diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 59396d6..494dc9f 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,28 +1,75 @@
-*.iml
+# =============================================================================
+# Android Cast — .gitignore
+#
+# Rule: ignore BUILD / LOCAL / SECRET outputs only. Never ignore whole trees
+# like gradle/ or third-party/ — that hid gradle/wrapper/ and broke ./rebuild.sh.
+#
+# TRACKED on purpose (do not add blanket rules above these):
+#   gradle/wrapper/          Gradle wrapper jar + properties
+#   gradle/wireguard-tunnel/build.gradle
+#   third-party/README.md    + submodule gitlinks (.gitmodules)
+# =============================================================================
+
+# --- Gradle (daemon cache only; not gradle/wrapper/) ---
 .gradle/
-gradle/
+
+# WireGuard Gradle module — build outputs only
+gradle/wireguard-tunnel/.cxx/
+gradle/wireguard-tunnel/build/
+
+# --- Android / JVM ---
 /local.properties
 /.idea/
-/build/
-app/build/
-app/.cxx/
-captures/
-.DS_Store
+*.iml
 *.apk
 *.ap_
 *.dex
-third-party/*
-app/.*
-bin
-lib
-include
+
+# App module outputs
+app/build/
+app/.cxx/
+
+# Root + shared native/Gradle outputs
+/build/
+build/native/
+
+# Desktop
+desktop/session-studio/build/
+
+# --- NDK symlinks / autotools staging at repo root ---
+/bin
+/lib
+/include
+/bin/
+/lib/
+/include/
+
+# Local symlink to sibling repo (not part of android cast)
+rtc_media_server
+
+# --- Captures / debug dumps ---
+captures/
 .log_capture
 log_capture
-debug-capture
-__pycache__
-desktop/session-studio/build/
-build/
+debug-capture/
+
+# --- PHP local config (use *.example in repo) ---
 config.php.alpine
+
+# --- CI / OTA / local artifacts ---
 out/
 ota-publish/
+
+# --- Scratch (not for commit) ---
 tmp/
+
+# --- Python ---
+__pycache__/
+*.py[cod]
+
+# --- Editor swap ---
+*.swp
+*~
+
+# --- OS ---
+.DS_Store
diff --git a/gradle/wireguard-tunnel/build.gradle b/gradle/wireguard-tunnel/build.gradle
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..740dc6a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gradle/wireguard-tunnel/build.gradle
@@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
+// Android Cast wrapper for third-party/wireguard-android/tunnel (upstream build uses its own catalog).
+plugins {
+    id 'com.android.library'
+}
+
+def wireguardRoot = rootProject.file('third-party/wireguard-android/tunnel')
+def wireguardPkg = providers.gradleProperty('wireguardPackageName').getOrElse('com.wireguard.android')
+
+android {
+    namespace "${wireguardPkg}.tunnel"
+    compileSdk 34
+
+    defaultConfig {
+        minSdk 24
+    }
+
+    compileOptions {
+        sourceCompatibility JavaVersion.VERSION_17
+        targetCompatibility JavaVersion.VERSION_17
+    }
+
+    sourceSets {
+        main {
+            java.srcDirs "${wireguardRoot}/src/main/java"
+            manifest.srcFile "${wireguardRoot}/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml"
+        }
+    }
+
+    externalNativeBuild {
+        cmake {
+            path "${wireguardRoot}/tools/CMakeLists.txt"
+        }
+    }
+
+    lint {
+        disable 'LongLogTag', 'NewApi'
+    }
+
+    buildTypes {
+        all {
+            externalNativeBuild {
+                cmake {
+                    targets 'libwg-go.so', 'libwg.so', 'libwg-quick.so'
+                    arguments "-DGRADLE_USER_HOME=${gradle.gradleUserHomeDir}"
+                    arguments '-DANDROID_SUPPORT_FLEXIBLE_PAGE_SIZES=ON'
+                }
+            }
+        }
+        release {
+            externalNativeBuild {
+                cmake {
+                    arguments "-DANDROID_PACKAGE_NAME=${wireguardPkg}"
+                }
+            }
+        }
+        debug {
+            externalNativeBuild {
+                cmake {
+                    arguments "-DANDROID_PACKAGE_NAME=${wireguardPkg}.debug"
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+dependencies {
+    implementation 'androidx.annotation:annotation:1.9.1'
+    implementation 'androidx.collection:collection:1.6.0'
+    compileOnly 'com.google.code.findbugs:jsr305:3.0.2'
+}
diff --git a/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.jar b/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.jar
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1b33c55
Binary files /dev/null and b/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.jar differ
diff --git a/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties b/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..09523c0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+distributionBase=GRADLE_USER_HOME
+distributionPath=wrapper/dists
+distributionUrl=https\://services.gradle.org/distributions/gradle-8.9-bin.zip
+networkTimeout=10000
+validateDistributionUrl=true
+zipStoreBase=GRADLE_USER_HOME
+zipStorePath=wrapper/dists
diff --git a/gradlew b/gradlew
index 039e4bb..23d15a9 100755
--- a/gradlew
+++ b/gradlew
@@ -1,17 +1,251 @@
 #!/bin/sh
-# Gradle start up script for POSIX generated by Gradle.
