The PowerSync Kotlin Multiplatform SDK is now in open alpha. Use it with a Postgres backend database to instantly make your KMP app local-first with PowerSync as a sync layer. Supported targets: Android and iOS. Supabase integration available.
Kotlin Multiplatform SDK
Today we are announcing the alpha release of the PowerSync Kotlin Multiplatform SDK.
With this release, Kotlin Multiplatform (KMP) developers can easily build local-first apps to achieve simplified state management and real-time reactivity. This release includes support for Android and iOS targets, with additional targets (JVM, Wasm) being considered for a future release.
SDK Features
- Provides real-time streaming of database changes, using Kotlin Coroutines and Flows.
- Offers direct access to the SQLite database, enabling the use of SQL on both client and server sides.
- Operations are asynchronous, ensuring the user interface remains unblocked.
- Supports concurrent database operations, allowing one write and multiple reads simultaneously.
- Enables subscription to queries for receiving live updates.
- Eliminates the need for client-side database migrations as these are managed automatically.
Engineering Notes
Our initial plan was to build a Kotlin Native library targeting Android and iOS but we changed gears to build a Kotlin Multiplatform library, given its popularity and benefits.
We are using SQLDelight’s API and drivers to connect to and execute queries in SQLite since it provides asynchronous database queries and flows — forming part of PowerSync’s core features. In the future, we plan to integrate with the SQLDelight compiler providing ORM-like capabilities.
The PowerSync library loads a SQLite extension and sets up SQLite native bindings on each platform. On iOS, we use CocoaPods to add a pod dependency and cinterop compilations to build an iOS framework. On Android, we use a custom database open factory to load our extension and call JNI bindings.
Current Limitations
Debugging via configurable logging is not yet implemented. The above-mentioned integration with SQLDelight’s compiler for ORM-like capabilities is also planned. This SDK currently supports only a single SQLite database file.
Native Development
PowerSync support for Kotlin Native and native Swift development is in active development.
Demo App
The easiest way to test the SDK is to run the hello-powersync demo app. Instructions for this can be found here. This app uses Compose Multiplatform and demonstrates real-time streaming of Postgres data and offline CRUD operation queuing & syncing. The demo app also showcases our integration with Supabase.
We would love to hear your feedback. Reach out to us on Discord if you have any feedback, need help or have any questions.
