[android] configuring project ':app' failed to find Build Tools revision

My android gradle build fails with a helpful error message

$ gradle

FAILURE: Build failed with an exception.

* What went wrong:
A problem occurred configuring project ':app'.
> failed to find Build Tools revision 24.4.1

I looked at the SDK version that Android Studio thinks I have installed.

It reports I have 24.4.1 installed, which agrees with my build.gradle file.

Also, I have tried installing the sdk with ./android list sdk -a; ./android update sdk -a -u -t 1 but still the failure persists.

I even tried putting a bogus local.properties file

sdk.dir=/home/admin/DEADBEEF

which gives

$ gradle

FAILURE: Build failed with an exception.

* What went wrong:
A problem occurred configuring project ':app'.
> The SDK directory '/home/admin/DEADBEEF' does not exist.

Also, the stacktrace doesn't seem to be much help because I didn't find this source file. So now I've started digging through the googlesource for DefaultSdkLoader

$ gradle --stacktrace

FAILURE: Build failed with an exception.

* What went wrong:
A problem occurred configuring project ':app'.
> failed to find Build Tools revision 24.4.1

* Try:
Run with --info or --debug option to get more log output.

* Exception is:
org.gradle.api.ProjectConfigurationException: A problem occurred configuring project ':app'.
        at org.gradle.configuration.project.LifecycleProjectEvaluator.addConfigurationFailure(LifecycleProjectEvaluator.java:79)
        at org.gradle.configuration.project.LifecycleProjectEvaluator.notifyAfterEvaluate(LifecycleProjectEvaluator.java:74)
        at org.gradle.configuration.project.LifecycleProjectEvaluator.evaluate(LifecycleProjectEvaluator.java:61)
        at org.gradle.api.internal.project.AbstractProject.evaluate(AbstractProject.java:510)
        at org.gradle.api.internal.project.AbstractProject.evaluate(AbstractProject.java:90)
        at org.gradle.execution.TaskPathProjectEvaluator.configureHierarchy(TaskPathProjectEvaluator.java:47)
        at org.gradle.configuration.DefaultBuildConfigurer.configure(DefaultBuildConfigurer.java:35)
        at org.gradle.initialization.DefaultGradleLauncher$2.run(DefaultGradleLauncher.java:125)
        at org.gradle.internal.Factories$1.create(Factories.java:22)
        at org.gradle.internal.progress.DefaultBuildOperationExecutor.run(DefaultBuildOperationExecutor.java:90)
        at org.gradle.internal.progress.DefaultBuildOperationExecutor.run(DefaultBuildOperationExecutor.java:52)
        at org.gradle.initialization.DefaultGradleLauncher.doBuildStages(DefaultGradleLauncher.java:122)
        at org.gradle.initialization.DefaultGradleLauncher.access$200(DefaultGradleLauncher.java:32)
        at org.gradle.initialization.DefaultGradleLauncher$1.create(DefaultGradleLauncher.java:99)
        at org.gradle.initialization.DefaultGradleLauncher$1.create(DefaultGradleLauncher.java:93)
        at org.gradle.internal.progress.DefaultBuildOperationExecutor.run(DefaultBuildOperationExecutor.java:90)
        at org.gradle.internal.progress.DefaultBuildOperationExecutor.run(DefaultBuildOperationExecutor.java:62)
        at org.gradle.initialization.DefaultGradleLauncher.doBuild(DefaultGradleLauncher.java:93)
        at org.gradle.initialization.DefaultGradleLauncher.run(DefaultGradleLauncher.java:82)
        at org.gradle.launcher.exec.InProcessBuildActionExecuter$DefaultBuildController.run(InProcessBuildActionExecuter.java:94)
        at org.gradle.tooling.internal.provider.ExecuteBuildActionRunner.run(ExecuteBuildActionRunner.java:28)
        at org.gradle.launcher.exec.ChainingBuildActionRunner.run(ChainingBuildActionRunner.java:35)
        at org.gradle.launcher.exec.InProcessBuildActionExecuter.execute(InProcessBuildActionExecuter.java:43)
        at org.gradle.launcher.exec.InProcessBuildActionExecuter.execute(InProcessBuildActionExecuter.java:28)
        at org.gradle.launcher.exec.ContinuousBuildActionExecuter.execute(ContinuousBuildActionExecuter.java:78)
        at org.gradle.launcher.exec.ContinuousBuildActionExecuter.execute(ContinuousBuildActionExecuter.java:48)
        at org.gradle.launcher.daemon.server.exec.ExecuteBuild.doBuild(ExecuteBuild.java:52)
        at org.gradle.launcher.daemon.server.exec.BuildCommandOnly.execute(BuildCommandOnly.java:36)
        at org.gradle.launcher.daemon.server.api.DaemonCommandExecution.proceed(DaemonCommandExecution.java:120)
        at org.gradle.launcher.daemon.server.exec.WatchForDisconnection.execute(WatchForDisconnection.java:37)
        at org.gradle.launcher.daemon.server.api.DaemonCommandExecution.proceed(DaemonCommandExecution.java:120)
        at org.gradle.launcher.daemon.server.exec.ResetDeprecationLogger.execute(ResetDeprecationLogger.java:26)
        at org.gradle.launcher.daemon.server.api.DaemonCommandExecution.proceed(DaemonCommandExecution.java:120)
        at org.gradle.launcher.daemon.server.exec.RequestStopIfSingleUsedDaemon.execute(RequestStopIfSingleUsedDaemon.java:34)