 
-APP_HOME=$( cd "${0%/*}" && pwd -P ) || exit
-APP_NAME="Gradle"
+#
+# Copyright © 2015-2021 the original authors.
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#      https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+#
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+#
+
+##############################################################################
+#
+#   Gradle start up script for POSIX generated by Gradle.
+#
+#   Important for running:
+#
+#   (1) You need a POSIX-compliant shell to run this script. If your /bin/sh is
+#       noncompliant, but you have some other compliant shell such as ksh or
+#       bash, then to run this script, type that shell name before the whole
+#       command line, like:
+#
+#           ksh Gradle
+#
+#       Busybox and similar reduced shells will NOT work, because this script
+#       requires all of these POSIX shell features:
+#         * functions;
+#         * expansions «$var», «${var}», «${var:-default}», «${var+SET}»,
+#           «${var#prefix}», «${var%suffix}», and «$( cmd )»;
+#         * compound commands having a testable exit status, especially «case»;
+#         * various built-in commands including «command», «set», and «ulimit».
+#
+#   Important for patching:
+#
+#   (2) This script targets any POSIX shell, so it avoids extensions provided
+#       by Bash, Ksh, etc; in particular arrays are avoided.
+#
+#       The "traditional" practice of packing multiple parameters into a
+#       space-separated string is a well documented source of bugs and security
+#       problems, so this is (mostly) avoided, by progressively accumulating
+#       options in "$@", and eventually passing that to Java.
+#
+#       Where the inherited environment variables (DEFAULT_JVM_OPTS, JAVA_OPTS,
+#       and GRADLE_OPTS) rely on word-splitting, this is performed explicitly;
+#       see the in-line comments for details.
+#
+#       There are tweaks for specific operating systems such as AIX, CygWin,
+#       Darwin, MinGW, and NonStop.
+#
+#   (3) This script is generated from the Groovy template
+#       https://github.com/gradle/gradle/blob/HEAD/platforms/jvm/plugins-application/src/main/resources/org/gradle/api/internal/plugins/unixStartScript.txt
+#       within the Gradle project.
+#
+#       You can find Gradle at https://github.com/gradle/gradle/.
+#
+##############################################################################
+
+# Attempt to set APP_HOME
+
+# Resolve links: $0 may be a link
+app_path=$0
+
+# Need this for daisy-chained symlinks.
+while
+    APP_HOME=${app_path%"${app_path##*/}"}  # leaves a trailing /; empty if no leading path
+    [ -h "$app_path" ]
+do
+    ls=$( ls -ld "$app_path" )
+    link=${ls#*' -> '}
+    case $link in             #(
+      /*)   app_path=$link ;; #(
+      *)    app_path=$APP_HOME$link ;;
+    esac
+done
+
+# This is normally unused
+# shellcheck disable=SC2034
 APP_BASE_NAME=${0##*/}
+# Discard cd standard output in case $CDPATH is set (https://github.com/gradle/gradle/issues/25036)
+APP_HOME=$( cd -P "${APP_HOME:-./}" > /dev/null && printf '%s\n' "$PWD" ) || exit
+
+# Use the maximum available, or set MAX_FD != -1 to use that value.
+MAX_FD=maximum
+
+warn () {
+    echo "$*"
+} >&2
+
+die () {
+    echo
+    echo "$*"
+    echo
+    exit 1
+} >&2
+
+# OS specific support (must be 'true' or 'false').
