diff --git a/paper-api/.gitignore b/paper-api/.gitignore
index 5dd700a956..97e78e27ee 100644
--- a/paper-api/.gitignore
+++ b/paper-api/.gitignore
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+.gradle/
+
 # Eclipse stuff
 /.classpath
 /.project
@@ -32,3 +34,7 @@
 *.ipr
 *.iws
 .idea/
+
+# vs code
+/.vscode
+/.factorypath
diff --git a/paper-api/build.gradle.kts b/paper-api/build.gradle.kts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..dfb490fe94
--- /dev/null
+++ b/paper-api/build.gradle.kts
@@ -0,0 +1,93 @@
+plugins {
+    `java-library`
+    `maven-publish`
+}
+
+java {
+    withSourcesJar()
+    withJavadocJar()
+}
+
+val annotationsVersion = "24.1.0"
+val bungeeCordChatVersion = "1.20-R0.2"
+
+dependencies {
+    // api dependencies are listed transitively to API consumers
+    api("com.google.guava:guava:33.3.1-jre")
+    api("com.google.code.gson:gson:2.11.0")
+    api("net.md-5:bungeecord-chat:$bungeeCordChatVersion")
+    api("org.yaml:snakeyaml:2.2")
+    api("org.joml:joml:1.10.8") {
+        isTransitive = false // https://github.com/JOML-CI/JOML/issues/352
+    }
+
+    compileOnly("org.apache.maven:maven-resolver-provider:3.9.6")
+    compileOnly("org.apache.maven.resolver:maven-resolver-connector-basic:1.9.18")
+    compileOnly("org.apache.maven.resolver:maven-resolver-transport-http:1.9.18")
+
+    val annotations = "org.jetbrains:annotations-java5:$annotationsVersion"
+    compileOnly(annotations)
+    testCompileOnly(annotations)
+
+    testImplementation("org.apache.commons:commons-lang3:3.12.0")
+    testImplementation("org.junit.jupiter:junit-jupiter:5.10.2")
+    testImplementation("org.hamcrest:hamcrest:2.2")
+    testImplementation("org.mockito:mockito-core:5.14.1")
+    testImplementation("org.ow2.asm:asm-tree:9.7.1")
+}
+
+configure<PublishingExtension> {
+    publications.create<MavenPublication>("maven") {
+        from(components["java"])
+    }
+}
+
+val generateApiVersioningFile by tasks.registering {
+    inputs.property("version", project.version)
+    val pomProps = layout.buildDirectory.file("pom.properties")
+    outputs.file(pomProps)
+    val projectVersion = project.version
+    doLast {
+        pomProps.get().asFile.writeText("version=$projectVersion")
+    }
+}
+
+tasks.jar {
+    from(generateApiVersioningFile.map { it.outputs.files.singleFile }) {
+        into("META-INF/maven/${project.group}/${project.name}")
+    }
+    manifest {
+        attributes(
+            "Automatic-Module-Name" to "org.bukkit"
+        )
+    }
+}
+
+tasks.withType<Javadoc> {
+    val options = options as StandardJavadocDocletOptions
+    options.overview = "src/main/javadoc/overview.html"
+    options.use()
+    options.isDocFilesSubDirs = true
+    options.links(
+        "https://guava.dev/releases/33.3.1-jre/api/docs/",
+        "https://javadoc.io/doc/org.yaml/snakeyaml/2.2/",
+        "https://javadoc.io/doc/org.jetbrains/annotations-java5/$annotationsVersion/",
+        "https://javadoc.io/doc/net.md-5/bungeecord-chat/$bungeeCordChatVersion/",
+    )
+    options.tags("apiNote:a:API Note:")
+
+    // workaround for https://github.com/gradle/gradle/issues/4046
+    inputs.dir("src/main/javadoc").withPropertyName("javadoc-sourceset")
+    doLast {
+        copy {
+            from("src/main/javadoc") {
+                include("**/doc-files/**")
+            }
+            into("build/docs/javadoc")
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+tasks.test {
+    useJUnitPlatform()
+}
diff --git a/paper-api/pom.xml b/paper-api/pom.xml
deleted file mode 100644
index 25a8f7daaf..0000000000
--- a/paper-api/pom.xml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,267 +0,0 @@
-
-<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
-         xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
-    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
-
-    <groupId>org.spigotmc</groupId>
-    <artifactId>spigot-api</artifactId>
-    <version>1.21.4-R0.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
-    <packaging>jar</packaging>
-
-    <name>Spigot-API</name>
-    <url>https://www.spigotmc.org/</url>
-    <description>An enhanced plugin API for Minecraft servers.</description>
-
-    <properties>
-        <skipTests>true</skipTests>
-        <maven.compiler.release>17</maven.compiler.release>
-        <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
-    </properties>
-
-    <distributionManagement>
-        <repository>
-            <id>spigotmc-releases</id>
-            <url>https://hub.spigotmc.org/nexus/content/repositories/releases/</url>
-        </repository>
-        <snapshotRepository>
-            <id>spigotmc-snapshots</id>
-            <url>https://hub.spigotmc.org/nexus/content/repositories/snapshots/</url>
-        </snapshotRepository>
-    </distributionManagement>
