diff --git a/plugins/autodoc/autodoc-plugin/src/main/java/org/eclipse/edc/plugins/autodoc/tasks/AbstractManifestResolveTask.java b/plugins/autodoc/autodoc-plugin/src/main/java/org/eclipse/edc/plugins/autodoc/tasks/AbstractManifestResolveTask.java
index 22e7ba1..3d41fc0 100644
--- a/plugins/autodoc/autodoc-plugin/src/main/java/org/eclipse/edc/plugins/autodoc/tasks/AbstractManifestResolveTask.java
+++ b/plugins/autodoc/autodoc-plugin/src/main/java/org/eclipse/edc/plugins/autodoc/tasks/AbstractManifestResolveTask.java
@@ -18,6 +18,8 @@
 import org.gradle.api.DefaultTask;
 import org.gradle.api.artifacts.Dependency;
 import org.gradle.api.tasks.Internal;
+import org.gradle.api.tasks.OutputDirectory;
+import org.gradle.api.tasks.OutputFile;
 import org.gradle.api.tasks.TaskAction;
 import org.gradle.api.tasks.options.Option;
 
@@ -76,6 +78,11 @@ public void setOutput(String output) {
         this.outputDirectoryOverride = new File(output);
     }
 
+    @OutputDirectory
+    public File getOutputFile() {
+        return downloadDirectory.toFile();
+    }
+
     /**
      * Whether to consider a particular dependency for manifest resolution.
      *
diff --git a/plugins/autodoc/autodoc-plugin/src/main/java/org/eclipse/edc/plugins/autodoc/tasks/DownloadManifestTask.java b/plugins/autodoc/autodoc-plugin/src/main/java/org/eclipse/edc/plugins/autodoc/tasks/DownloadManifestTask.java
index 5a2e56e..d879e64 100644
--- a/plugins/autodoc/autodoc-plugin/src/main/java/org/eclipse/edc/plugins/autodoc/tasks/DownloadManifestTask.java
+++ b/plugins/autodoc/autodoc-plugin/src/main/java/org/eclipse/edc/plugins/autodoc/tasks/DownloadManifestTask.java
@@ -18,7 +18,9 @@
 import org.gradle.api.artifacts.ProjectDependency;
 import org.gradle.api.artifacts.repositories.MavenArtifactRepository;
 import org.gradle.api.internal.artifacts.dependencies.DefaultProjectDependency;
+import org.gradle.api.tasks.OutputFile;
 
+import java.io.File;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.InputStream;
 import java.net.URI;
@@ -48,7 +50,6 @@ protected InputStream resolveManifest(DependencySource autodocManifest) {
             getLogger().warn("Could not obtain {}", autodocManifest.dependency());
             return null;
         }
-
         return inputStream;
     }
 
@@ -122,6 +123,4 @@ private boolean isLocalFileValid(Dependency dep) {
             throw new RuntimeException(e);
         }
     }
-
-
 }
diff --git a/plugins/autodoc/autodoc-plugin/src/main/java/org/eclipse/edc/plugins/autodoc/tasks/FileSource.java b/plugins/autodoc/autodoc-plugin/src/main/java/org/eclipse/edc/plugins/autodoc/tasks/FileSource.java
index 47e637c..9e6771a 100644
--- a/plugins/autodoc/autodoc-plugin/src/main/java/org/eclipse/edc/plugins/autodoc/tasks/FileSource.java
+++ b/plugins/autodoc/autodoc-plugin/src/main/java/org/eclipse/edc/plugins/autodoc/tasks/FileSource.java
@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@
 import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
 import java.io.InputStream;
 import java.net.URI;
+import java.nio.file.Files;
+import java.nio.file.Path;
 
 /**
  * A dependency that is represented in the local file system, e.g. the local Maven cache
@@ -24,7 +26,7 @@ public FileSource(Dependency dependency, URI uri, String classifier, String type
 
     @Override
     public boolean exists() {
-        return new File(uri()).exists();
+        return Files.exists(Path.of(uri()));
     }
 
     @Override