+cygwin=false
+msys=false
+darwin=false
+nonstop=false
+case "$( uname )" in                #(
+  CYGWIN* )         cygwin=true  ;; #(
+  Darwin* )         darwin=true  ;; #(
+  MSYS* | MINGW* )  msys=true    ;; #(
+  NONSTOP* )        nonstop=true ;;
+esac
+
+CLASSPATH="\\\"\\\""
 
-CLASSPATH=$APP_HOME/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.jar
 
 # Determine the Java command to use to start the JVM.
 if [ -n "$JAVA_HOME" ] ; then
-    JAVACMD=$JAVA_HOME/bin/java
+    if [ -x "$JAVA_HOME/jre/sh/java" ] ; then
+        # IBM's JDK on AIX uses strange locations for the executables
+        JAVACMD=$JAVA_HOME/jre/sh/java
+    else
+        JAVACMD=$JAVA_HOME/bin/java
+    fi
+    if [ ! -x "$JAVACMD" ] ; then
+        die "ERROR: JAVA_HOME is set to an invalid directory: $JAVA_HOME
+
+Please set the JAVA_HOME variable in your environment to match the
+location of your Java installation."
+    fi
 else
     JAVACMD=java
+    if ! command -v java >/dev/null 2>&1
+    then
+        die "ERROR: JAVA_HOME is not set and no 'java' command could be found in your PATH.
+
+Please set the JAVA_HOME variable in your environment to match the
+location of your Java installation."
+    fi
 fi
 
-exec "$JAVACMD" -classpath "$CLASSPATH" org.gradle.wrapper.GradleWrapperMain "$@"
+# Increase the maximum file descriptors if we can.
+if ! "$cygwin" && ! "$darwin" && ! "$nonstop" ; then
+    case $MAX_FD in #(
+      max*)
+        # In POSIX sh, ulimit -H is undefined. That's why the result is checked to see if it worked.
+        # shellcheck disable=SC2039,SC3045
+        MAX_FD=$( ulimit -H -n ) ||
+            warn "Could not query maximum file descriptor limit"
+    esac
+    case $MAX_FD in  #(
+      '' | soft) :;; #(
+      *)
+        # In POSIX sh, ulimit -n is undefined. That's why the result is checked to see if it worked.
+        # shellcheck disable=SC2039,SC3045
+        ulimit -n "$MAX_FD" ||
+            warn "Could not set maximum file descriptor limit to $MAX_FD"
+    esac
+fi
+
+# Collect all arguments for the java command, stacking in reverse order:
+#   * args from the command line
+#   * the main class name
+#   * -classpath
+#   * -D...appname settings
+#   * --module-path (only if needed)
+#   * DEFAULT_JVM_OPTS, JAVA_OPTS, and GRADLE_OPTS environment variables.
+
+# For Cygwin or MSYS, switch paths to Windows format before running java
+if "$cygwin" || "$msys" ; then
+    APP_HOME=$( cygpath --path --mixed "$APP_HOME" )
+    CLASSPATH=$( cygpath --path --mixed "$CLASSPATH" )
+
+    JAVACMD=$( cygpath --unix "$JAVACMD" )
+
+    # Now convert the arguments - kludge to limit ourselves to /bin/sh
+    for arg do
+        if
+            case $arg in                                #(
+              -*)   false ;;                            # don't mess with options #(
+              /?*)  t=${arg#/} t=/${t%%/*}              # looks like a POSIX filepath
+                    [ -e "$t" ] ;;                      #(
+              *)    false ;;
+            esac
+        then
+            arg=$( cygpath --path --ignore --mixed "$arg" )
+        fi
+        # Roll the args list around exactly as many times as the number of
+        # args, so each arg winds up back in the position where it started, but
+        # possibly modified.
+        #
+        # NB: a `for` loop captures its iteration list before it begins, so
+        # changing the positional parameters here affects neither the number of
+        # iterations, nor the values presented in `arg`.
+        shift                   # remove old arg
+        set -- "$@" "$arg"      # push replacement arg
+    done
+fi
+
+
+# Add default JVM options here. You can also use JAVA_OPTS and GRADLE_OPTS to pass JVM options to this script.
+DEFAULT_JVM_OPTS='"-Xmx64m" "-Xms64m"'
+
+# Collect all arguments for the java command:
+#   * DEFAULT_JVM_OPTS, JAVA_OPTS, and optsEnvironmentVar are not allowed to contain shell fragments,
+#     and any embedded shellness will be escaped.
