diff --git a/build.gradle b/build.gradle
index 0677b32d8..b39675194 100644
--- a/build.gradle
+++ b/build.gradle
@@ -90,71 +90,108 @@ subprojects {
             '-Ywarn-adapted-args'
     ]
 
-    tasks.withType(ScalaCompile) {
+    tasks.withType(ScalaCompile).configureEach {
         options.encoding = 'UTF-8'
         scalaCompileOptions.additionalParameters = scalacParameters
     }
 
-    tasks.withType(ScalaDoc) {
+    tasks.withType(ScalaDoc).configureEach {
         scalaDocOptions.additionalParameters = scalacParameters
     }
 
-    task sourceJar(type: Jar) {
+    tasks.register('sourceJar', Jar) {
         archiveClassifier = 'sources'
         from(sourceSets.main.allSource)
     }
 
-    task docJar(type: Jar) {
+    tasks.register('docJar', Jar) {
         dependsOn tasks.scaladoc
         archiveClassifier = 'javadoc'
         from(tasks.scaladoc.destinationDir)
     }
 
-    task testJar(type: Jar) {
+    tasks.register('testJar', Jar) {
         archiveClassifier = 'tests'
         from(sourceSets.test.output)
     }
 
-    tasks.withType(Jar) {
+    tasks.withType(Jar).configureEach {
         from(tasks.generateLicensesFiles) {
             into("META-INF/")
         }
     }
 
-    task licenseFile {
+    tasks.register('licenseFile') {
         outputs.file(project.parent.file('LICENSE.txt'))
     }
 
-    task dependencySearch(type: DependencyInsightReportTask) {
+    tasks.register('dependencySearch', DependencyInsightReportTask) {
         description = 'Searches all projects for a dependency'
         group = 'help'
     }
 
-    task runApp {
+    // TODO: it looks like this is only used for `:morpheus-examples` - we don't need it for all sub-projects 🤔
+    // see: README.md:163
+    tasks.register('runApp', JavaExec) {
         dependsOn tasks.classes
         group = 'run'
         description = 'Run a custom Scala app (use -PmainClass=com.my.package.App)'
-        doLast {
-            javaexec {
-                classpath = sourceSets.main.runtimeClasspath
-                main = project.getProperty("mainClass")
-            }
-        }
+
+        classpath = sourceSets.main.runtimeClasspath
+        mainClass = project.getProperty("mainClass")
+    }
+
+    tasks.named('runApp').configure {
+        jvmArgs = [
+                '-Xmx2g',
+                '-Dconfig.file=app.conf',
+                '-XX:+IgnoreUnrecognizedVMOptions',
+                '--add-exports=java.base/sun.nio.ch=ALL-UNNAMED',
+                '--add-opens=java.base/java.lang.invoke=ALL-UNNAMED',
+                '--add-opens=java.base/java.lang=ALL-UNNAMED',
+                '--add-opens=java.base/java.lang.invoke=ALL-UNNAMED',
+                '--add-opens=java.base/java.lang.reflect=ALL-UNNAMED',
+                '--add-opens=java.base/java.io=ALL-UNNAMED',
+                '--add-opens=java.base/java.net=ALL-UNNAMED',
+                '--add-opens=java.base/java.nio=ALL-UNNAMED',
+                '--add-opens=java.base/java.util=ALL-UNNAMED',
+                '--add-opens=java.base/java.util.concurrent=ALL-UNNAMED',
+                '--add-opens=java.base/java.util.concurrent.atomic=ALL-UNNAMED',
+                '--add-opens=java.base/jdk.internal.ref=ALL-UNNAMED',
+                '--add-opens=java.base/sun.nio.ch=ALL-UNNAMED',
+                '--add-opens=java.base/sun.nio.cs=ALL-UNNAMED',
+                '--add-opens=java.base/sun.security.action=ALL-UNNAMED',
+                '--add-opens=java.base/sun.util.calendar=ALL-UNNAMED',
+                '--add-opens=java.security.jgss/sun.security.krb5=ALL-UNNAMED',
+                '-Djdk.reflect.useDirectMethodHandle=false'
+        ]
     }
 
