Kotlin/Native

Kotlin/Native is a technology for compiling Kotlin to native binaries that run without any VM. It comprises a LLVM-based backend for the Kotlin compiler and a native implementation of the Kotlin runtime library. Kotlin/Native is primarily designed to allow compilation for platforms where virtual machines are not desirable or possible (such as iOS, embedded targets), or where a developer needs to produce a reasonably-sized self-contained program that does not require an additional runtime.

Kotlin/Native fully supports interoperability with native code. For platform libraries, the corresponding interop libraries are available out of the box. For other libraries, we provide a tool to generate an interop library from a C header file, with full support for all C language features. On macOS and iOS, interoperability with Objective/C code is also supported.

Kotlin/Native is currently in development; preview releases are available for you to try. IDE support for Kotlin/Native is available as plugins for CLion.

Target Platforms

Kotlin/Native currently supports the following platforms:

• Windows (x86_64 only at the moment)
• Linux (x86_64, arm32, MIPS, MIPS little endian)
• MacOS (x86_64)
• iOS (arm64 only)
• Android (arm32 and arm64)
• WebAssembly (wasm32 only)

Sample Projects

We've built a number of sample projects to showcase the possibilities of Kotlin/Native:

• The Kotlin/Native GitHub repository contains a number of sample projects;
• The KotlinConf Spinner app is a simple cross-platform mobile multiplayer game fully built in Kotlin/Native, consisting of the following components:
  • a backend, using SQLite for data storage and exposing a REST/JSON API;
  • mobile clients for iOS and Android, using OpenGL;
  • a WebAssembly-based browser frontend for viewing the game scores.
• The KotlinConf app is an iOS app with a UIKit-based UI, showcasing the Objective/C interop facilities of Kotlin/Native.