+#   * For example: A user cannot expect ${Hostname} to be expanded, as it is an environment variable and will be
+#     treated as '${Hostname}' itself on the command line.
+
+set -- \
+        "-Dorg.gradle.appname=$APP_BASE_NAME" \
+        -classpath "$CLASSPATH" \
+        -jar "$APP_HOME/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.jar" \
+        "$@"
+
+# Stop when "xargs" is not available.
+if ! command -v xargs >/dev/null 2>&1
+then
+    die "xargs is not available"
+fi
+
+# Use "xargs" to parse quoted args.
+#
+# With -n1 it outputs one arg per line, with the quotes and backslashes removed.
+#
+# In Bash we could simply go:
+#
+#   readarray ARGS < <( xargs -n1 <<<"$var" ) &&
+#   set -- "${ARGS[@]}" "$@"
+#
+# but POSIX shell has neither arrays nor command substitution, so instead we
+# post-process each arg (as a line of input to sed) to backslash-escape any
+# character that might be a shell metacharacter, then use eval to reverse
+# that process (while maintaining the separation between arguments), and wrap
+# the whole thing up as a single "set" statement.
+#
+# This will of course break if any of these variables contains a newline or
+# an unmatched quote.
+#
+
+eval "set -- $(
+        printf '%s\n' "$DEFAULT_JVM_OPTS $JAVA_OPTS $GRADLE_OPTS" |
+        xargs -n1 |
+        sed ' s~[^-[:alnum:]+,./:=@_]~\\&~g; ' |
+        tr '\n' ' '
+    )" '"$@"'
+
+exec "$JAVACMD" "$@"
diff --git a/gradlew.bat b/gradlew.bat
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5eed7ee
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gradlew.bat
@@ -0,0 +1,94 @@
+@rem
+@rem Copyright 2015 the original author or authors.
+@rem
+@rem Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+@rem you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+@rem You may obtain a copy of the License at
+@rem
+@rem      https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+@rem
+@rem Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+@rem distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+@rem WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+@rem See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+@rem limitations under the License.
+@rem
+@rem SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+@rem
+
+@if "%DEBUG%"=="" @echo off
+@rem ##########################################################################
+@rem
+@rem  Gradle startup script for Windows
+@rem
+@rem ##########################################################################
+
+@rem Set local scope for the variables with windows NT shell
+if "%OS%"=="Windows_NT" setlocal
+
+set DIRNAME=%~dp0
+if "%DIRNAME%"=="" set DIRNAME=.
+@rem This is normally unused
+set APP_BASE_NAME=%~n0
+set APP_HOME=%DIRNAME%
+
+@rem Resolve any "." and ".." in APP_HOME to make it shorter.
+for %%i in ("%APP_HOME%") do set APP_HOME=%%~fi
+
+@rem Add default JVM options here. You can also use JAVA_OPTS and GRADLE_OPTS to pass JVM options to this script.
+set DEFAULT_JVM_OPTS="-Xmx64m" "-Xms64m"
+
+@rem Find java.exe
+if defined JAVA_HOME goto findJavaFromJavaHome
+
+set JAVA_EXE=java.exe
+%JAVA_EXE% -version >NUL 2>&1
+if %ERRORLEVEL% equ 0 goto execute
+
+echo. 1>&2
+echo ERROR: JAVA_HOME is not set and no 'java' command could be found in your PATH. 1>&2
+echo. 1>&2
+echo Please set the JAVA_HOME variable in your environment to match the 1>&2
+echo location of your Java installation. 1>&2
+
+goto fail
+
+:findJavaFromJavaHome
+set JAVA_HOME=%JAVA_HOME:"=%
+set JAVA_EXE=%JAVA_HOME%/bin/java.exe
+
+if exist "%JAVA_EXE%" goto execute
+
+echo. 1>&2
+echo ERROR: JAVA_HOME is set to an invalid directory: %JAVA_HOME% 1>&2
+echo. 1>&2
+echo Please set the JAVA_HOME variable in your environment to match the 1>&2
+echo location of your Java installation. 1>&2
+
+goto fail
+
+:execute
+@rem Setup the command line
+
+set CLASSPATH=
+
+
+@rem Execute Gradle
+"%JAVA_EXE%" %DEFAULT_JVM_OPTS% %JAVA_OPTS% %GRADLE_OPTS% "-Dorg.gradle.appname=%APP_BASE_NAME%" -classpath "%CLASSPATH%" -jar "%APP_HOME%\gradle\wrapper\gradle-wrapper.jar" %*
+
+:end
+@rem End local scope for the variables with windows NT shell
+if %ERRORLEVEL% equ 0 goto mainEnd
+
+:fail
+rem Set variable GRADLE_EXIT_CONSOLE if you need the _script_ return code instead of
+rem the _cmd.exe /c_ return code!