-
-    <dependencies>
-        <!-- bundled with Minecraft, should be kept in sync -->
-        <dependency>
-            <groupId>com.google.guava</groupId>
-            <artifactId>guava</artifactId>
-            <version>33.3.1-jre</version>
-            <scope>compile</scope>
-        </dependency>
-        <!-- bundled with Minecraft, should be kept in sync -->
-        <dependency>
-            <groupId>com.google.code.gson</groupId>
-            <artifactId>gson</artifactId>
-            <version>2.11.0</version>
-            <scope>compile</scope>
-        </dependency>
-        <!-- bundled with Minecraft, should be kept in sync -->
-        <dependency>
-            <groupId>org.joml</groupId>
-            <artifactId>joml</artifactId>
-            <version>1.10.8</version>
-            <scope>compile</scope>
-        </dependency>
-        <dependency>
-            <groupId>net.md-5</groupId>
-            <artifactId>bungeecord-chat</artifactId>
-            <version>1.20-R0.2</version>
-            <type>jar</type>
-            <scope>compile</scope>
-        </dependency>
-        <dependency>
-            <groupId>org.yaml</groupId>
-            <artifactId>snakeyaml</artifactId>
-            <version>2.2</version>
-            <scope>compile</scope>
-        </dependency>
-        <!-- not part of the API proper -->
-        <dependency>
-            <groupId>org.apache.maven</groupId>
-            <artifactId>maven-resolver-provider</artifactId>
-            <version>3.9.6</version>
-            <scope>provided</scope>
-        </dependency>
-        <dependency>
-            <groupId>org.apache.maven.resolver</groupId>
-            <artifactId>maven-resolver-connector-basic</artifactId>
-            <version>1.9.18</version>
-            <scope>provided</scope>
-        </dependency>
-        <dependency>
-            <groupId>org.apache.maven.resolver</groupId>
-            <artifactId>maven-resolver-transport-http</artifactId>
-            <version>1.9.18</version>
-            <scope>provided</scope>
-        </dependency>
-        <!-- annotations -->
-        <dependency>
-            <groupId>org.jetbrains</groupId>
-            <artifactId>annotations-java5</artifactId>
-            <version>24.1.0</version>
-            <scope>provided</scope>
-        </dependency>
-        <!-- testing -->
-        <dependency>
-            <groupId>org.junit.jupiter</groupId>
-            <artifactId>junit-jupiter</artifactId>
-            <version>5.10.2</version>
-            <scope>test</scope>
-        </dependency>
-        <dependency>
-            <groupId>org.hamcrest</groupId>
-            <artifactId>hamcrest</artifactId>
-            <version>2.2</version>
-            <scope>test</scope>
-        </dependency>
-        <dependency>
-            <groupId>org.mockito</groupId>
-            <artifactId>mockito-core</artifactId>
-            <version>5.14.1</version>
-            <scope>test</scope>
-        </dependency>
-        <dependency>
-            <groupId>org.ow2.asm</groupId>
-            <artifactId>asm-tree</artifactId>
-            <version>9.7.1</version>
-            <scope>test</scope>
-        </dependency>
-    </dependencies>
-
-    <build>
-        <plugins>
-            <plugin>
-                <groupId>net.md-5</groupId>
-                <artifactId>scriptus</artifactId>
-                <version>0.5.0</version>
-                <executions>
-                    <execution>
-                        <phase>initialize</phase>
-                        <goals>
-                            <goal>describe</goal>
-                        </goals>
-                    </execution>
-                </executions>
-            </plugin>
-            <plugin>
-                <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
-                <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
-                <version>3.13.0</version>
-                <configuration>
-                    <!-- default changed with version 3.11.0 -->
-                    <showWarnings>false</showWarnings>
-                </configuration>
-            </plugin>
-            <plugin>
-                <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
-                <artifactId>maven-jar-plugin</artifactId>
-                <version>3.4.1</version>
-                <configuration>
-                    <archive>
-                        <manifest>
-                            <addDefaultEntries>false</addDefaultEntries>
-                        </manifest>
-                        <manifestEntries>
-                            <Automatic-Module-Name>org.bukkit</Automatic-Module-Name>
-                        </manifestEntries>
-                    </archive>
-                </configuration>
-            </plugin>
