Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Find centralized, trusted content and collaborate around the technologies you use most.

Teams

Q&A for work

Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search.

What are the difference between this three Kotlin plugin and what they actually do?

plugins {
    id 'kotlin-android'
    id 'org.jetbrains.kotlin.android'
    id "org.jetbrains.kotlin.jvm" version "1.6.20"
The third one seems to be the recommended way specially when using Kotlin Coroutines
These plugins provide integration with different other Gradle plugins. They both setup compiling Kotlin for the JVM, but aim to interoperate with different other tools.
org.jetbrains.kotlin.android or kotlin-android
This plugin offers integration of Kotlin with the Android Gradle plugin, which should also be applied to the project. The Kotlin compilations are set up to be included in the builds of Android variants (e.g. debug, release, testDebug etc.)
The IDs kotlin-android and org.jetbrains.kotlin.android designate the same Gradle plugin. The only difference is that the "full" ID org.jetbrains.kotlin.android can be used for resolving the plugin from the Gradle Plugin Portal, while the shorter ID kotlin-android can only be used for applying the plugin if you already have it on the build classpath (i.e. it's added elsewhere).
org.jetbrains.kotlin.jvm (also has a shorter alias kotlin)
This is the plugin for building Kotlin projects that target JVM without Android support.
The plugin offers integration with the Gradle java plugin (as well as java-library or application). The project that applies this plugin can also use Java sources. The Kotlin compilations are wired with the java plugin's source sets (main and test by default)
Normally you should only apply one of these plugins, depending on whether you target Android or "standard" JVM. If you need to target both platforms, you should use the Kotlin Multiplatform plugin by ID org.jetbrains.kotlin.multiplatform, which adds the DSL to setup the targets in the project. Those might include jvm() and android(), as well as other targets: JS, WASM, Kotlin/Native.
                Planning to migrate this Android project to KMM soon, is org.jetbrains.kotlin.android the one should I use as I want to omit the classpath? I am trying to use org.jetbrains.kotlin.jvm and you are correct as it gives me error upon syncing The 'java' plugin has been applied, but it is not compatible with the Android plugins.
– Bitwise DEVS
                Jun 11, 2022 at 15:53
                While you only have Android, you can use org.jetbrains.kotlin.android. Then at some point you will have to migrate to org.jetbrains.kotlin.multiplatform – either at the point when you add more target platforms or at some time before that. In the latter case, you can setup Kotlin Multiplatform to build just the single Android target for the time being.
– hotkey
                Jun 11, 2022 at 15:56
                It is possible to use the Multiplatform plugin in an Android application module, but a lot of setup guides recommend having a separate, shared Multiplatform library module just to make the project structure cleaner. So it's up to you. As for the Kapt plugin – yes, you have to apply it after the other Kotlin plugin.
– hotkey
                Jun 11, 2022 at 16:24
        
Thanks for contributing an answer to Stack Overflow!
Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!
But avoid …
Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.