+set EXIT_CODE=%ERRORLEVEL%
+if %EXIT_CODE% equ 0 set EXIT_CODE=1
+if not ""=="%GRADLE_EXIT_CONSOLE%" exit %EXIT_CODE%
+exit /b %EXIT_CODE%
+
+:mainEnd
+if "%OS%"=="Windows_NT" endlocal
+
+:omega
diff --git a/rebuild.sh b/rebuild.sh
index 7c8dce4..7bb60ed 100755
--- a/rebuild.sh
+++ b/rebuild.sh
@@ -143,6 +143,7 @@ export ANDROID_NDK_HOME="$(androidcast_find_ndk_root "$ROOT")"
 export ANDROID_NDK_ROOT="$ANDROID_NDK_HOME"
 echo "==> Using NDK: $ANDROID_NDK_HOME"
 
+bash "$ROOT/scripts/ensure-gradle-wrapper.sh"
 echo "==> Initializing third-party git submodules (libvpx, opus, speex, wireguard-android)"
 bash "$ROOT/scripts/init-third-party-submodules.sh"
 if androidcast_ccache_wanted 2>/dev/null; then
diff --git a/scripts/ci-build.sh b/scripts/ci-build.sh
index 4f262be..6bc1d84 100755
--- a/scripts/ci-build.sh
+++ b/scripts/ci-build.sh
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ set -euo pipefail
 ROOT="$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")/.." && pwd)"
 cd "$ROOT"
 
+bash "$ROOT/scripts/ensure-gradle-wrapper.sh"
 export ANDROIDCAST_ROOT="$ROOT"
 export ANDROIDCAST_CCACHE="${ANDROIDCAST_CCACHE:-1}"
 export ANDROIDCAST_USE_DISTCC="${ANDROIDCAST_USE_DISTCC:-0}"
diff --git a/scripts/ensure-gradle-wrapper.sh b/scripts/ensure-gradle-wrapper.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..a83e459
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/ensure-gradle-wrapper.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Ensure gradle/wrapper/* exists (often missing when .gitignore hid gradle/ or after git clean).
+set -euo pipefail
+ROOT="$(cd "$(dirname "$0")/.." && pwd)"
+JAR="$ROOT/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.jar"
+PROPS="$ROOT/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties"
+
+if [[ -f "$JAR" && -f "$PROPS" ]]; then
+  exit 0
+fi
+
+echo "ERROR: Gradle wrapper missing at gradle/wrapper/" >&2
+echo "  expected: gradle-wrapper.jar + gradle-wrapper.properties" >&2
+echo "  fix: cd \"$ROOT\" && gradle wrapper --gradle-version 8.9" >&2
+echo "  note: .gitignore must NOT ignore gradle/wrapper/ (see repo .gitignore)" >&2
+exit 1
diff --git a/scripts/verify-gitignore.sh b/scripts/verify-gitignore.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..eb49e43
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/verify-gitignore.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Quick check that paths required for ./rebuild.sh are not gitignored.
+set -euo pipefail
+ROOT="$(cd "$(dirname "$0")/.." && pwd)"
+cd "$ROOT"
+
+required=(
+  gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.jar
+  gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties
+  gradle/wireguard-tunnel/build.gradle
+  gradlew
+  third-party/README.md
+)
+
+fail=0
+for path in "${required[@]}"; do
+  if [[ ! -e "$path" ]]; then
+    echo "MISSING on disk: $path" >&2
+    fail=1
+    continue
+  fi
+  if git check-ignore -q "$path" 2>/dev/null; then
+    echo "GITIGNORE BLOCKS: $path" >&2
+    fail=1
+  else
+    echo "OK: $path"
+  fi
+done
+
+if [[ "$fail" -ne 0 ]]; then
+  echo "fix .gitignore — see header comments in .gitignore" >&2
+  exit 1
+fi
+echo "verify-gitignore: all required paths visible to git"