plugins", pd.getGroupId());
        assertEquals("maven-jar-plugin", pd.getArtifactId());
        assertEquals("2.3-SNAPSHOT", pd.getVersion());
        assertEquals("jar", pd.getGoalPrefix());
        assertEquals("plugin-description", pd.getDescription());

  <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
  <groupId>maven</groupId>
  <artifactId>p0</artifactId>
  <packaging>pom</packaging>
  <version>1.0</version>

  <build>
    <plugins>
      <plugin>
        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
        <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
        <executions>
          <execution>
            <id>test</id>

            <!--  The key to this test... -->

plugins {
    id("gradlebuild.build-logic.kotlin-dsl-gradle-plugin")
}

description = "Provides plugins to configure Kotlin DSL and patch the Kotlin compiler for use in Kotlin subprojects"

dependencies {
    implementation("gradlebuild:basics")

    implementation(projects.dependencyModules)
    implementation(projects.jvm)
    implementation(projects.kotlinDslSharedRuntime)

    implementation(kotlin("gradle-plugin"))

 *   <li><strong>maven-remote-resources-plugin</strong>: Upgrades to version 3.0.0 or higher</li>
 * </ul>
 * Plugin versions are upgraded in both {@code <build><plugins>} and {@code <build><pluginManagement><plugins>} sections.
 * If a plugin version is defined via a property, the property value is updated instead.
 *
 * <h3>Inference Optimizations (Optional)</h3>