Updated Answer (Dec. 2, 2020)

Latest Gradle: 6.5

Version check:

• ./gradlew -v

How to update:

• Set URL: ./gradlew wrapper --gradle-version=6.5 --distribution-type=all
• Update: ./gradlew wrapper

Latest Android Gradle Plugin: 4.1.0

If you add the following code snippet to the top of your build.gradle file. Gradle will update the build tools.

buildscript {    repositories {        google() // For Gradle 4.0+        maven { url 'https://maven.google.com' } // For Gradle < 4.0    }    dependencies {        classpath 'com.android.tools.build:gradle:4.1.0'    }}

Read more here: https://developer.android.com/studio/build/index.html and about version compatibility here: https://developer.android.com/studio/releases/gradle-plugin.html#updating-gradle and https://dl.google.com/dl/android/maven2/index.html.

Original Answer

I had this same error, you need to make sure your Gradle version is compatible with your Android Gradle Plugin.

The latest version of Gradle is 2.0 but you need to use 1.12 in order to use the Android Gradle Plugin.

This can happen if you miss adding the Top-level build file.

Just add build.gradle to top level.

It should look like this

// Top-level build file where you can add configuration options common to all sub-projects/modules.buildscript {    repositories {        mavenCentral()    }    dependencies {        classpath 'com.android.tools.build:gradle:0.xx.y'    }}allprojects {    repositories {        mavenCentral()    }}

In my case, I download the project from GitHub and the Gradle file was missing. So I just create a new project with success build. Then copy-paste the Gradle missing file. And re-build the project is working for me.