2.3.12Aktualisiert Oct 23, 2026

com.google.devtools.ksp:symbol-processing-gradle-plugin

Welcome to KSP!

Risikowert50
2.3.122026-09-09T18:27:29Z
Release Notes

Migrating Processors to Support Backing Fields

  • This release introduces support for explicit backing fields (#2873), which may now be returned by Resolver.getSymbolsWithAnnotation. To prevent breaking existing processors, new language features require an explicit opt-in.
  • More generally, the KSP API now explicitly models backing fields for properties. The following is an exhaustive list of functions in KSP API where processor may observe the change after opting in:
  • Resolver.getSymbolsWithAnnotation: The function now returns a KSBackingField if the given annotation targeted a field. Previously, if a field were targeted, the function would return a KSProperty.
  • Resolver.effectiveJavaModifiers: The function returns fewer modifiers for a KSPropertyDeclaration if it has a backing field, since most of the JVM-specific annotations apply to the backing field. If you are interested in the JVM modifiers, you should call the function with the KSBackingField obtained from the property instead.
  • Additionally, KSP now models Java fields as properties that always have backing fields. Some of the modifiers now apply to the backing field instead.
  • Processors adapting to new features must opt in via both of the following steps simultaneously (failing to do both may lead to undefined behavior):
  • The processor should call the registerProcessorForNewFeatures function in SymbolProcessorEnvironment immediately when created (and only once). Example: AbstractTestProcessor.kt#L30
  • All implementations of KSVisitor should move to KSVisitorNext. If their processor code does not directly implement the interface but instead extends one of the KSP-provided visitors (such as KSTopDownVisitor), they should instead extend KSTopDownVisitor(enableNewFeatures = true) and override visitBackingField depending on their code and needs.
  • Let us know if you run into unexpected behavior!

Bug Fixes

  • Fix Resolver.getDeclarationsFromPackage returning incomplete declarations from KLibs in Kotlin Multiplatform (#2396)
  • Fix KSP CLI process hanging indefinitely when a processor throws an unhandled exception (#3120)
  • Fix implicit task dependency error between KSP and Android Lint in Android KMP (#3128)
  • Fix NullPointerException by registering PluginProblemReporter as an application service (#3140)
  • Do not mark companion objects as JAVA_STATIC in Resolver.effectiveJavaModifiers (#3125)
  • Fix JAVA_STATIC modifier resolution for @JvmStatic members in Resolver.effectiveJavaModifiers (#3124)
  • Update minimum supported Android Gradle Plugin (AGP) version to 8.12.0 (#3149)

Kotlin Symbol Processing API

Welcome to KSP!

Kotlin Symbol Processing (KSP) is an API that you can use to develop lightweight compiler plugins. KSP provides a simplified compiler plugin API that leverages the power of Kotlin while keeping the learning curve at a minimum. Compared to KAPT, annotation processors that use KSP can run up to 2x faster.

Most of the documentation of KSP can be found on kotlinlang.org. Here are some handy links:

For debugging and testing processors, as well as KSP itself, please check DEVELOPMENT.md


KSP Gradle Configurations Reference

This section contains a reference of Gradle configurations for KSP. If you have not used KSP before, or this section seems unclear, please read the documentation on the Kotlin lang website which is linked above.

When applying KSP in your Gradle project, place symbol processor dependencies into the appropriate configuration inside the dependencies { ... } block of your build.gradle.kts (or build.gradle) file based on your target platforms, source sets, and build variants.

Single-Platform (JVM & Android)

Configuration Name / Pattern Project Type / Target Source Set / Scope Usage Example (build.gradle.kts) Details & Behavior
ksp Single-target JVM / Android Main source set (src/main) ksp("com.example:processor:1.0") Applied to default JVM compilation and single-platform Android main source set. Deprecated in KMP unless ksp.allow.all.target.configuration=true.
kspTest Single-target JVM / Android Unit tests (src/test) kspTest("com.example:test-processor:1.0") Runs symbol processing exclusively for unit test sources.
ksp<SourceSet> Single-target JVM Custom JVM source set add("kspIntegrationTest", "...") Generates sources for custom source sets like integrationTest.
ksp<BuildType> Android (Single-platform) Specific build type (e.g., debug, release) add("kspDebug", "...") Runs processor only when compiling the specified Android build variant.
ksp<Flavor> Android (Single-platform) Product flavor (e.g., free, paid) add("kspFree", "...") Runs processor for all build variants matching the specified flavor.
ksp<Flavor><BuildType> Android (Single-platform) Flavor + Build Type combination add("kspFreeDebug", "...") Targeted execution for a specific flavor + build type variant.
kspTest<Flavor><BuildType> Android (Single-platform) Local Unit Tests for variant/flavor add("kspTestDebug", "...") Runs processing on unit test code in src/testDebug.
kspAndroidTest<Variant> Android (Single-platform) Instrumentation Tests (src/androidTest) add("kspAndroidTestDebug", "...") Runs processing on Android instrumentation test code (src/androidTest).

