Install ki with Homebrew, Nix

Project links

• Homepage

Commands and aliases

• ki

Project history

The project grew out of Sparklin. The repository README describes it as the former Sparklin shell migrated to Kotlin's newer scripting and REPL infrastructure and generalized into the Kotlin Language Interactive Shell. Early GitHub releases in 2018 were still named Sparklin; by 2021 the release stream and JetBrains announcement presented it as `ki`.

Adoption history

The README documents distribution through Maven Central archives, SDKMAN!, Arch Linux AUR, Homebrew, and MacPorts. JetBrains' 2021 Kotlin blog post positioned `ki` as a better standalone shell alongside the built-in `kotlinc` and IntelliJ IDEA REPL options.

How it is used

Package users install `ki` to try Kotlin snippets, load JVM dependencies from Maven coordinates during an interactive session, inspect declared symbols, and run a Kotlin REPL from a terminal without opening an IDE.

Why package nerds care

`ki` matters because it is an official Kotlin-team package that turns a language REPL into something closer to a shell-oriented package-manager experience: install a launcher, pull dependencies by coordinates, and explore JVM libraries interactively.

Timeline

• 2017: Kotlin/kotlin-interactive-shell repository created on GitHub.
• 2018: GitHub releases were published under the Sparklin name.
• 2021: JetBrains announced `ki` as the next interactive shell for Kotlin.
• 2022: The 0.4.x release series continued under the Kotlin Language Interactive Shell repository.

Related projects

• The README points to Kotlin/kotlin-spark-shell as the Apache Spark adaptation and keeps the earlier Sparklin version in a separate repository branch.

Sources

• https://blog.jetbrains.com/kotlin/2021/04/ki-the-next-interactive-shell-for-kotlin/
• https://github.com/Kotlin/kotlin-interactive-shell
• https://github.com/Kotlin/kotlin-interactive-shell/releases
• https://github.com/Kotlin/kotlin-spark-shell