diff --git a/dd-smoke-tests/spring-boot-2.7-webflux/application/build.gradle b/dd-smoke-tests/spring-boot-2.7-webflux/application/build.gradle
index 0b434bb8aac..58a25bc14e9 100644
--- a/dd-smoke-tests/spring-boot-2.7-webflux/application/build.gradle
+++ b/dd-smoke-tests/spring-boot-2.7-webflux/application/build.gradle
@@ -16,6 +16,11 @@ if (hasProperty('appBuildDir')) {
 
 version = ""
 
+// Target Java 8 bytecode as daemon can run on JDK 21
+java {
+  sourceCompatibility = JavaVersion.VERSION_1_8
+}
+
 dependencies {
   implementation 'org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-webflux'
   implementation 'org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-data-jpa'
diff --git a/dd-smoke-tests/spring-boot-2.7-webflux/application/settings.gradle b/dd-smoke-tests/spring-boot-2.7-webflux/application/settings.gradle
index a265d2effdb..0a322538e21 100644
--- a/dd-smoke-tests/spring-boot-2.7-webflux/application/settings.gradle
+++ b/dd-smoke-tests/spring-boot-2.7-webflux/application/settings.gradle
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+// The `gradlePluginProxy` / `mavenRepositoryProxy` properties point to internal Maven
+// mirrors used by CI when the public repos are unreachable; they are forwarded from the
+// outer build via the smoke-test plugin. `allowInsecureProtocol` is required because the
+// mirrors are reached over plain HTTP inside the CI network.
 pluginManagement {
   repositories {
     mavenLocal()
@@ -20,12 +24,16 @@ pluginManagement {
 
 def isCI = providers.environmentVariable("CI").isPresent()
 
-// Don't pollute the dependency cache with the build cache
+// On CI, point the local Gradle build cache to the shared workspace directory under the
+// repository root, so cache entries are reused across the many smoke-test nested builds
+// (and across CI jobs that mount the same workspace). See f6ec1f5cc8 / #982 for the
+// root-level cache, and b34ccbc048 for the `isCI` gating — locally we keep the default
+// per-user cache to avoid leaking entries into the repo tree.
+// The directory must line up with the outer project's settings.gradle.
 if (isCI) {
   def sharedRootDir = "$rootDir/../../../"
   buildCache {
     local {
-      // This needs to line up with the code in the outer project settings.gradle
       directory = "$sharedRootDir/workspace/build-cache"
     }
   }
diff --git a/dd-smoke-tests/spring-boot-2.7-webflux/build.gradle b/dd-smoke-tests/spring-boot-2.7-webflux/build.gradle
index ec403dc3c20..b637f51a344 100644
--- a/dd-smoke-tests/spring-boot-2.7-webflux/build.gradle
+++ b/dd-smoke-tests/spring-boot-2.7-webflux/build.gradle
@@ -1,40 +1,23 @@
-apply from: "$rootDir/gradle/java.gradle"
-
-description = 'Spring Boot 2.7 Webflux Smoke Tests.'
-
-dependencies {
-  testImplementation project(':dd-smoke-tests')
+plugins {
+  id 'dd-trace-java.smoke-test-app'
 }
 
-def appDir = "$projectDir/application"
-def appBuildDir = "$buildDir/application"
-def isWindows = System.getProperty("os.name").toLowerCase().contains("win")
-def gradlewCommand = isWindows ? 'gradlew.bat' : 'gradlew'
-
-// define the task that builds the project
-tasks.register('webfluxBuild', Exec) {
-  workingDir "$appDir"
-  environment += [
-    "GRADLE_OPTS": "-Dorg.gradle.jvmargs='-Xmx512M'",
-    "JAVA_HOME": getLazyJavaHomeFor(8)
-  ]
-  commandLine "$rootDir/${gradlewCommand}", "bootJar", "--no-daemon", "--max-workers=4", "-PappBuildDir=$appBuildDir", "-PapiJar=${project(':dd-trace-api').tasks.jar.archiveFile.get()}"
-
-  outputs.cacheIf { true }
+apply from: "$rootDir/gradle/java.gradle"
 
-  outputs.dir(appBuildDir)
-    .withPropertyName("applicationJar")
+description = 'Spring Boot 2.7 Webflux Smoke Tests.'
 
-  inputs.files(fileTree(appDir) {
-    include '**/*'
-    exclude '.gradle/**'
-  })
-  .withPropertyName("application")
-  .withPathSensitivity(PathSensitivity.RELATIVE)
+smokeTestApp {
+  application {
+    taskName = 'webfluxBuild'
+    nestedTasks = ['bootJar']
+    artifactPath = 'libs/webflux-2.7-smoketest.jar'
+    sysProperty = 'datadog.smoketest.webflux.uberJar.path'
+  }
+  projectJar('apiJar', project(':dd-trace-api'))
 }
 
-tasks.named("webfluxBuild", Exec) {
-  dependsOn project(':dd-trace-api').tasks.named("jar")
+dependencies {
+  testImplementation project(':dd-smoke-tests')
 }
 
 tasks.named("compileTestGroovy", GroovyCompile) {
@@ -44,10 +27,6 @@ tasks.named("compileTestGroovy", GroovyCompile) {
   }
 }
 
-tasks.withType(Test).configureEach {
-  jvmArgs "-Ddatadog.smoketest.webflux.uberJar.path=$appBuildDir/libs/webflux-2.7-smoketest.jar"
-}
-
 spotless {
   java {
     target "**/*.java"