Kotlin Multiplatform (KMP)

Configuration Name / Pattern Project Type / Target Source Set / Scope Usage Example (build.gradle.kts) Details & Behavior
ksp<Target> Kotlin Multiplatform KMP target main compilation (JVM, JS, Native, Wasm) add("kspJvm", "...")
add("kspJs", "...")
add("kspIosArm64", "...")
add("kspAndroid", "...")
add("kspAndroidHostTest", "...")
add("kspAndroidDeviceTest", "...")
Target-specific configuration. Omits the Main suffix (e.g., target jvm becomes kspJvm, not kspJvmMain).
ksp<Target>Test Kotlin Multiplatform KMP target test compilation add("kspJvmTest", "...")
add("kspJsTest", "...")
Target-specific test configuration.
kspCommonMainMetadata Kotlin Multiplatform Common Main metadata compilation add("kspCommonMainMetadata", "...") Target-specific configuration for KMP commonMain metadata processing.

KSP Gradle Properties Reference

This section provides a reference of Gradle properties for KSP. These properties can be set in your project's gradle.properties file or passed via command line options (-Pproperty=value or -Dproperty=value).

Reference Table

Property Key Type Default Description Documentation
ksp.incremental Boolean true Enables or disables incremental symbol processing in KSP. Incremental Processing
ksp.incremental.log Boolean false Enables verbose log output detailing incremental processing decisions and symbol changes. Incremental Logging
ksp.incremental.log.graph.origin String? null Filters incremental log tracing to a specific symbol origin class/package. The value should be of the form com.example.MyClass. Incremental Dependency Graph
ksp.allow.all.target.configuration Boolean false Permits the legacy global ksp configuration in both single-platform and Kotlin Multiplatform (KMP) projects with a warning instead of an error. ksp Configuration
ksp.project.isolation.enabled Boolean false Enables Gradle Project Isolation compatible codepaths for output directory registration. NOTE: KSP also enables this whenever Gradle's own Isolated Projects feature is active, e.g. through org.gradle.isolated-projects=true or --isolated-projects. Setting this to true forces the codepath on even when Isolated Projects is off. Gradle Isolated Projects
ksp.experimental.psi.resolution Boolean false Enables experimental PSI-based resolution inside the KSP compiler engine. Enabling this may improve build times, but expect crashes. Feel free to open a bug report if you encounter a crash. None
ksp.experimental.metadata.own.sources.only Boolean false In KMP projects, makes metadata (shared source set) compilations process only their own source sets, matching what the Kotlin compiler compiles. Upstream source sets remain resolvable through their klibs but are no longer returned by Resolver.getAllFiles(), so an intermediate source set such as webMain no longer regenerates code already generated for commonMain. #2814
ksp.ksp2.profiling.mode Boolean false Enables performance profiling for KSP2 task execution. This is mostly for developing KSP itself. None
ksp.classloader.cache.processors Boolean false Reuses symbol processor classloaders across modules within a single build, instead of constructing one per KSP task. This can substantially reduce build time in large multi-module projects that share the same processors. Off by default because a shared classloader also extends the lifetime of any static state held by processors. None
kotlin.native.enableKlibsCrossCompilation Boolean true Enables running symbol processing tasks for other targets than the host machine in KMP projects, i.e., cross-compilation. This property is not created by the KSP Gradle plugin. It is owned by the Kotlin compiler but KSP uses this property. Kotlin Cross Compilation

Nightly Builds

Nightly builds of KSP for the latest Kotlin stable releases are published here:

maven("https://central.sonatype.com/repository/maven-snapshots/")

Feedback and Bug Reporting

Please let us know what you think about KSP by filing a Github issue or connecting with our team in the #ksp channel in the Kotlin Slack workspace!

If you are interested in sending PRs, please also check out the Contributor guide.

Ongoing and Future Work

Here are some planned features that have not yet been completely implemented:

  • Improve support to multiplatform. E.g., running KSP on a subset of targets / sharing computations between targets
  • Improve performance. There are a bunch of optimizations to be done!
  • Keep fixing bugs!

A Note on KSP1

KSP 1.x has been removed and is no longer supported.

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