diff --git a/src/participation/cloning.service.ts b/src/participation/cloning.service.ts
index 33fd386..7b15b7c 100644
--- a/src/participation/cloning.service.ts
+++ b/src/participation/cloning.service.ts
@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@ import * as path from "path";
 import { retrieveVcsAccessToken } from "../artemis/authentication.client";
 import { getWorkspaceFolder, theiaEnv } from "../theia/theia";
 import { addVcsTokenToUrl } from "@shared/models/participation.model";
+import { ProgrammingExercise, ProgrammingLanguage } from "@shared/models/exercise.model";
+import { warmupGradleDaemon } from "./gradle.service";
 
 export async function cloneUserRepo(repoUrl: string, username: string) {
   // get folder to clone repo into
@@ -48,6 +50,12 @@ export async function cloneUserRepo(repoUrl: string, username: string) {
   const cloneUrlWithToken = new URL(addVcsTokenToUrl(repoUrl, username, vcsToken));
   const clonePath = await cloneByGivenURL(cloneUrlWithToken, destinationPath);
 
+  // Pre-warm Gradle daemon in background to avoid ~3s init on first build
+  const exercise = getState().displayedExercise;
+  if ((exercise as ProgrammingExercise)?.programmingLanguage === ProgrammingLanguage.JAVA) {
+    warmupGradleDaemon(clonePath);
+  }
+
   if (!theiaEnv.THEIA_FLAG) {
     // Prompt the user to open the cloned folder in a new workspace
     const openIn = await vscode.window.showInformationMessage(
diff --git a/src/participation/gradle.service.ts b/src/participation/gradle.service.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bbcb913
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/participation/gradle.service.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+import { spawn } from "child_process";
+import * as fs from "fs";
+import * as path from "path";
+
+/**
+ * Pre-warms the Gradle daemon in the background after cloning a repository.
+ * This avoids the ~3s daemon initialization overhead on the first build.
+ *
+ * Silently skips if:
+ * - Running on Windows (not a supported environment)
+ * - The project does not contain a `gradlew` file (not a Gradle project)
+ */
+export function warmupGradleDaemon(projectPath: string): void {
+  if (process.platform === "win32") {
+    return;
+  }
+
+  const gradlewPath = path.join(projectPath, "gradlew");
+  if (!fs.existsSync(gradlewPath)) {
+    return;
+  }
+
+  try {
+    fs.chmodSync(gradlewPath, 0o755);
+
+    const child = spawn("./gradlew", ["--daemon"], {
+      cwd: projectPath,
+      detached: true,
+      stdio: "ignore",
+    });
+    child.unref();
+  } catch (error: any) {
+    console.warn(`Gradle daemon warmup failed: ${error.message}`);
+  }
+}