     // copied from https://stackoverflow.com/a/38058671/568723
-    task depSize  {
+    tasks.register('depSize') {
         description = 'Lists all dependencies sorted by their size'
+
+        doFirst {
+            configurations {
+                resolvableDefault {
+                    extendsFrom configurations.default
+                    canBeResolved = true
+                    canBeConsumed = false
+                    description = 'Resolvable default configuration.'
+                }
+            }
+        }
+
         doLast {
             final formatStr = "%,10.2f"
-            final conf = configurations.default
+            final conf = configurations.resolvableDefault
             final size = conf.collect { it.length() / (1024 * 1024) }.sum()
             final out = new StringBuffer()
-            out << 'Total dependencies size:'.padRight(45)
+            out << 'Total dependencies size:'.padRight(65)
             out << "${String.format(formatStr, size)} Mb\n\n"
             conf.sort { -it.length() }
                     .each {
-                        out << "${it.name}".padRight(45)
+                        out << "${it.name}".padRight(65)
                         out << "${String.format(formatStr, (it.length() / 1024))} kb\n"
                     }
             println(out)
diff --git a/build.publishing.gradle b/build.publishing.gradle
index b6aa8d5f0..b7a8fa6e8 100644
--- a/build.publishing.gradle
+++ b/build.publishing.gradle
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ subprojects {
 
     if (project.name != "okapi-shade") {
         // Convenience for quick publish to maven local
-        task devPublish {
+        tasks.register('devPublish') {
             group = 'publishing'
             description = 'Publishes main jars to the local Maven repository.'
             dependsOn tasks.publishDevPublicationToMavenLocal
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@ subprojects {
     }
 
     // Task run by teamcity
-    task ci {
+    tasks.register('ci') {
         dependsOn tasks.check
         dependsOn { tasks.publishFullPublicationToBuildDirRepository }
     }
diff --git a/documentation/build.gradle b/documentation/build.gradle
index 38d918a83..29676bebe 100644
--- a/documentation/build.gradle
+++ b/documentation/build.gradle
@@ -1,13 +1,13 @@
 group = "${group}.documentation"
 
-task asciidocJar(type: Jar) {
+tasks.register('asciidocJar', Jar) {
     group = 'documentation'
     description = 'Package asciidoc source files.'
     archiveClassifier = 'asciidoc'
     from("asciidoc")
 }
 
-task aggregatedScalaDoc(type: ScalaDoc) {
+tasks.register('aggregatedScalaDoc', ScalaDoc) {
     ext.fromProjects = [
             project(':okapi-api'),
             project(':morpheus-spark-cypher'),
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ task aggregatedScalaDoc(type: ScalaDoc) {
     scalaDocOptions.additionalParameters = scalacParameters
 }
 
-task aggregatedScalaDocJar(type: Jar) {
+tasks.register('aggregatedScalaDocJar', Jar) {
     archiveClassifier = 'javadoc'
     from tasks.aggregatedScalaDoc
 }
diff --git a/morpheus-tck/build.gradle b/morpheus-tck/build.gradle
index 5e9b4d82a..2dff9baf7 100644
--- a/morpheus-tck/build.gradle
+++ b/morpheus-tck/build.gradle
@@ -14,18 +14,16 @@ dependencies {
 }
 
 // split scenario name / key-words with | --> debugTCKScenarios -Pscenarios = 'sc1|sc2|..'
-task debugTCKScenarios() {
+tasks.register('debugTCKScenarios', JavaExec) {
     description = 'Generates scala-test from TCK scenarios (keywords of the scenario names suffice)'
     group = 'generator'
+    dependsOn sourceSets.generator.runtimeClasspath
+
     def outPath = project.findProperty('outDir') ?: 'src/test/scala/org/opencypher/morpheus/testing/'
     def resDir = project.findProperty('resDir') ?: 'src/test/resources/'
     def scenarios = project.findProperty('scenarios') ?: ''
-    dependsOn sourceSets.generator.runtimeClasspath
-    doLast {
-        javaexec {
-            classpath =  sourceSets.generator.runtimeClasspath
-            main = 'org.opencypher.morpheus.testing.MorpheusTestGenerator'
-            args = [outPath,resDir,scenarios]
-        }
-    }
+
+    mainClass = 'org.opencypher.morpheus.testing.MorpheusTestGenerator'
+    classpath =  sourceSets.generator.runtimeClasspath
+    args = [outPath, resDir, scenarios]
 }