Kotlin roadmap

Last modified on	June 2022
Next update	November 2022

Welcome to the Kotlin roadmap! Get a sneak peek into the priorities of the Kotlin Team.

Key priorities

The goal of this roadmap is to give you a big picture. Here's a list of our key priorities – the areas we are investing the most effort into:

Fast turnaround: making the change-test-debug cycle really fast.
New compiler: a rewrite of the Kotlin compiler optimized for speed, parallelism, and unification. Later we will also work on pluggability.
Fast and smooth IDE: improving the stability and performance of the Kotlin plugin.
Kotlin for JVM server-side development: expanding support for server-side use cases across the Kotlin ecosystem.
Kotlin Multiplatform Mobile: improving the user experience and feature set for sharing code on mobile platforms.

Kotlin roadmap by subsystem

To view the biggest projects we're working on, visit the YouTrack board or the Roadmap details table.

If you have any questions or feedback about the roadmap or the items on it, feel free to post them to YouTrack tickets or in the #kotlin-roadmap channel of Kotlin Slack (request an invite).

YouTrack board

Visit the roadmap board in our issue tracker YouTrack

Roadmap details

Subsystem	In focus now
Language	🆕 Introduce special syntax for `until` operator Research and prototype namespace-based solution for statics and static extensions Support inline sealed classes Design and implement solution for toString on objects Provide modern and performant replacement for Enum.values() Multiple receivers on extension functions/properties
Compiler core	Maintain the current compiler Improve Kotlin scripting
K2 compiler	🆕 Release K2 Beta 🆕 Provide Alpha support for Native in the K2 platform 🆕 Provide Alpha support for JS in the K2 platform 🆕 Support Multiplatform in the K2 platform Stabilize the K2 Compiler Plugin API
Kotlin/JVM	Support kapt in JVM IR Fix issues related to inline classes on the JVM Maintain the new JVM IR backend Improve the new JVM IR backend compilation time Stabilize JVM-specific experimental features
Kotlin/JS	Make the new JS IR backend Stable Maintain the old JS backend by fixing critical bugs
Kotlin/Wasm	Implement an experimental version of Kotlin/Wasm compiler backend Note: Wasm support in Kotlin/Native (through LLVM) will be deprecated and removed
Kotlin/Native	🆕 Promote new memory manager to Beta and enable it by default Improve compilation time Improve exporting Kotlin code to Objective-C Native: provide binary compatibility between incremental releases
Kotlin Multiplatform	🆕 Promote Kotlin Multiplatform Mobile to Beta 🆕 Improve Android support in Multiplatform projects 🆕 Stabilize klib Improve stability and robustness of the multiplatform toolchain
IDE	🆕 Stabilize code analysis Make update of compiler/platform versions faster Improve Multiplatform project support Stabilize Eclipse plugin Prototype the IDE plugin with the new compiler frontend Improve IDE performance Improve debugging experience
Build tools	🆕 Make compilation avoidance support Stable for Gradle Provide better experience with Kotlin Daemon Improve the performance of Gradle incremental compilation
Libraries	🆕 Continue development and stabilization of standard library Release `kotlinx-metadata-jvm` as Stable Release Dokka as Stable Launch `kotlinx-kover` and productize it further Release `kotlinx-serialization` 1.4 Release `kotlinx-coroutines` 1.7 Stabilize and document `atomicfu` Improve `kotlinx-datetime` library
Website	Make the Kotlin website mobile friendly Make the UI and navigation consistent Improve Kotlin Playground

What's changed since November 2021

Completed items

We've completed the following items from the previous roadmap:

✅ Language: Allow denotable definitely not-null types
✅ Language: Allow implementation by delegation to inlined value of inline class
✅ Language: Release OptIn annotations
✅ Language: Release builder inference
✅ Language: Support sealed (exhaustive) whens
✅ Language: Prototype multiple receivers
✅ Compiler core: Finalize support for jspecify
✅ K2 compiler: Release the K2/JVM compiler in Alpha
✅ K2 compiler: Implement support for basic compile-time evaluation
✅ Kotlin/JVM: Support method references to functional interface constructors
✅ Kotlin/JS: JS IR BE: Add an ability to generate separate JS files for each module
✅ Kotlin/Native: Promote new memory manager to Alpha
✅ Multiplatform: Improve UX of using Native libraries in Kotlin
✅ Multiplatform: Improve environment setup experience for KMM projects
✅ Multiplatform: Improve DSL for managing Kotlin/Native binary output
✅ IDE: Improve the New Project wizard
✅ Build tools: Make kapt work out of the box with latest JDKs
✅ Build tools: Improve the user experience with the Kotlin Gradle plugin
✅ Website: Update community graphic assets to the new Kotlin visual style

New items

We've added the following items to the roadmap:

🆕 Language: Introduce special syntax for until operator
🆕 K2 compiler: Release K2 Beta
🆕 K2 compiler: Provide Alpha support for Native in the K2 platform
🆕 K2 compiler: Provide Alpha support for JS in the K2 platform
🆕 K2 compiler: Support Multiplatform in the K2 platform
🆕 Kotlin/Native: Promote new memory manager to Beta and enable it by default
🆕 Multiplatform: Promote Kotlin Multiplatform Mobile to Beta
🆕 Multiplatform: Improve Android support in Multiplatform projects
🆕 Multiplatform: Stabilize klib
🆕 IDE: Stabilize code analysis
🆕 Libraries: Continue development and stabilization of standard library
🆕 Build tools: Make compilation avoidance support Stable for Gradle

Removed items

We've removed the following items from the roadmap:

❌ Language: Provide equals operator with precise signature for inline classes
❌ Kotlin/JVM: Allow private top-level classes or type aliases with same name in different files on JVM
❌ Kotlin/JVM: Provide ability to enumerate all direct subclasses of a sealed class at compile-time without reflection
❌ Kotlin/JVM: Support Java synthetic property references
❌ Kotlin/JS: JS: support ES6 as compilation target
❌ Kotlin/JS: Improve Dukat support
❌ Kotlin/Native: Support building Kotlin/Native for Mac Catalyst (x86-64 and arm64)
❌ Kotlin/Native: Support direct interoperability with Swift
❌ Kotlin/Native: Support running Kotlin/Native-produced binaries on Alpine Linux
❌ IDE: Implement advanced tooling that users have in Java but is missing in Kotlin
❌ IDE: Improve the quality of less frequently used features
❌ Build tools: Improve the quality of Gradle import
❌ Website: Provide infrastructure for documentation localization by community

Items in progress

All other previously identified roadmap items are in progress. You can check their YouTrack tickets for updates.

Last modified: 06 September 2022