Configure Kotlin compiler for your Maven project

The kotlin-maven-plugin allows you to configure the Kotlin compiler for your Maven projects. You can specify compiler options, choose an execution strategy, and enable incremental compilation.

Specify compiler options

You can specify additional options and arguments for the compiler as elements in the <configuration> section of the Kotlin Maven plugin node:

<plugin>
    <groupId>org.jetbrains.kotlin</groupId>
    <artifactId>kotlin-maven-plugin</artifactId>
    <version>${kotlin.version}</version>
    <extensions>true</extensions> <!-- If you want to enable automatic addition of executions to your build -->
    <executions>...</executions>
    <configuration>
        <nowarn>true</nowarn> <!-- Disable warnings -->
        <args>
            <arg>-Xjsr305=strict</arg> <!-- Enable strict mode for JSR-305 annotations -->
            ...
        </args>
    </configuration>
</plugin>

Many of the options can also be configured through properties:

<project>
    <properties>
        <kotlin.compiler.languageVersion>2.4</kotlin.compiler.languageVersion>
    </properties>
</project>

The following attributes are supported:

Attributes specific to JVM

Name	Property name	Description	Possible values	Default value
`nowarn`		Generate no warnings	true, false	false
`languageVersion`	`kotlin.compiler.languageVersion`	Provide source compatibility with the specified version of Kotlin	"2.0", "2.1", "2.2", "2.3", "2.4", "2.5" (EXPERIMENTAL)
`apiVersion`	`kotlin.compiler.apiVersion`	Allow using declarations only from the specified version of bundled libraries	"2.0", "2.1", "2.2", "2.3", "2.4", "2.5" (EXPERIMENTAL)
`sourceDirs`		The directories containing the source files to compile		The project source roots
`compilerPlugins`		Enabled compiler plugins		[]
`pluginOptions`		Options for compiler plugins		[]
`args`		Additional compiler arguments		[]
`jvmTarget`	`kotlin.compiler.jvmTarget`	Target JVM version of the generated bytecode. Controls only the bytecode version of the output and does not restrict which JDK APIs your code can use.	"1.8", "9", "10", ..., "26"	"1.8"
`jdkRelease`	`kotlin.compiler.jdkRelease`	Target JVM version. Controls the bytecode version and limits the available API to the specified JDK version, preventing accidental use of newer APIs. Equivalent to Java's `--release` compiler option.	"1.8", "9", "10", ..., "26"
`jdkHome`	`kotlin.compiler.jdkHome`	Include a custom JDK from the specified location into the classpath instead of the default `JAVA_HOME`
`jdkToolchain`	`kotlin.compiler.jdkToolchain`	Set the JDK version to use from the toolchain. Only affects Kotlin compilation

Choose execution strategy

By default, Maven uses the Kotlin daemon compiler execution strategy. To switch to the "in process" strategy, set the following property in your pom.xml file:

<properties>
    <kotlin.compiler.daemon>false</kotlin.compiler.daemon>
</properties>

For more information about the different strategies, see Compiler execution strategy.

Enable incremental compilation

To make your builds faster, you can enable incremental compilation by adding the kotlin.compiler.incremental property:

<properties>
    <kotlin.compiler.incremental>true</kotlin.compiler.incremental>
</properties>

Alternatively, run your build with the -Dkotlin.compiler.incremental=true option.

What's next?

Package your project

02 June 2026