diff --git a/buildSrc/src/main/java/quilt/internal/plugin/TargetDiffPlugin.java b/buildSrc/src/main/java/quilt/internal/plugin/TargetDiffPlugin.java
index cd9685f033..6a4397f292 100644
--- a/buildSrc/src/main/java/quilt/internal/plugin/TargetDiffPlugin.java
+++ b/buildSrc/src/main/java/quilt/internal/plugin/TargetDiffPlugin.java
@@ -28,7 +28,6 @@
 import quilt.internal.task.diff.DecompileTargetVineflowerTask;
 import quilt.internal.task.diff.DiffDirectoriesTask;
 import quilt.internal.task.diff.DownloadTargetMappingJarTask;
-import quilt.internal.task.diff.DownloadTargetMetaFileTask;
 import quilt.internal.task.diff.ExtractTargetMappingJarTask;
 import quilt.internal.task.diff.RemapTargetMinecraftJarTask;
 import quilt.internal.task.diff.RemapTargetUnpickDefinitionsTask;
@@ -36,6 +35,7 @@
 import quilt.internal.task.diff.UnpickTargetJarTask;
 import quilt.internal.task.diff.UnpickVersionsMatchConsumingTask;
 import quilt.internal.task.setup.DownloadMinecraftLibrariesTask;
+import quilt.internal.util.TargetVersionSource;
 
 import java.io.FileReader;
 import java.io.IOException;
@@ -57,8 +57,7 @@
  *          {@link TargetVersionConsumingTask}s with the following defaults:
  *          <ul>
  *              <li> {@link TargetVersionConsumingTask#getTargetVersion() targetVersion}:
- *                   {@value DownloadTargetMetaFileTask#DOWNLOAD_TARGET_META_FILE_TASK_NAME}'s
- *                   {@linkplain DownloadTargetMetaFileTask#provideTargetVersion() provided target version}
+ *                   a version obtained from a {@link TargetVersionSource}
  *              <li> run {@link Task#onlyIf(Spec) onlyIf} their
  *                   {@link TargetVersionConsumingTask#getTargetVersion() targetVersion}
  *                   {@link Provider#isPresent() isPresent}
@@ -100,22 +99,14 @@ public void apply(@NotNull Project project) {
         final TaskContainer tasks = project.getTasks();
 
         {
-            final var downloadTargetMetaFile = tasks.register(
-                DownloadTargetMetaFileTask.DOWNLOAD_TARGET_META_FILE_TASK_NAME,
-                DownloadTargetMetaFileTask.class,
-                task -> {
-                    task.getMinecraftVersion().convention(quiltExt.getMinecraftVersion());
-
-                    task.getDest().convention(this.provideMinecraftBuildFile(
-                        task.getMinecraftVersion().map(createQuiltFileNameBuilder("." + Extensions.JSON))
-                    ));
-                }
-            );
-
-            // put mapped provider in a property so all tasks use the same cached value
             final Property<String> targetVersion = this.getObjects().property(String.class);
             targetVersion.set(
-                downloadTargetMetaFile.flatMap(DownloadTargetMetaFileTask::provideTargetVersion)
+                this.getProviders().of(
+                    TargetVersionSource.class,
+                    spec -> spec.parameters(params ->
+                        params.getMinecraftVersion().set(quiltExt.getMinecraftVersion())
+                    )
+                )
             );
 
             tasks.withType(TargetVersionConsumingTask.class).configureEach(task -> {
@@ -297,7 +288,7 @@ public static Provider<Boolean> provideUnpickVersionsMatch(
 
                 return parsed.getAsJsonObject().get("unpickVersion").getAsString();
             })
-            .map(targetVersion -> targetVersion.equals(unpickVersion))
+            .map(targetUnpickVersion -> targetUnpickVersion.equals(unpickVersion))
             .orElse(false);
     }
 
