diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 6dd0160d15..21256695db 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -21,6 +21,13 @@ but cannot always guarantee backwards compatibility. Changes that may **break co
 
 ### For developers of the library:
 
+**Improved**
+- Improvements to CI/CD: [#2584](https://github.com/unit8co/darts/pull/2584) by [Dennis Bader](https://github.com/dennisbader).
+  - updated all workflows with most recent action versions
+  - improved caching across `master` branch and its children
+  - fixed failing docker deployment
+  - removed `gradle` dependency in favor of native GitHub action plugins.
+
 ## [0.31.0](https://github.com/unit8co/darts/tree/0.31.0) (2024-10-13)
 
 ### For users of the library:
diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index e6b407b4df..83ec290b23 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -48,19 +48,28 @@ and discuss it with some of the core team.
         * `refactor/`
         * …
     * Work on your update
-7. Check that your code passes all the tests and design new unit tests if needed: `./gradlew test_all`.
-8. Verify your tests coverage by running `./gradlew coverageTest`
-    * Additionally you can generate an xml report and use VSCode Coverage gutter to identify untested
-    lines with `./coverage.sh xml`
-9. If your contribution introduces a non-negligible change, add it to `CHANGELOG.md` under the "Unreleased" section.
+7. Check that your code passes all the tests and design new unit tests if needed: `pytest`.
+8. If your contribution introduces a non-negligible change, add it to `CHANGELOG.md` under the "Unreleased" section.
    You can already refer to the pull request. In addition, for tracking contributions we are happy if you provide
    your full name (if you want to) and link to your Github handle. Example:
    ```
    - Added new feature XYZ. [#001](https://https://github.com/unit8co/darts/pull/001)
      by [<Your Name>](https://github.com/<your-handle>).
    ```
-10. Create a pull request from your new branch into the **master** branch.
+9. Create a pull request from your new branch into the **master** branch.
+10. `Codecov` will add a test coverage report in the pull request. Make sure your test cover all changed lines.
 
+### Build the Documentation Locally
+
+You can build the documentation locally using `make`:
+
+```bash
+# make sure your latest changes are installed
+pip install .
+# build the docs
+make --directory=./docs build-all-docs
+```
+After that docs will be available in `./docs/build/html` directory. You can just open `./docs/build/html/index.html` using your favourite browser.
 
 ### Code Formatting and Linting
 
@@ -80,4 +89,4 @@ Please follow the procedure described in [INSTALL.md](https://github.com/unit8co
 to set up a x_64 emulated environment. For the development environment, instead of installing Darts with
 `pip install darts`, instead go to the darts cloned repo location and install the packages with: `pip install -r requirements/dev-all.txt`.
 If necessary, follow the same steps to setup libomp for lightgbm.
-Finally, verify your overall environment setup by successfully running all unitTests with gradlew or pytest.
+Finally, verify your overall environment setup by successfully running all unitTests with `pytest`.
diff --git a/INSTALL.md b/INSTALL.md
index b235d33be2..00d5fa825b 100644
--- a/INSTALL.md
+++ b/INSTALL.md
@@ -73,30 +73,3 @@ jupyter lab --ip 0.0.0.0 --no-browser --allow-root
 ```
 
 Then copy and paste the URL provided by the docker container into your browser to access Jupyter notebook.
-
-
-## Tests
-
-The gradle setup works best when used in a python environment, but the only requirement is to have `pip` installed for Python 3+
-
-To run all tests at once just run
-```bash
-./gradlew test_all
-```
-
-alternatively you can run
-```bash
-./gradlew unitTest_all # to run only unittests
-./gradlew coverageTest # to run coverage
-./gradlew lint         # to run linter
-```
-
-To run the tests for specific flavours of the library, replace `_all` with `_core`, `_prophet`, `_pmdarima` or `_torch`.
-
-## Documentation
-
-To build documentation locally just run
-```bash
-./gradlew buildDocs
-```
-After that docs will be available in `./docs/build/html` directory. You can just open `./docs/build/html/index.html` using your favourite browser.
diff --git a/build.gradle b/build.gradle
deleted file mode 100644
index 1af0e04dc1..0000000000
--- a/build.gradle
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,172 +0,0 @@
-buildscript {
-    repositories {
-        maven { url "https://plugins.gradle.org/m2/" }
-        gradlePluginPortal()
-    }
-}
-
-plugins {
-    id "com.palantir.docker" version "0.27.0"
-    id "com.palantir.docker-run" version "0.27.0"
-}
-
-// needed for palantir plugin
-task build {
-}
-
-// docker & docker run
-docker {
-    name "unit8/darts"
-
-    // ./gradlew dockerPushVersion will push image with tag ${version}
-    // ${version} is property passed from command line during workflow
-    tag "version", "unit8/darts:${version}"
-
-    // ./gradlew dockerPushLatest will push image with tag 'latest'
-    tag "latest", "unit8/darts:latest"
-
-    dockerfile file("${project.rootDir}/Dockerfile")
-    // needed files for docker and to build library
-    files "README.md", "setup.py", "setup.cfg"
-    copySpec.with {
-        from(".") {
-            include "examples/**"
-            into "."
