Kotlin roadmap

Last modified on	May 2021
Next update	November 2021

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 IDE.
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	Postponed for later
Language	🆕 Support sealed (exhaustive) whens 🆕 Release OptIn annotations 🆕 Support programmatic creation of annotation class instances 🆕 Stabilize typeOf 🆕 Stabilize builder inference 🆕 Allow repeating annotations with runtime retention when compiling under Java 8 🆕 Support annotations on class type parameters 🆕 Improve type inference in corner cases for popular Java APIs Prototype multiple receivers	⏸ Support JVM sealed classes
Compiler core	🆕 Release the new compiler frontend in Alpha for JVM target 🆕 Finalize support for jspecify Maintain the current compiler (bug-fixing only) Work on services for the new compiler to interact with IDE	⏸ Stable Compiler Plugin API ⏸ Scripting improvements
Kotlin/JVM	🆕 Maintain the new JVM IR backend 🆕 Improve new JVM IR backend compilation time 🆕 Stabilize JVM-specific experimental features
Kotlin/JS	Make the new JS IR backend Stable JS IR BE: Add an ability to generate separate JS files for each module Maintain the old JS backend by fixing critical bugs	⏸ ES6 support ⏸ Improve Dukat support
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	🆕 Implement safe initialization for top-level properties Prototype a new garbage collector Improve compilation time Improve exporting Kotlin code to Objective-C Provide binary compatibility between incremental releases	⏸ Support Mac Catalyst ⏸ Direct interoperability with Swift ⏸ Interoperability with C++ ⏸ Support Alpine Linux
Kotlin Multiplatform	🆕 Support the Apple Silicon target in the Kotlin Multiplatform tooling Improve UX of using Native libraries in Kotlin Improve dependency management for iOS	⏸ Improve Kotlin/Native debugging experience ⏸ Improve Gradle and Compiler error messages ⏸ Sharing code between JVM and Android
IDE	Prototype IDE plugin with the new compiler frontend Improve IDE performance Improve debugging experience 🆕 Improve the New Project wizard Move the Kotlin plugin to the IntelliJ platform development infrastructure	⏸ Advanced tooling that users have in Java but is missing in Kotlin ⏸ Quality of less frequently used features, except blocking problems
Build tools	Improve the performance of Gradle incremental compilation Decrease time for opening Gradle projects 🆕 Improve the quality of Gradle import 🆕 Improve user experience with the Kotlin Gradle plugin	⏸ Improvements in Kotlin Maven support
Libraries	🆕 Improve kotlinx-serialization (release v1.3.0) 🆕 Improve kotlinx-coroutines (release v1.6.0) 🆕 Stabilize Duration API in the standard library 🆕 Get rid of `!!` for `readLine()` in the standard library 🆕 Stabilize and document atomicfu Improve kotlinx-datetime library Support java.nio.Path extension in the standard library	⏸ Improve usability of multi-threaded coroutines library for Kotlin/Native ⏸ `kotlinx-cli` ⏸ `binary-compatibility-validator` ⏸ `kotlinx-io` ⏸ Any new multiplatform libraries
Website	Make the Kotlin website mobile friendly 🆕 Make the UI and navigation consistent 🆕 Update community graphic assets to the new Kotlin visual style Revamp Kotlin documentation

What's changed since January 2021

Completed items

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

✅ Language: Support JVM records
✅ Language: Release inline classes as Stable, secure Valhalla compatibility
✅ Language: Sealed interfaces and more sealed classes freedom
✅ Compiler core: Support incremental compilation for the new compiler
✅ Kotlin/JVM: Make the new JVM IR backend Stable
✅ Kotlin/JS: JS IR BE: Prototype lazy initialization for top-level properties like in JVM
✅ Kotlin/Wasm: Prototype a compiler for Wasm GC proposal
✅ Kotlin/Native: Support Apple Silicon without Rosetta 2
✅ Multiplatform: Introduce a complex KMM application sample
✅ Multiplatform: Improve frontend and IDE import stability for Multiplatform projects
✅ IDE: Improve cross-language support in the Inline Method and Change Signature refactorings
✅ Build tools: Support the Gradle configuration cache
✅ Libraries: Make multiplatform kotlin.text API locale-agnostic by default
✅ Libraries: Implement unambiguous API for Char conversion
✅ Libraries: Implement multiplatform API for characters
✅ Libraries: Improve kotlinx-serialization (release v1.1)
✅ Libraries: Improve kotlinx-serialization (release v1.2)
✅ Libraries: Improve kotlinx-coroutines (release v1.5)
✅ Website: Design a new Kotlin visual style
✅ Website: Close try.kotlinlang.org

Postponed items

We've decided to postpone the following items from the previous roadmap:

Other postponed items remain in this state from earlier roadmap versions.

New items

We've added the following items to the roadmap:

🆕 Language: Support sealed (exhaustive) whens
🆕 Language: Release OptIn annotations
🆕 Language: Support programmatic creation of annotation class instances
🆕 Language: Stabilize typeOf
🆕 Language: Stabilize builder inference
🆕 Language: Allow repeating annotations with runtime retention when compiling under Java 8
🆕 Language: Support annotations on class type parameters
🆕 Language: Improve type inference in corner cases for popular Java APIs
🆕 Compiler core: Release the new compiler frontend in Alpha for JVM target
🆕 Compiler core: Finalize support for jspecify
🆕 Kotlin/JVM: Maintain the new JVM IR backend
🆕 Kotlin/JVM: Improve new JVM IR backend compilation time
🆕 Kotlin/JVM: Stabilize JVM-specific experimental features
🆕 Kotlin/Wasm: Implement an experimental version of Kotlin/Wasm compiler backend
🆕 Kotlin/Native: Implement safe initialization for top-level properties
🆕 Multiplatform: Support the Apple Silicon target in the Kotlin Multiplatform tooling
🆕 IDE: Improve the New Project wizard
🆕 Build tools: Improve the quality of Gradle import
🆕 Build tools: Improve user experience with the Kotlin Gradle plugin
🆕 Libraries: Improve kotlinx-serialization (release v1.3.0)
🆕 Libraries: Improve kotlinx-coroutines (release v1.6.0)
🆕 Libraries: Stabilize Duration API in the standard library
🆕 Libraries: Get rid of !! for readLine() in the standard library
🆕 Libraries: Stabilize and document atomicfu
🆕 Website: Make the UI and navigation consistent
🆕 Website: Update community graphic assets to the new Kotlin visual style

Items in progress

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

Last modified: 07 July 2021