apache/cordova-android · error · RuntimeException

No installed build tools found. Please install the Android b

Error message

No installed build tools found. Please install the Android build tools version ${minBuildToolsVersionString}.

What it means

doFindLatestInstalledBuildTools runs during gradle configuration when no explicit build-tools version is set. It resolves the SDK via getAndroidSdkDir(), lists $SDK/build-tools, parses each entry as a version, and keeps only those in the same major series as MIN_BUILD_TOOLS_VERSION (higher than 0.0.0 and lower than (major+1).0.0). If nothing survives — the directory is empty, missing, or holds only entries of a different major series — it throws this RuntimeException. A failure to locate the SDK itself also surfaces here, rethrown after the 'An exception occurred while trying to find the Android build tools.' println.

Source

Thrown at framework/cordova.gradle:71

    try {
        def buildToolsDir = new File(getAndroidSdkDir(), "build-tools")
        buildToolsDirContents = buildToolsDir.list()
    } catch (e) {
        println "An exception occurred while trying to find the Android build tools."
        throw e
    }

    def minBuildToolsVersion = new Version(minBuildToolsVersionString)
    def maxVersion = new Version((minBuildToolsVersion.getMajor() + 1) + ".0.0")

    def highestBuildToolsVersion = buildToolsDirContents
        .collect { new Version(it) }
        // Invalid inputs will be handled as 0.0.0
        .findAll { it.isHigherThan('0.0.0') && it.isLowerThan(maxVersion) }
        .max()

    if (highestBuildToolsVersion == null) {
        throw new RuntimeException("""
            No installed build tools found. Please install the Android build tools
            version ${minBuildToolsVersionString}.
        """.replaceAll(/\s+/, ' ').trim())
    }

    if (highestBuildToolsVersion.isLowerThan(minBuildToolsVersionString)) {
        throw new RuntimeException("""
            No usable Android build tools found. Highest ${minBuildToolsVersion.getMajor()}.x installed version is
            ${highestBuildToolsVersion.getOriginalString()}; Recommended version
            is ${minBuildToolsVersionString}.
        """.replaceAll(/\s+/, ' ').trim())
    }

    highestBuildToolsVersion.getOriginalString()
}

String getAndroidSdkDir() {
    def rootDir = project.rootDir

View on GitHub (pinned to 7c1e190064)

Solutions

Install the recommended build-tools package: sdkmanager 'build-tools;<version from the message>' (or Android Studio → SDK Manager → SDK Tools → Android SDK Build-Tools).
Verify which SDK path is actually used: echo $ANDROID_HOME $ANDROID_SDK_ROOT and cat platforms/android/local.properties — fix sdk.dir / env vars if they point at the wrong folder.
Confirm the install landed where the build looks: ls "$ANDROID_HOME/build-tools" must show a directory in the same major series as the message's version.
Alternatively pin an already-installed acceptable version for this build: ./gradlew -PcdvBuildToolsVersion=<installed> (it must still be >= the platform minimum or the later min-version check fires).

Example fix

# before
$ ls "$ANDROID_HOME/build-tools"
34.0.0          # minimum is 35.x — nothing usable in that series

# after
$ sdkmanager 'build-tools;35.0.0'
$ ls "$ANDROID_HOME/build-tools"
34.0.0 35.0.0

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

# Pre-flight before cordova build / gradlew
: "${ANDROID_HOME:?export ANDROID_HOME (or set sdk.dir in platforms/android/local.properties)}"
MAJOR=$(grep -oP '(?<=MIN_BUILD_TOOLS_VERSION": ")\d+' platforms/android/CordovaLib/cdv-gradle-config-defaults.json)
ls "$ANDROID_HOME/build-tools" 2>/dev/null | grep -q "^$MAJOR\." \
  || { echo "No $MAJOR.x build-tools in $ANDROID_HOME — run: sdkmanager 'build-tools;<min-version>'"; exit 1; }

Prevention

Bake the required build-tools package into CI images at image-build time, not job time.
Export both ANDROID_HOME and ANDROID_SDK_ROOT in every build environment.
Pin -PcdvBuildToolsVersion to the exact installed version in CI to bypass discovery entirely.

When it happens

Trigger: ANDROID_HOME / ANDROID_SDK_ROOT / local.properties sdk.dir points at a folder without a build-tools subdirectory (wrong path, a JDK, or an empty SDK); the build-tools package was never installed on the machine; only a different major series is installed (e.g. solely 34.x while the platform minimum is 35.x, so discovery excludes it).

Common situations: Fresh CI docker images that ship platform-tools but no build-tools; ANDROID_HOME pointing to ~/android-sdk when the SDK actually lives in ~/Android/Sdk (case-sensitive path on Linux); CLI-only workflows where Android Studio never got the chance to auto-install build-tools on demand.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of apache/cordova-android@7c1e190064 (2026-08-22). Data as JSON: /api/errors/5aba76e8a206d747. Report an issue: GitHub.