diff --git a/buildSrc/build.gradle b/buildSrc/build.gradle
index dce14b10fcb..da8ad788164 100644
--- a/buildSrc/build.gradle
+++ b/buildSrc/build.gradle
@@ -24,15 +24,6 @@ plugins {
   id 'groovy'
 }
 
-gradlePlugin {
-  plugins {
-    simplePlugin {
-      id = 'elasticsearch.clusterformation'
-      implementationClass = 'org.elasticsearch.gradle.clusterformation.ClusterformationPlugin'
-    }
-  }
-}
-
 group = 'org.elasticsearch.gradle'
 
 String minimumGradleVersion = file('src/main/resources/minimumGradleVersion').text.trim()
diff --git a/buildSrc/src/main/resources/META-INF/gradle-plugins/elasticsearch.clusterformation.properties b/buildSrc/src/main/resources/META-INF/gradle-plugins/elasticsearch.clusterformation.properties
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..dfd6cd9956a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/buildSrc/src/main/resources/META-INF/gradle-plugins/elasticsearch.clusterformation.properties
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+implementation-class=org.elasticsearch.gradle.clusterformation.ClusterformationPlugin