May 08, 2025

Getting Started with Kotlin Symbol Processing

41 minutes

If you’ve ever grumbled at boilerplate code or watched your Kotlin build crawl, this episode is your shortcut to sanity. Android engineer and Kodeco veteran Dean Djermanović joins us to break down Kotlin Symbol Processing (KSP) — a powerful tool for clean code and fast builds. Whether you’re new to KSP or curious how it stacks up against kapt, Dean brings real-world insights, practical tips, and an inspiring journey from coder to conference speaker. Tune in to learn why KSP might just be your new favorite dev tool.

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Show Notes

Join Jenn and Dru as they chat with Android engineer and Kodeco contributor Dean Djermanović about Kotlin Symbol Processing (KSP). Whether you’re curious about speeding up your Kotlin builds or tired of repetitive boilerplate, KSP might be the tool you didn’t know you needed. Dean walks us through how it works, when to use it, and how he’s applied it to real-world projects.

Highlights from this episode:

What Kotlin Symbol Processing (KSP) is and how it helps Kotlin developers generate code more efficiently.

The differences between KSP and kapt—and why KSP is now the preferred approach.

A step-by-step walkthrough of building a simple KSP processor.

How Dean used KSP in production to automate mapper class generation and reduce manual updates.

Tips for learning KSP, avoiding common pitfalls, and integrating it smoothly into your projects.

Mentioned in This Episode

Kodeco’s Kotlin Symbol Processing Tutorial — Learn how to get rid of the boilerplate code within your app by using Kotlin Symbol Processor (KSP) to generate a class for creating Fragments.

DroidCon — Conferences where Dean has presented KSP use cases in real-world apps.

Kotlin Slack — Look for the #ksp channel to connect with the KSP team and other devs using it.

Fuel your brain and body with Eggs in a Basket.

Contact Dean and the Hosts

Find Dean on LinkedIn and Bluesky.

Jenn on LinkedIn

Dru on Mastodon.

Email the Podcast Team.

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Where to Go From Here?

We hope you enjoyed this episode of our podcast. Be sure to subscribe in Apple Podcasts or Spotify to get notified when the next episode comes out.

Hoping to learn more about a particular aspect of mobile development or life and work as a dev? Please write in and tell us and we’ll do our best to make that happen! Write in too if you yourself would like to be a guest or your have a particular guest request and we’ll see what we can do. Drop a comment here, or email us anytime at [email protected].

The post Kodeco Podcast: Kotlin Symbol Processing – Podcast V2, S3 E4 appeared first on Ray Wenderlich.

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