Publishing multiplatform libraries

You can publish a multiplatform library to a local Maven repository with the maven-publish Gradle plugin. In the shared/build.gradle.kts file, specify the group, version, and the repositories where the library should be published. The plugin creates publications automatically.

plugins {
    //...
    id("maven-publish")
}

group = "com.example"
version = "1.0"

publishing {
    repositories {
        maven {
            //...
        }
    }
}

Structure of publications

When used with maven-publish, the Kotlin plugin automatically creates publications for each target that can be built on the current host, except for the Android target, which needs an additional step to configure publishing.

Publications of a multiplatform library include an additional root publication kotlinMultiplatform that stands for the whole library and is automatically resolved to the appropriate platform-specific artifacts when added as a dependency to the common source set. Learn more about adding dependencies.

This kotlinMultiplatform publication includes metadata artifacts and references the other publications as its variants.

The kotlinMultiplatform publication may also need the sources and documentation artifacts if that is required by the repository. In that case, add those artifacts by using artifact(...) in the publication's scope.

Host requirements

Kotlin/Native supports cross-compilation, allowing any host to produce necessary .klib artifacts. However, there are still some specifics you should keep in mind.

Compilation for Apple targets

To produce artifacts for projects with Apple targets, you'd normally need an Apple machine. However, if you want to use other hosts, set this option in your gradle.properties file:

kotlin.native.enableKlibsCrossCompilation=true

Cross-compilation is currently Experimental and has some limitations. You still need to use a Mac machine if:

Your library has a cinterop dependency.
You have CocoaPods integration set up in your project.
You need to build or test final binaries for Apple targets.

Duplicating publications

To avoid any issues during publication, publish all artifacts from a single host to avoid duplicating publications in the repository. Maven Central, for example, explicitly forbids duplicate publications and fails the process.

If you use Kotlin 1.7.0 or earlier

Before 1.7.20, the Kotlin/Native compiler didn't support all cross-compilation options. If you use earlier versions, you may need to publish multiplatform projects from multiple hosts: a Windows host to compile a Windows target, a Linux host to compile a Linux target, and so on. This can result in duplicate publications of modules that are cross-compiled. The most straightforward way to avoid this is to upgrade to a later version of Kotlin and publish from a single host as described above.

If upgrading is not an option, assign a main host for each target and check for it in the shared/build.gradle(.kts) file:

kotlin {
    jvm()
    js()
    mingwX64()
    linuxX64()
  
    val publicationsFromMainHost =
        listOf(jvm(), js()).map { it.name } + "kotlinMultiplatform"
  
    publishing {
        publications {
            matching { it.name in publicationsFromMainHost }.all {
                val targetPublication = this@all
                tasks.withType<AbstractPublishToMaven>()
                    .matching { it.publication == targetPublication }
                    .configureEach { onlyIf { findProperty("isMainHost") == "true" } }
            }
        }
    }
}

kotlin {
    jvm()
    js()
    mingwX64()
    linuxX64()
  
    def publicationsFromMainHost =
        [jvm(), js()].collect { it.name } + "kotlinMultiplatform"
  
    publishing {
        publications {
            matching { it.name in publicationsFromMainHost }.all { targetPublication ->
                tasks.withType(AbstractPublishToMaven)
                    .matching { it.publication == targetPublication }
                    .configureEach { onlyIf { findProperty("isMainHost") == "true" } }
            }
        }
    }
}

Publish an Android library

To publish an Android library, you need to provide additional configuration.

By default, no artifacts of an Android library are published. To publish artifacts produced by a set of Android variants, specify the variant names in the Android target block in the shared/build.gradle.kts file:

kotlin {
    androidTarget {
        publishLibraryVariants("release")
    }
}

The example works for Android libraries without product flavors. For a library with product flavors, the variant names also contain the flavors, like fooBarDebug or fooBarRelease.

The default publishing setup is as follows:

If the published variants have the same build type (for example, all of them are release ordebug), they will be compatible with any consumer build type.
If the published variants have different build types, then only the release variants will be compatible with consumer build types that are not among the published variants. All other variants (such as debug) will only match the same build type on the consumer side, unless the consumer project specifies the matching fallbacks.

If you want to make every published Android variant compatible with only the same build type used by the library consumer, set this Gradle property: kotlin.android.buildTypeAttribute.keep=true.

You can also publish variants grouped by the product flavor, so that the outputs of the different build types are placed in a single module, with the build type becoming a classifier for the artifacts (the release build type is still published with no classifier). This mode is disabled by default and can be enabled as follows in the shared/build.gradle.kts file:

kotlin {
    androidTarget {
        publishLibraryVariantsGroupedByFlavor = true
    }
}

Disable sources publication

By default, the Kotlin Multiplatform Gradle plugin publishes sources for all the specified targets. However, you can configure and disable sources publication with the withSourcesJar() API in the shared/build.gradle.kts file:

To disable sources publication for all the targets:
kotlin { withSourcesJar(publish = false) jvm() linuxX64() }
To disable sources publication only for the specified target:
kotlin { // Disable sources publication only for JVM: jvm { withSourcesJar(publish = false) } linuxX64() }
To disable sources publication for all targets except for the specified target:
kotlin { // Disable sources publication for all targets except for JVM: withSourcesJar(publish = false) jvm { withSourcesJar(publish = true) } linuxX64() }

Disable JVM environment attribute publication

Starting with Kotlin 2.0.0, the Gradle attribute org.gradle.jvm.environment is automatically published with all Kotlin variants to help distinguish between JVM and Android variants of Kotlin Multiplatform libraries. The attribute indicates which library variant is suited for which JVM environment, and Gradle uses this information to help with dependency resolution in your projects. The target environment can be "android", "standard-jvm", or "no-jvm".

You can disable the publication of this attribute by adding the following Gradle property to your gradle.properties file:

kotlin.publishJvmEnvironmentAttribute=false

Promote your library

Your library can be featured on the JetBrains' search platform. It's designed to make it easy to look for Kotlin Multiplatform libraries based on their target platforms.

Libraries that meet the criteria are added automatically. For more information on how to add your library, see FAQ.

What's next

See the Library authors' guidelines for best practices and tips on designing a library for Kotlin Multiplatform.

Last modified: 20 December 2024