-            <plugin>
-                <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
-                <artifactId>maven-shade-plugin</artifactId>
-                <version>3.5.3</version>
-                <executions>
-                    <execution>
-                        <phase>package</phase>
-                        <goals>
-                            <goal>shade</goal>
-                        </goals>
-                    </execution>
-                </executions>
-                <configuration>
-                    <filters>
-                        <filter>
-                            <artifact>*:*</artifact>
-                            <excludes>
-                                <exclude>META-INF/MANIFEST.MF</exclude>
-                            </excludes>
-                        </filter>
-                    </filters>
-                    <!-- when downloading via Maven we can pull depends individually -->
-                    <shadedArtifactAttached>true</shadedArtifactAttached>
-                    <!-- In 3.3.0 and later, shadedArtifactAttached causes dependant projects to use dependency reduced pom (bug?) -->
-                    <createDependencyReducedPom>false</createDependencyReducedPom>
-                </configuration>
-            </plugin>
-            <plugin>
-                <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
-                <artifactId>maven-javadoc-plugin</artifactId>
-                <version>3.6.3</version>
-                <configuration>
-                    <links>
-                        <link>https://guava.dev/releases/32.1.2-jre/api/docs/</link>
-                    </links>
-                    <tags>
-                        <tag>
-                            <name>apiNote</name>
-                            <placement>a</placement>
-                            <head>API Note:</head>
-                        </tag>
-                    </tags>
-                </configuration>
-            </plugin>
-            <plugin>
-                <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
-                <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
-                <version>3.2.5</version>
-            </plugin>
-        </plugins>
-    </build>
-
-    <profiles>
-        <profile>
-            <id>development</id>
-            <properties>
-                <skipTests>false</skipTests>
-            </properties>
-            <build>
-                <plugins>
-                    <plugin>
-                        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
-                        <artifactId>maven-checkstyle-plugin</artifactId>
-                        <version>3.3.1</version>
-                        <executions>
-                            <execution>
-                                <phase>process-classes</phase>
-                                <goals>
-                                    <goal>check</goal>
-                                </goals>
-                            </execution>
-                        </executions>
-                        <configuration>
-                            <configLocation>checkstyle.xml</configLocation>
-                            <includeTestSourceDirectory>true</includeTestSourceDirectory>
-                        </configuration>
-                        <dependencies>
-                            <dependency>
-                                <groupId>com.puppycrawl.tools</groupId>
-                                <artifactId>checkstyle</artifactId>
-                                <version>8.45.1</version>
-                            </dependency>
-                        </dependencies>
-                    </plugin>
-                    <plugin>
-                        <groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
-                        <artifactId>animal-sniffer-maven-plugin</artifactId>
-                        <version>1.23</version>
-                        <executions>
-                            <execution>
-                                <phase>process-classes</phase>
-                                <goals>
-                                    <goal>check</goal>
-                                </goals>
-                            </execution>
-                        </executions>
-                        <configuration>
-                            <signature>
-                                <groupId>org.codehaus.mojo.signature</groupId>
-                                <artifactId>java18</artifactId>
-                                <version>1.0</version>
-                            </signature>
-                        </configuration>
-                    </plugin>
-                </plugins>
-            </build>
-        </profile>
-    </profiles>
-</project>