Add dependencies on a Pod library

Edit pageLast modified: 03 February 2025

To add dependencies between a Kotlin project and a Pod library, complete the initial configuration. You can then add dependencies on different types of Pod libraries.

When you add a new dependency and re-import the project in your IDE, the new dependency will be added automatically. No additional steps are required.

To use your Kotlin project with Xcode, you should make changes in your project Podfile.

A Kotlin project requires the pod() function call in build.gradle(.kts) for adding a Pod dependency. Each dependency requires its separate function call. You can specify the parameters for the dependency in the configuration block of the function.

note

If you don't specify the minimum deployment target version and a dependency Pod requires a higher deployment target, you will get an error.

You can find a sample project here.

From the CocoaPods repository

  1. Specify the name of a Pod library in the pod() function.

    In the configuration block, you can specify the version of the library using the version parameter. To use the latest version of the library, you can just omit this parameter altogether.

    note

    You can add dependencies on subspecs.

  2. Specify the minimum deployment target version for the Pod library.

    kotlin {
    iosArm64()

    cocoapods {
        version = "2.0"
        ios.deploymentTarget = "16.0"

        summary = "CocoaPods test library"
        homepage = "https://github.com/JetBrains/kotlin"

        pod("SDWebImage") {
            version = "5.20.0"
        }
    }
}

  3. Run Reload All Gradle Projects in IntelliJ IDEA (or Sync Project with Gradle Files in Android Studio) to re-import the project.

To use these dependencies from the Kotlin code, import the packages cocoapods.<library-name>:

import cocoapods.SDWebImage.*

On a locally stored library

  1. Specify the name of a Pod library in the pod() function.

    In the configuration block, specify the path to the local Pod library: use the path() function in the source parameter value.

    note

    You can add local dependencies on subspecs as well. The cocoapods block can include dependencies to Pods stored locally and Pods from the CocoaPods repository at the same time.

  2. Specify the minimum deployment target version for the Pod library.

    kotlin {
    iosArm64()

    cocoapods {
        version = "2.0"
        summary = "CocoaPods test library"
        homepage = "https://github.com/JetBrains/kotlin"

        ios.deploymentTarget = "16.0"

        pod("pod_dependency") {
            version = "1.0"
            extraOpts += listOf("-compiler-option")
            source = path(project.file("../pod_dependency"))
        }
        pod("subspec_dependency/Core") {
            version = "1.0"
            extraOpts += listOf("-compiler-option")
            source = path(project.file("../subspec_dependency"))
        }
        pod("SDWebImage") {
            version = "5.20.0"
        }
    }
}

    note

    You can also specify the version of the library using version parameter in the configuration block. To use the latest version of the library, omit the parameter.

  3. Run Reload All Gradle Projects in IntelliJ IDEA (or Sync Project with Gradle Files in Android Studio) to re-import the project.

To use these dependencies from the Kotlin code, import the packages cocoapods.<library-name>:

import cocoapods.pod_dependency.*
import cocoapods.subspec_dependency.*
import cocoapods.SDWebImage.*

From a custom Git repository

  1. Specify the name of a Pod library in the pod() function.

    In the configuration block, specify the path to the git repository: use the git() function in the source parameter value.

    Additionally, you can specify the following parameters in the block after git():

    • commit – to use a specific commit from the repository

    • tag – to use a specific tag from the repository

    • branch – to use a specific branch from the repository

    The git() function prioritizes passed parameters in the following order: commit, tag, branch. If you don't specify a parameter, the Kotlin plugin uses HEAD from the master branch.

    note

    You can combine branch, commit, and tag parameters to get the specific version of a Pod.

  2. Specify the minimum deployment target version for the Pod library.

    kotlin {
    iosArm64()

    cocoapods {
        version = "2.0"
        summary = "CocoaPods test library"
        homepage = "https://github.com/JetBrains/kotlin"

        ios.deploymentTarget = "16.0"

        pod("SDWebImage") {
            source = git("https://github.com/SDWebImage/SDWebImage") {
                tag = "5.20.0"
            }
        }

        pod("JSONModel") {
            source = git("https://github.com/jsonmodel/jsonmodel.git") {
                branch = "key-mapper-class"
            }
        }

        pod("CocoaLumberjack") {
            source = git("https://github.com/CocoaLumberjack/CocoaLumberjack.git") {
                commit = "3e7f595e3a459c39b917aacf9856cd2a48c4dbf3"
            }
        }
    }
}

  3. Run Reload All Gradle Projects in IntelliJ IDEA (or Sync Project with Gradle Files in Android Studio) to re-import the project.

