First IDE with Native Kotlin Support: Feature and Capability Overview

New IDE with Kotlin Support: A First Look

The Kotlin ecosystem continues to actively develop, and one of the most anticipated events in recent months has been the release of a new integrated development environment (IDE) with full native support for this language. Developers tired of cumbersome solutions or looking for a lighter alternative have received a tool that promises to change the approach to writing Kotlin code. In this article, we share our first impressions and break down the key features of this new product.

What is this IDE?

The new development environment is not just a fork of existing solutions, but an independent product built from scratch with Kotlin's specifics in mind. The developers focused on performance, a minimalist interface, and deep integration with modern build tools. Even at the beta testing stage, the IDE received high marks for its speed and the accuracy of its suggestions.

Key Features

• Smart code autocompletion. The system analyzes context not only within the current file but also across the entire call chain, including coroutines and extension functions. This significantly speeds up writing typical constructs.
• Built-in Gradle and Maven support. The IDE automatically synchronizes dependencies, pulls in Kotlin Multiplatform plugins, and correctly handles configurations for Android, backend, and multiplatform projects.
• Interactive debugger. Allows you not only to set breakpoints but also to visualize data flows in coroutines, which is critical when working with asynchronous code.
• Refactoring "on the fly". Renaming, extracting functions, replacing types—all operations work instantly and correctly handle inline and crossinline functions.
• Built-in documentation. When hovering over standard Kotlin functions (e.g., let, apply, run), the IDE shows usage examples and a glossary.

Interface and Usability

The main difference from competitors is modularity. The user can disable unnecessary panels (e.g., the database browser or built-in terminal) and customize the workspace for a specific task. The dark theme is done in pleasant-to-the-eye shades, and code fonts are optimized for Kotlin ligatures (e.g., for ->, .., and ?:).

First Impressions

After installation, the IDE immediately offers to import projects from IntelliJ IDEA and Android Studio. The migration was painless: all Gradle settings, plugins, and configurations remained in place. The indexing time was a pleasant surprise—for a medium-sized project (about 50,000 lines of code), it took less than a minute. Autocompletion worked correctly even for complex generic types and sealed classes.

Who is this IDE for?

• Android application developers who want a lightweight alternative to Android Studio for quick edits.
• Backend developers using Ktor or Spring Boot—the IDE supports frameworks well and checks types at compile time.
• Students and beginners: built-in hints and flow visualization will help them master coroutines and functional programming faster.