-        }
-        from(".") {
-            include "darts/**"
-            into "."
-        }
-        from(".") {
-            include "requirements/**"
-            into "."
-        }
-    }
-}
-
-dockerRun {
-    name "unit8_darts"
-    image "unit8/darts:latest"
-    ports "8888:8888"
-    daemonize false
-    clean true
-}
-
-// setup requirements
-task setupPip(type: Exec) {
-    commandLine "python", "-m", "pip", "install", "--upgrade", "pip"
-}
-
-task installPipLatest {
-    dependsOn setupPip
-    doLast {
-        exec {
-            commandLine "pip", "install", "pip-tools"
-        }
-        exec {
-            commandLine "pip-compile", "requirements/core.txt", "requirements/notorch.txt", "requirements/torch.txt", "-o", "requirements-latest.txt"
-        }
-        exec {
-            commandLine "pip", "install", "-r", "requirements-latest.txt"
-        }
-    }
-}
-
-void createPipInstallTask(String flavour) {
-   String taskName = "pip_" + flavour;
-   String taskArgument = "requirements/" + flavour + ".txt";
-   task (taskName, type: Exec) {
-      commandLine "pip", "install", "-q", "-r", taskArgument
-   }
-}
-
-String[] flavours = ["core", "dev", "notorch", "torch", "release"];
-
-for(String flavour : flavours) {
-    createPipInstallTask(flavour);
-}
-
-task installLocally(type:Exec) {
-    commandLine "pip", "install", "."
-}
-
-task pipInstall() {
-    doFirst {
-        setupPip
-    }
-    dependsOn pip_core, pip_dev, pip_notorch, pip_torch, pip_release
-}
-
-task lint(type: Exec) {
-    dependsOn pip_dev
-    commandLine "pre-commit", "run", "--all-files"
-}
-
-void createPipRelatedTask(String flavour) {
-   String taskName = "unitTest_" + flavour;
-   String taskArgument = "pip_" + flavour;
-   task (taskName, type: Exec) {
-        dependsOn(taskArgument)
-        dependsOn pip_core
-        dependsOn pip_dev
-        commandLine "pytest", "--durations=50", "--cov=darts", "--cov-config=.coveragerc", "--cov-report=xml", "darts/tests"
-   }
-
-   taskName = "test_" + flavour;
-   String taskArgument1 = "unitTest_" + flavour;
-   task (taskName) {
-        dependsOn(taskArgument1)
-        dependsOn lint
-   }
-}
-
-flavours = ["core", "torch"];
-
-for(String flavour : flavours) {
-    createPipRelatedTask(flavour);
-}
-
-task unitTest_all(type: Exec) {
-    dependsOn installPipLatest, pip_dev
-    doFirst {
-        installPipLatest
-    }
-    commandLine "pytest", "--durations=50", "--cov=darts", "--cov-config=.coveragerc", "--cov-report=xml", "darts/tests"
-}
-
-task test_all() {
-    dependsOn unitTest_all
-    dependsOn lint
-}
-
-def exampleName=project.properties["exampleName"] ?: ""
-
-task checkExample(type: Exec) {
-    dependsOn pipInstall, installLocally
-    workingDir "./examples"
-    doFirst {
-        exec {
-            commandLine "echo", "Installed packages"
-        }
-        exec {
-            commandLine "pip", "list"
-        }
-    }
-    // exampleName must be passed with -PexampleName=FFT-examples.ipynb
-    commandLine "papermill", exampleName, exampleName
-}
-
-// Documentation build
-void docSteps() {
-    exec {
-        commandLine "make", "--directory", "./docs", "build-all-docs"
-    }
-}
-
-task buildDocs() {
-    dependsOn pip_notorch, pip_release, installLocally
-    // dependsOn cleanDocs
-    doLast {
-        docSteps()
-    }
-}
diff --git a/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.jar b/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.jar
deleted file mode 100644
index 62d4c05355..0000000000
Binary files a/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.jar and /dev/null differ
diff --git a/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties b/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties
deleted file mode 100644
index e750102e09..0000000000
--- a/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,5 +0,0 @@
-distributionBase=GRADLE_USER_HOME
-distributionPath=wrapper/dists
-distributionUrl=https\://services.gradle.org/distributions/gradle-7.3-bin.zip
-zipStoreBase=GRADLE_USER_HOME
-zipStorePath=wrapper/dists
diff --git a/gradlew b/gradlew
deleted file mode 100755
index 4f906e0c81..0000000000
--- a/gradlew
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,185 +0,0 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env sh
-
-#
-# Copyright 2015 the original author or 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.
