# How do I track down a dependency?

**URL:** <https://discuss.gradle.org/t/how-do-i-track-down-a-dependency/52035>\
**Category:** Help/Discuss\
**Created:** [May 5, 2026, 1:20pm UTC](https://discuss.gradle.org/t/how-do-i-track-down-a-dependency/52035 "2026-05-05T13:20:08Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Norm](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/gradle/user_avatar/discuss.gradle.org/norm/32/1096_2.png) [@Norm](https://discuss.gradle.org/u/Norm)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2026, 1:20pm UTC](https://discuss.gradle.org/t/how-do-i-track-down-a-dependency/52035/1 "2026-05-05T13:20:08Z")

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I have a project, [NineML](https://codeberg.org/NineML/nineml) within which there’s a subproject (`coffeefilter`) and when I ask about the dependencies for that project, I see:

```gradle
$ ./gradlew coffeefilter:dependencies
...
apiDependenciesMetadata
\--- org.jetbrains.kotlin:kotlin-stdlib:2.0.21
     \--- org.jetbrains:annotations:13.0
...

```

I have other Java projects with Kotlin build scripts and they _don’t_ have `apiDependenciesMetadata`.

But I can’t figure out why this one does, or why the others don’t. Is there some other introspection command I could use?

(I’m asking because those dependencies get added to the Maven POM so they become dependencies for other projects. I’d like to reduce the dependency footprint.)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Vampire](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/gradle/user_avatar/discuss.gradle.org/vampire/32/9082_2.png) [@Vampire](https://discuss.gradle.org/u/Vampire)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2026, 3:57pm UTC](https://discuss.gradle.org/t/how-do-i-track-down-a-dependency/52035/2 "2026-05-05T15:57:46Z")

</div>

From the top of my head, this configuration is added by the Kotlin Gradle Plugin, so I’d guess you apply the KGP in this project but not others.  
But dependencies in this configuration should afair only be derived from other configurations and if it would only be there not influence the POM.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Norm](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/gradle/user_avatar/discuss.gradle.org/norm/32/1096_2.png) [@Norm](https://discuss.gradle.org/u/Norm)\
**Post date:** [May 6, 2026, 12:50pm UTC](https://discuss.gradle.org/t/how-do-i-track-down-a-dependency/52035/3 "2026-05-06T12:50:44Z")

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Thanks. I wonder if I was confused and thought I needed that for something. I’ll try removing it and see what happens! 🙂

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Vampire](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/gradle/user_avatar/discuss.gradle.org/vampire/32/9082_2.png) [@Vampire](https://discuss.gradle.org/u/Vampire)\
**Post date:** [May 6, 2026, 4:12pm UTC](https://discuss.gradle.org/t/how-do-i-track-down-a-dependency/52035/4 "2026-05-06T16:12:08Z")

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Will probably help, because KGP also adds that stdlib dependency for you if you didn’t add it yourself. 🙂