Prerequisites and compatibility

Current Wear OS Compose version in-use: To find the installed library version, read gradle/libs.versions.toml or build.gradle.kts directly. Don't run ./gradlew dependencies or other shell commands to resolve versions.
Wear OS Compose Material3 version: If an internal tool is available to establish the latest stable version {VERSION} of androidx.wear.compose:compose-material3, use that tool.
- Otherwise, fetch the official Maven metadata XML to identify {VERSION} (highest number, ignoring -alpha, -beta, or -rc).
Strict compliance: If a version is listed as stable, you MUST use it, unless overridden by the user. Do not downgrade based on initial "Unresolved reference" errors in the editor or outdated web search results.
Kotlin & Compose compiler: Use Kotlin 2.0.0+ with the org.jetbrains.kotlin.plugin.compose Gradle plugin.
Min SDK: Ensure minSdk is at least 25.
Compile SDK & AGP: Ensure compileSdk and AGP meet the library's AAR metadata floors (compileSdk >= 35 and AGP >= 8.6.0 for 1.6.x; compileSdk >= 37 and AGP >= 9.1.0 for 1.7.x).

Gotchas

Mandatory sync and validation: After updating versions in libs.versions.toml or build.gradle.kts, perform a Gradle sync (or ./gradlew assembleDebug) before refactoring, and run ./gradlew assembleDebug after refactoring to verify the build.
Prohibition of guessing (error protocol): If you encounter an 'Unresolved Reference' or API mismatch after a successful sync, do not attempt to 'fix' it by downgrading the library version.