To use these dependencies from the Kotlin code, import the packages cocoapods.<library-name>:

import cocoapods.Alamofire.*
import cocoapods.JSONModel.*
import cocoapods.CocoaLumberjack.*

From a custom Podspec repository

  1. Specify the HTTP address to the custom Podspec repository using the url() inside the specRepos block.

  2. Specify the name of a Pod library in the pod() function.

  3. Specify the minimum deployment target version for the Pod library.

    kotlin {
    iosArm64()

    cocoapods {
        version = "2.0"
        summary = "CocoaPods test library"
        homepage = "https://github.com/JetBrains/kotlin"

        ios.deploymentTarget = "16.0"

        specRepos {
            url("https://github.com/Kotlin/kotlin-cocoapods-spec.git")
        }
        pod("example")
    }
}

  4. Run Reload All Gradle Projects in IntelliJ IDEA (or Sync Project with Gradle Files in Android Studio) to re-import the project.

note

To work correctly with Xcode, you should specify the location of specs at the beginning of your Podfile. For example,

source 'https://github.com/Kotlin/kotlin-cocoapods-spec.git'

To use these dependencies from the Kotlin code, import the packages cocoapods.<library-name>:

import cocoapods.example.*

With custom cinterop options

  1. Specify the name of a Pod library in the pod() function.

  2. In the configuration block, add the following options:

    • extraOpts – to specify the list of options for a Pod library. For example, extraOpts = listOf("-compiler-option").

      note

      If you encounter issues with clang modules, add the -fmodules option as well.

    • packageName – to import the library directly using the package name with import <packageName>.

  3. Specify the minimum deployment target version for the Pod library.

    kotlin {
    iosArm64()

    cocoapods {
        version = "2.0"
        summary = "CocoaPods test library"
        homepage = "https://github.com/JetBrains/kotlin"

        ios.deploymentTarget = "16.0"

        pod("FirebaseAuth") {
            packageName = "FirebaseAuthWrapper"
            version = "11.7.0"
            extraOpts += listOf("-compiler-option", "-fmodules")
        }
    }
}

  4. Run Reload All Gradle Projects in IntelliJ IDEA (or Sync Project with Gradle Files in Android Studio) to re-import the project.

To use these dependencies from the Kotlin code, import the packages cocoapods.<library-name>:

import cocoapods.FirebaseAuth.*

If you use the packageName parameter, you can import the library using the package name import <packageName>:

import FirebaseAuthWrapper.Auth
import FirebaseAuthWrapper.User

Support for Objective-C headers with @import directives

warning

This feature is Experimental. It may be dropped or changed at any time. Use it only for evaluation purposes. We'd appreciate your feedback on it in YouTrack.

Some Objective-C libraries, specifically those that serve as wrappers for Swift libraries, have @import directives in their headers. By default, cinterop doesn't provide support for these directives.

To enable support for @import directives, specify the -fmodules option in the configuration block of the pod() function:

kotlin {
    iosArm64()

    cocoapods {
        version = "2.0"
        summary = "CocoaPods test library"
        homepage = "https://github.com/JetBrains/kotlin"

        ios.deploymentTarget = "16.0"

        pod("PodName") {
            version = "1.0.0"
            extraOpts = listOf("-compiler-option", "-fmodules")
        }
    }
}

Share Kotlin cinterop between dependent Pods

If you add multiple dependencies on Pods using the pod() function, you might encounter issues when there are dependencies between APIs of your Pods.

To make the code compile in such cases, use the useInteropBindingFrom() function. It utilizes the cinterop binding generated for another Pod while building a binding for the new Pod.

You should declare the dependent Pod before setting up the dependency:

// The cinterop of pod("WebImage"):
fun loadImage(): WebImage

// The cinterop of pod("Info"):
fun printImageInfo(image: WebImage)

// Your code:
printImageInfo(loadImage())

If you haven't configured the correct dependencies between cinterops in this case, the code would be invalid because the WebImage type would be sourced from different cinterop files and, consequently, different packages.