        at org.gradle.launcher.daemon.server.api.DaemonCommandExecution.proceed(DaemonCommandExecution.java:120)
        at org.gradle.launcher.daemon.server.exec.ForwardClientInput$2.call(ForwardClientInput.java:74)
        at org.gradle.launcher.daemon.server.exec.ForwardClientInput$2.call(ForwardClientInput.java:72)
        at org.gradle.util.Swapper.swap(Swapper.java:38)
        at org.gradle.launcher.daemon.server.exec.ForwardClientInput.execute(ForwardClientInput.java:72)
        at org.gradle.launcher.daemon.server.api.DaemonCommandExecution.proceed(DaemonCommandExecution.java:120)
        at org.gradle.launcher.daemon.server.health.DaemonHealthTracker.execute(DaemonHealthTracker.java:47)
        at org.gradle.launcher.daemon.server.api.DaemonCommandExecution.proceed(DaemonCommandExecution.java:120)
        at org.gradle.launcher.daemon.server.exec.LogToClient.doBuild(LogToClient.java:66)
        at org.gradle.launcher.daemon.server.exec.BuildCommandOnly.execute(BuildCommandOnly.java:36)
        at org.gradle.launcher.daemon.server.api.DaemonCommandExecution.proceed(DaemonCommandExecution.java:120)
        at org.gradle.launcher.daemon.server.exec.EstablishBuildEnvironment.doBuild(EstablishBuildEnvironment.java:72)
        at org.gradle.launcher.daemon.server.exec.BuildCommandOnly.execute(BuildCommandOnly.java:36)
        at org.gradle.launcher.daemon.server.api.DaemonCommandExecution.proceed(DaemonCommandExecution.java:120)
        at org.gradle.launcher.daemon.server.health.HintGCAfterBuild.execute(HintGCAfterBuild.java:41)
        at org.gradle.launcher.daemon.server.api.DaemonCommandExecution.proceed(DaemonCommandExecution.java:120)
        at org.gradle.launcher.daemon.server.exec.StartBuildOrRespondWithBusy$1.run(StartBuildOrRespondWithBusy.java:50)
        at org.gradle.launcher.daemon.server.DaemonStateCoordinator$1.run(DaemonStateCoordinator.java:246)
        at org.gradle.internal.concurrent.ExecutorPolicy$CatchAndRecordFailures.onExecute(ExecutorPolicy.java:54)
        at org.gradle.internal.concurrent.StoppableExecutorImpl$1.run(StoppableExecutorImpl.java:40)
Caused by: java.lang.IllegalStateException: failed to find Build Tools revision 24.4.1
        at com.android.builder.sdk.DefaultSdkLoader.getTargetInfo(DefaultSdkLoader.java:93)
        at com.android.build.gradle.internal.SdkHandler.initTarget(SdkHandler.java:89)
        at com.android.build.gradle.BasePlugin.ensureTargetSetup(BasePlugin.java:673)
        at com.android.build.gradle.BasePlugin.createAndroidTasks(BasePlugin.java:610)
        at com.android.build.gradle.BasePlugin$10$1.call(BasePlugin.java:566)
        at com.android.build.gradle.BasePlugin$10$1.call(BasePlugin.java:563)
        at com.android.builder.profile.ThreadRecorder$1.record(ThreadRecorder.java:55)
        at com.android.builder.profile.ThreadRecorder$1.record(ThreadRecorder.java:47)
        at com.android.build.gradle.BasePlugin$10.execute(BasePlugin.java:562)
        at com.android.build.gradle.BasePlugin$10.execute(BasePlugin.java:559)
        at org.gradle.internal.event.BroadcastDispatch$ActionInvocationHandler.dispatch(BroadcastDispatch.java:93)
        at org.gradle.internal.event.BroadcastDispatch$ActionInvocationHandler.dispatch(BroadcastDispatch.java:82)
        at org.gradle.internal.event.AbstractBroadcastDispatch.dispatch(AbstractBroadcastDispatch.java:44)
        at org.gradle.internal.event.BroadcastDispatch.dispatch(BroadcastDispatch.java:79)
        at org.gradle.internal.event.BroadcastDispatch.dispatch(BroadcastDispatch.java:30)
        at org.gradle.messaging.dispatch.ProxyDispatchAdapter$DispatchingInvocationHandler.invoke(ProxyDispatchAdapter.java:93)
        at com.sun.proxy.$Proxy10.afterEvaluate(Unknown Source)
        at org.gradle.configuration.project.LifecycleProjectEvaluator.notifyAfterEvaluate(LifecycleProjectEvaluator.java:67)
        ... 52 more

Before DefaultSdkLoader can use a build tool to compile the project, the

com.android.sdklib.repository.local.LocalSdk#scanBuildTools

is called using your SDK directory. A new BuildToolInfo is created, which uses PKG_BUILD_TOOLS type to find build tools. So, I just looked in my build-tools folder in my android SDK and, lo! There are no build tools for 24.4.1

I found out that it also happens if you uninstalled some packages from your react-native project and there is still packages in your build gradle dependencies in the bottom of page like:

{
 project(':react-native-sound-player')
}

For me, dataBinding { enabled true } was enabled in gradle, removing this helped me

I had c++ codes in my project but i didn't have NDK installed, installing it solved the problem

In my case issue was with wrong path to NDK.

If your project requires it please check it in menu File -> Project Structure -> SDK Location:

also try to increase gradle version in your project's build.gradle. It helped me