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I managed to solve this by making the dependency `compileOnly` and then creating a task that copies the class files from the lib build directory to the app build directory. I then add
```    build {
        finalizedBy(copyLib)
    }```

so now when I run `gradle build -t` it will always copy all the compiled classes across which the ktor server then picks up

Be aware that this is quite problematic.
I don't know what the better solution is, as I don't use ktor.
But tasks should not share outputs / write files into output directories of other tasks.
Otherwise you disturb some Gradle features like up-to-date checks, task output caches, and so on.

yeah it’s fine because it’s just a development server and is not packaged up or used anywhere, but thanks for saying. I haven’t found another way though?