-#
-
-##############################################################################
-##
-##  Gradle start up script for UN*X
-##
-##############################################################################
-
-# Attempt to set APP_HOME
-# Resolve links: $0 may be a link
-PRG="$0"
-# Need this for relative symlinks.
-while [ -h "$PRG" ] ; do
-    ls=`ls -ld "$PRG"`
-    link=`expr "$ls" : '.*-> \(.*\)$'`
-    if expr "$link" : '/.*' > /dev/null; then
-        PRG="$link"
-    else
-        PRG=`dirname "$PRG"`"/$link"
-    fi
-done
-SAVED="`pwd`"
-cd "`dirname \"$PRG\"`/" >/dev/null
-APP_HOME="`pwd -P`"
-cd "$SAVED" >/dev/null
-
-APP_NAME="Gradle"
-APP_BASE_NAME=`basename "$0"`
-
-# Add default JVM options here. You can also use JAVA_OPTS and GRADLE_OPTS to pass JVM options to this script.
-DEFAULT_JVM_OPTS='"-Xmx64m" "-Xms64m"'
-
-# Use the maximum available, or set MAX_FD != -1 to use that value.
-MAX_FD="maximum"
-
-warn () {
-    echo "$*"
-}
-
-die () {
-    echo
-    echo "$*"
-    echo
-    exit 1
-}
-
-# OS specific support (must be 'true' or 'false').
-cygwin=false
-msys=false
-darwin=false
-nonstop=false
-case "`uname`" in
-  CYGWIN* )
-    cygwin=true
-    ;;
-  Darwin* )
-    darwin=true
-    ;;
-  MINGW* )
-    msys=true
-    ;;
-  NONSTOP* )
-    nonstop=true
-    ;;
-esac
-
-CLASSPATH=$APP_HOME/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.jar
-
-
-# Determine the Java command to use to start the JVM.
-if [ -n "$JAVA_HOME" ] ; then
-    if [ -x "$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: $JAVA_HOME
-
-Please set the JAVA_HOME variable in your environment to match the
-location of your Java installation."
-    fi
-else
-    JAVACMD="java"
-    which java >/dev/null 2>&1 || die "ERROR: JAVA_HOME is not set and no 'java' command could be found in your PATH.
-
-Please set the JAVA_HOME variable in your environment to match the
-location of your Java installation."
-fi
-
-# Increase the maximum file descriptors if we can.
-if [ "$cygwin" = "false" -a "$darwin" = "false" -a "$nonstop" = "false" ] ; then
-    MAX_FD_LIMIT=`ulimit -H -n`
-    if [ $? -eq 0 ] ; then
-        if [ "$MAX_FD" = "maximum" -o "$MAX_FD" = "max" ] ; then
-            MAX_FD="$MAX_FD_LIMIT"
-        fi
-        ulimit -n $MAX_FD
-        if [ $? -ne 0 ] ; then
-            warn "Could not set maximum file descriptor limit: $MAX_FD"
-        fi
-    else
-        warn "Could not query maximum file descriptor limit: $MAX_FD_LIMIT"
-    fi
-fi
-
-# For Darwin, add options to specify how the application appears in the dock
-if $darwin; then
-    GRADLE_OPTS="$GRADLE_OPTS \"-Xdock:name=$APP_NAME\" \"-Xdock:icon=$APP_HOME/media/gradle.icns\""
-fi
-
-# For Cygwin or MSYS, switch paths to Windows format before running java
-if [ "$cygwin" = "true" -o "$msys" = "true" ] ; then
-    APP_HOME=`cygpath --path --mixed "$APP_HOME"`
-    CLASSPATH=`cygpath --path --mixed "$CLASSPATH"`
-
-    JAVACMD=`cygpath --unix "$JAVACMD"`
-
-    # We build the pattern for arguments to be converted via cygpath
-    ROOTDIRSRAW=`find -L / -maxdepth 1 -mindepth 1 -type d 2>/dev/null`
-    SEP=""
-    for dir in $ROOTDIRSRAW ; do
-        ROOTDIRS="$ROOTDIRS$SEP$dir"
-        SEP="|"
-    done
-    OURCYGPATTERN="(^($ROOTDIRS))"
-    # Add a user-defined pattern to the cygpath arguments
-    if [ "$GRADLE_CYGPATTERN" != "" ] ; then
-        OURCYGPATTERN="$OURCYGPATTERN|($GRADLE_CYGPATTERN)"
-    fi
