diff --git a/api/build.gradle b/api/build.gradle
index f654693d..33542711 100644
--- a/api/build.gradle
+++ b/api/build.gradle
@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 plugins {
     id 'java'
-    id 'com.github.johnrengelman.shadow' version '2.0.4'
     id 'maven-publish'
     id 'checkstyle'
 }
 
 apply from: '../gradle/checkerframework.gradle'
 apply from: '../gradle/checkstyle.gradle'
+apply plugin: 'com.github.johnrengelman.shadow'
 
 sourceSets {
     ap {
diff --git a/build.gradle b/build.gradle
index c7bd9479..8bd68153 100644
--- a/build.gradle
+++ b/build.gradle
@@ -1,3 +1,12 @@
+buildscript {
+    repositories {
+        jcenter()
+    }
+    dependencies {
+        classpath 'com.github.jengelman.gradle.plugins:shadow:2.0.4'
+    }
+}
+
 plugins {
     id 'java'
 }
diff --git a/proxy/build.gradle b/proxy/build.gradle
index c2331e02..b8cb3477 100644
--- a/proxy/build.gradle
+++ b/proxy/build.gradle
@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 plugins {
     id 'java'
-    id 'com.github.johnrengelman.shadow' version '2.0.4'
     id 'de.sebastianboegl.shadow.transformer.log4j' version '2.1.1'
     id 'checkstyle'
 }
 
 apply from: '../gradle/checkerframework.gradle'
 apply from: '../gradle/checkstyle.gradle'
+apply plugin: 'com.github.johnrengelman.shadow'
 
 jar {
     manifest {