First Specialized Kotlin IDE: Overview and First Impressions

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New IDE with Kotlin Support: First Look

The world of Kotlin development has gained an important tool. JetBrains, known for its JVM language IDEs, has introduced a specialized version of its IDE focused exclusively on the Kotlin ecosystem. Unlike IntelliJ IDEA or Android Studio, this environment is tailored for modern language use cases — from backend development with Ktor to multiplatform projects (KMP). We tested the new product and share our first impressions.

What's Special About the New IDE?

The main difference is a complete focus on Kotlin and its derivatives. Developers no longer need to configure dozens of plugins: the environment supports out of the box:

Full code autocompletion — taking into account the context of coroutines, DSL blocks, and inline functions.
Built-in tooling for Kotlin Multiplatform — navigation between commonMain, androidMain, and iosMain.
Smart compilation — incremental builds via KSP and the K2 compiler.
Coroutine debugger — visualization of the suspend function stack, which was previously only available in plugins.

First Impressions

IDE installation was quick. The interface is minimalist but not intimidatingly empty. The project wizard offers templates for:

A Kotlin/JVM console application.
A Ktor web server.
A multiplatform module (shared + Android + iOS).
A library for Gradle dependencies.

When opening an existing project, the environment correctly identified all dependencies, including Kotlinx.serialization and Coroutines. Performance is noticeably faster than IntelliJ IDEA with the same amount of code.

Key Features Worth Trying

Kotlin REPL — built-in console for quickly testing functions without launching the entire application.
Coroutine graph visualizer — allows you to see which suspend functions are blocked and where memory leaks might occur.
Serializer generation — automatic hints when working with @Serializable classes.
Integration with Ktor Client — you can send a test HTTP request to your API directly from the editor.

Summary and Prospects

The new IDE is not just a "stripped-down IntelliJ", but a full-fledged tool for professional work with Kotlin. It is especially useful for beginners who want to dive straight into the language without learning the Java legacy layer. The version is distributed free for non-commercial use and is available for Windows, macOS, and Linux. If you write in Kotlin — it's worth giving it a try.