-    # Now convert the arguments - kludge to limit ourselves to /bin/sh
-    i=0
-    for arg in "$@" ; do
-        CHECK=`echo "$arg"|egrep -c "$OURCYGPATTERN" -`
-        CHECK2=`echo "$arg"|egrep -c "^-"`                                 ### Determine if an option
-
-        if [ $CHECK -ne 0 ] && [ $CHECK2 -eq 0 ] ; then                    ### Added a condition
-            eval `echo args$i`=`cygpath --path --ignore --mixed "$arg"`
-        else
-            eval `echo args$i`="\"$arg\""
-        fi
-        i=`expr $i + 1`
-    done
-    case $i in
-        0) set -- ;;
-        1) set -- "$args0" ;;
-        2) set -- "$args0" "$args1" ;;
-        3) set -- "$args0" "$args1" "$args2" ;;
-        4) set -- "$args0" "$args1" "$args2" "$args3" ;;
-        5) set -- "$args0" "$args1" "$args2" "$args3" "$args4" ;;
-        6) set -- "$args0" "$args1" "$args2" "$args3" "$args4" "$args5" ;;
-        7) set -- "$args0" "$args1" "$args2" "$args3" "$args4" "$args5" "$args6" ;;
-        8) set -- "$args0" "$args1" "$args2" "$args3" "$args4" "$args5" "$args6" "$args7" ;;
-        9) set -- "$args0" "$args1" "$args2" "$args3" "$args4" "$args5" "$args6" "$args7" "$args8" ;;
-    esac
-fi
-
-# Escape application args
-save () {
-    for i do printf %s\\n "$i" | sed "s/'/'\\\\''/g;1s/^/'/;\$s/\$/' \\\\/" ; done
-    echo " "
-}
-APP_ARGS=`save "$@"`
-
-# Collect all arguments for the java command, following the shell quoting and substitution rules
-eval set -- $DEFAULT_JVM_OPTS $JAVA_OPTS $GRADLE_OPTS "\"-Dorg.gradle.appname=$APP_BASE_NAME\"" -classpath "\"$CLASSPATH\"" org.gradle.wrapper.GradleWrapperMain "$APP_ARGS"
-
-exec "$JAVACMD" "$@"
diff --git a/gradlew.bat b/gradlew.bat
deleted file mode 100644
index 5093609d51..0000000000
--- a/gradlew.bat
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,104 +0,0 @@
-@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
-
-@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=.
-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%" == "0" goto init
-
-echo.
-echo ERROR: JAVA_HOME is not set and no 'java' command could be found in your PATH.
-echo.
-echo Please set the JAVA_HOME variable in your environment to match the
-echo location of your Java installation.
-
-goto fail
-
-:findJavaFromJavaHome
-set JAVA_HOME=%JAVA_HOME:"=%
-set JAVA_EXE=%JAVA_HOME%/bin/java.exe
-
-if exist "%JAVA_EXE%" goto init
-
-echo.
-echo ERROR: JAVA_HOME is set to an invalid directory: %JAVA_HOME%
-echo.
-echo Please set the JAVA_HOME variable in your environment to match the
-echo location of your Java installation.
-
-goto fail
-
-:init
-@rem Get command-line arguments, handling Windows variants
-
-if not "%OS%" == "Windows_NT" goto win9xME_args
-
-:win9xME_args
-@rem Slurp the command line arguments.
-set CMD_LINE_ARGS=
-set _SKIP=2
-
-:win9xME_args_slurp
-if "x%~1" == "x" goto execute
-
-set CMD_LINE_ARGS=%*
-
-:execute
-@rem Setup the command line
-
-set CLASSPATH=%APP_HOME%\gradle\wrapper\gradle-wrapper.jar
-
-
-@rem Execute Gradle
-"%JAVA_EXE%" %DEFAULT_JVM_OPTS% %JAVA_OPTS% %GRADLE_OPTS% "-Dorg.gradle.appname=%APP_BASE_NAME%" -classpath "%CLASSPATH%" org.gradle.wrapper.GradleWrapperMain %CMD_LINE_ARGS%
-
-:end
-@rem End local scope for the variables with windows NT shell
-if "%ERRORLEVEL%"=="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!
-if  not "" == "%GRADLE_EXIT_CONSOLE%" exit 1
-exit /b 1
-
-:mainEnd
-if "%OS%"=="Windows_NT" endlocal
-
-:omega