Chucker for Kotlin: Complete Guide with Examples

1. What Is Chucker and Why Use It

Chucker is a powerful HTTP debugging library for Android apps, written in Kotlin. It lets developers intercept, log, and inspect all network traffic passing through an OkHttp client — right on the device. Unlike standard Logcat logging, Chucker provides a clean graphical interface as a separate Activity, where you can view headers, request and response bodies, status codes, execution times, and data sizes.

The main goal of Chucker is to simplify network debugging. Instead of plugging your device into a computer and filtering through logs, you can open the app and see all HTTP transactions instantly. This is especially useful when testing on real devices with limited ADB access, or when working with QA teams who can independently provide error screenshots with detailed request info.

Chucker also supports filtering by content type (JSON, XML, images), URL search, error and exception viewing, and log export to a file. The library automatically captures SSL errors, timeouts, and other network issues, making it an essential tool for any Android developer working with REST APIs.

2. Installation

Chucker is distributed via Maven Central. To install it, add the dependencies to your app module's build.gradle.kts (or build.gradle) file.

Important: This library is not available via pip, npm, or cargo. It is an Android library and must be added through the Gradle build system.

Add this to your build.gradle.kts (Module: app):

// build.gradle.kts (Module: app)
dependencies {
    // Main Chucker library (debug builds only)
    debugImplementation("com.github.chuckerteam.chucker:library:4.0.0")

    // No-Op library for release builds
    releaseImplementation("com.github.chuckerteam.chucker:library-no-op:4.0.0")
}

For Groovy (build.gradle):

// build.gradle (Module: app)
dependencies {
    debugImplementation 'com.github.chuckerteam.chucker:library:4.0.0'
    releaseImplementation 'com.github.chuckerteam.chucker:library-no-op:4.0.0'
}

Explanation: Using debugImplementation ensures Chucker is only available in debug builds. The releaseImplementation with library-no-op replaces all Chucker calls with empty functions, preventing data leaks in production and keeping your APK size small.

3. Quick Start — Minimal Working Example

After installing the library, create an OkHttpClient and add the Chucker interceptor to it. Then use this client to build Retrofit or any other HTTP client.

// MainActivity.kt
import android.os.Bundle
import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity
import com.chuckerteam.chucker.api.ChuckerCollector
import com.chuckerteam.chucker.api.ChuckerInterceptor
import okhttp3.OkHttpClient
import okhttp3.Request

class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity() {
    override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main)

        // 1. Create a collector to store logs
        val collector = ChuckerCollector(this)

        // 2. Create the interceptor
        val chuckerInterceptor = ChuckerInterceptor.Builder(this)