Is it possible to do gradle release and debug build in a non-android project?

I am creating a REST Client Api which will now be used in a java desktop app as well as an android app. With android gradle plugin, you can specify buildConfigFields in buildTypes for server-side urls so the debug build points to the test server and the release build points to the production server

How can I accomplish this without using the android gradle plugin? I only know the basics in gradle, but can this be done easily with a gradle task?