Kodee’s Kotlin Roundup: Kotlin 2.3.20, Interview With Josh Long, and More

A fresh Kotlin release always catches my attention, especially when it focuses on improving everyday development. Kotlin 2.3.20 brings bug fixes, performance improvements, and small but meaningful enhancements across the ecosystem. It's the kind of update that strengthens the foundation and makes your day-to-day work more stable.

Out of 117 applications, only five could walk away with a grant – and what a five. Firebase Kotlin SDK, Shadow Gradle Plugin, Mokkery, Stack Trace Decoroutinator, and Kobweb were selected to receive a USD 6,000 grant and recognized for their impact, technical quality, and real value to developers. I love seeing this kind of direct investment going to the tools that keep the whole ecosystem growing.

I loved this interview with Josh Long, Spring's first developer advocate. He shares why Kotlin feels like a natural fit for Spring and how the JVM continues to be a strong platform for modern applications, including AI. It's a great read if you're working on backend systems or using Spring.

KotlinConf'26 is almost here, and the full schedule is already live. With so many sessions across multiplatform, backend, AI, and language design, choosing what to attend can be a challenge. Take a look and start planning your agenda. Whether you're building Kotlin Multiplatform (KMP) apps, scaling backend systems, or exploring AI in Kotlin, these sessions highlight where the ecosystem is heading and what you can apply in your own projects.

Big changes are coming with the latest version of the Android Gradle plugin. In this video, Zac walks through what's changing, why it matters, and how to upgrade your Kotlin projects with confidence.

Here's something I'm excited about this month – Swift Package Manager support has landed in Kotlin Multiplatform as an experimental feature. You can now import iOS dependencies directly from Swift packages or migrate existing CocoaPods integrations. There's even an AI-assisted skill to help with the conversion!

If you're working with coroutines, this is a must-read. IntelliJ IDEA now features new inspections designed to catch common pitfalls and guide you toward safer, more reliable coroutine usage. It's a subtle enhancement that can make a significant impact on your daily development.

Kotlin keeps growing in the AI space, and it's just the beginning. Tracy is a new open-source observability library that helps you understand what's happening inside AI-powered applications by tracking model calls, tool usage, execution time, and overall flow. No more guessing what your AI is up to.