diff --git a/buildSrc/src/main/java/quilt/internal/task/diff/DownloadTargetMetaFileTask.java b/buildSrc/src/main/java/quilt/internal/task/diff/DownloadTargetMetaFileTask.java
deleted file mode 100644
index 7a03aa7a5e..0000000000
--- a/buildSrc/src/main/java/quilt/internal/task/diff/DownloadTargetMetaFileTask.java
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,59 +0,0 @@
-package quilt.internal.task.diff;
-
-import com.google.gson.JsonElement;
-import com.google.gson.JsonParser;
-import org.gradle.api.GradleException;
-import org.gradle.api.provider.Property;
-import org.gradle.api.provider.Provider;
-import org.gradle.api.tasks.Input;
-import org.gradle.api.tasks.TaskContainer;
-import org.gradle.work.DisableCachingByDefault;
-import quilt.internal.constants.Groups;
-import quilt.internal.plugin.TargetDiffPlugin;
-import quilt.internal.task.SimpleDownloadTask;
-
-import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
-import java.io.FileReader;
-import java.util.Comparator;
-import java.util.stream.StreamSupport;
-
-/**
- * @see TargetVersionConsumingTask
- */
-@DisableCachingByDefault(because = "Output depends on a remote source that may change.")
-public abstract class DownloadTargetMetaFileTask extends SimpleDownloadTask {
-    /**
-     * {@linkplain TaskContainer#register Registered} by {@link TargetDiffPlugin}.
-     */
-    public static final String DOWNLOAD_TARGET_META_FILE_TASK_NAME = "downloadTargetMetaFile";
-
-    @Input
-    public abstract Property<String> getMinecraftVersion();
-
-    public Provider<String> provideTargetVersion() {
-        return this.getDest().map(metaFile -> {
-            final JsonElement parsed;
-            try {
-                parsed = JsonParser.parseReader(new FileReader(metaFile.getAsFile()));
-            } catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
-                throw new GradleException("Failed to open meta file", e);
-            }
-
-            return StreamSupport.stream(parsed.getAsJsonArray().spliterator(), false)
-                .max(Comparator.comparing(
-                    element -> element.getAsJsonObject().get("build").getAsInt(),
-                    Integer::compare
-                ))
-                .map(element -> element.getAsJsonObject().get("version").getAsString())
-                .orElse(null);
-        });
-    }
-
-    public DownloadTargetMetaFileTask() {
-        this.setGroup(Groups.DIFF);
-
-        this.getUrl().convention(
-            this.getMinecraftVersion().map(version -> "https://meta.quiltmc.org/v3/versions/quilt-mappings/" + version)
-        );
-    }
-}
diff --git a/buildSrc/src/main/java/quilt/internal/util/DownloadUtil.java b/buildSrc/src/main/java/quilt/internal/util/DownloadUtil.java
index 1466cc6c42..4f4a9b5f43 100644
--- a/buildSrc/src/main/java/quilt/internal/util/DownloadUtil.java
+++ b/buildSrc/src/main/java/quilt/internal/util/DownloadUtil.java
@@ -7,10 +7,15 @@
 
 import java.io.File;
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.net.HttpURLConnection;
 import java.net.MalformedURLException;
 import java.net.URI;
 import java.net.URISyntaxException;
 import java.net.URL;
+import java.util.Optional;
+
+import static java.net.HttpURLConnection.HTTP_BAD_REQUEST;
+import static java.net.HttpURLConnection.HTTP_OK;
 
 public final class DownloadUtil {
     private DownloadUtil() { }
@@ -94,4 +99,23 @@ public static URL urlOf(String url) {
     public static URL urlOfUnhandled(String url) throws MalformedURLException, URISyntaxException {
         return new URI(url).toURL();
     }
+
+    public static Optional<HttpURLConnection> openAvailableConnection(String httpUrl) {
+        return openAvailableConnection(urlOf(httpUrl));
+    }
+
+    public static Optional<HttpURLConnection> openAvailableConnection(URL httpUrl) {
+        try {
+            if (httpUrl.openConnection() instanceof HttpURLConnection connection) {
+                final int code = connection.getResponseCode();
+                if (code >= HTTP_OK && code < HTTP_BAD_REQUEST) {
+                    return Optional.of(connection);
+                }
+            }
+        } catch (IOException e) {
+            throw new GradleException("Failed to connect to url: " + httpUrl, e);
+        }
+
+        return Optional.empty();
+    }
 }
diff --git a/buildSrc/src/main/java/quilt/internal/util/TargetVersionSource.java b/buildSrc/src/main/java/quilt/internal/util/TargetVersionSource.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c20f9f8a8f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/buildSrc/src/main/java/quilt/internal/util/TargetVersionSource.java
@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+package quilt.internal.util;
+
+import com.google.gson.JsonElement;
+import com.google.gson.JsonParser;
+import org.gradle.api.GradleException;
+import org.gradle.api.provider.Property;
+import org.gradle.api.provider.ValueSource;
+import org.gradle.api.provider.ValueSourceParameters;
+import org.jetbrains.annotations.Nullable;
+import org.slf4j.Logger;
+import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
+
+import java.io.BufferedReader;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.InputStreamReader;
+import java.util.Comparator;
+import java.util.stream.StreamSupport;
+
+import static quilt.internal.util.DownloadUtil.openAvailableConnection;
+
+public abstract class TargetVersionSource implements ValueSource<String, TargetVersionSource.Params> {
+    private static final Logger LOGGER = LoggerFactory.getLogger(TargetVersionSource.class);
+
+    @Override
+    @Nullable
+    public String obtain() {
+        final String url = "https://meta.quiltmc.org/v3/versions/quilt-mappings/" +
+            this.getParameters().getMinecraftVersion().get();
+
+        return openAvailableConnection(url)
+            .flatMap(connection -> {
+                final JsonElement meta;
+                try (var in = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(connection.getInputStream()))) {
+                    meta = JsonParser.parseReader(in);
+                } catch (IOException e) {
+                    throw new GradleException("Failed to read meta file from url: " + url, e);
+                }
+
+                return StreamSupport.stream(meta.getAsJsonArray().spliterator(), false)
+                    .map(JsonElement::getAsJsonObject)
+                    .max(Comparator.comparing(
+                        object -> object.get("build").getAsInt(),
+                        Integer::compare
+                    ))
+                    .map(object -> object.get("version"))
+                    .map(JsonElement::getAsString);
+            })
+            .orElseGet(() -> {
+                LOGGER.warn(":target version meta unavailable");
+
+                return null;
+            });
+    }
+
+    public interface Params extends ValueSourceParameters {
+        Property<String> getMinecraftVersion();
+    }
+}