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Building REST APIs with Kotlin and Ktor

Administrator admin API Java Advanced Jan 09, 2026 12:41 AM 3 views

Kotlin and Ktor

Kotlin is a modern programming language that runs on the JVM, and Ktor is a framework for building asynchronous servers.

Ktor Setup

// build.gradle.kts
dependencies {
    implementation("io.ktor:ktor-server-core:2.3.0")
    implementation("io.ktor:ktor-server-netty:2.3.0")
    implementation("io.ktor:ktor-serialization-kotlinx-json:2.3.0")
}

Application Setup

import io.ktor.application.*
import io.ktor.features.*
import io.ktor.routing.*

fun Application.module() {
    install(ContentNegotiation) {
        json()
    }
    
    routing {
        get("/api/users") {
            call.respond(listOf(
                User(1, "John", "john@example.com")
            ))
        }
    }
}

Best Practices

  • Use Kotlin coroutines for async operations
  • Leverage Kotlin's null safety
  • Use data classes for models
  • Implement proper error handling
  • Use dependency injection

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