JetBrains has rolled out Kotlin 2.2.20, and one of the biggest highlights is the upgrade of Kotlin/Wasm, which now enters beta status, alongside a variety of enhancements across multiplatform, native, and JavaScript development.

Kotlin/Wasm Enters Beta

The September 10 release introduces a beta version of Kotlin/Wasm, JetBrains’ toolchain for compiling Kotlin into WebAssembly (Wasm). This step significantly advances Kotlin’s reach into web, browser, and cross-platform environments.

The beta upgrade is accompanied by several developer-focused refinements:

• Better handling of exceptions during JavaScript interoperability.
• Smoother dependency management through NPM.
• Browser debugging improvements for Kotlin/Wasm applications.
• A shared source set that can be used by both js and wasmJs targets.

By moving Wasm support into beta, JetBrains is signaling growing confidence in its stability, even though it is not yet marked as fully production-ready.

Why Ship Beta Features in a Stable Release?

JetBrains explained that Kotlin’s core foundation — including the standard library — is rock-solid and suitable for production. However, new components like Kotlin/Wasm may remain in a pre-stable phase to gather real-world feedback. This hybrid approach gives developers early access while still being transparent about stability levels.

Advancements in Kotlin Multiplatform

Kotlin 2.2.20 also makes strides in multiplatform development:

• Swift export is now enabled by default, easing workflows for iOS developers.
• Kotlin libraries can now be compiled consistently across platforms with more stability.
• A new method for declaring shared dependencies has been introduced, allowing common dependencies to be specified in the kotlin {} block with Gradle 8.8+.

This makes cross-platform library development more intuitive and reduces friction when working across Android, iOS, and beyond.

Language Improvements

On the language side, Kotlin 2.2.20 refines overload resolution, particularly when lambdas are passed into functions with suspend parameters. This is part of ongoing work to make Kotlin more predictable and developer-friendly.

In addition, developers can preview Kotlin 2.3.0 features ahead of time, such as:

Allowing explicit return statements inside expression bodies when a return type is defined.

Extended support for overload resolution in lambda scenarios.

Tooling and IDE Support

The Kotlin 2.2.20 plugin is already bundled into the latest versions of IntelliJ IDEA and Android Studio, ensuring developers can immediately take advantage of the new functionality.
Looking Ahead

With Kotlin/Wasm maturing, Kotlin/Native producing leaner binaries, and multiplatform workflows getting smoother, this release reinforces JetBrains’ strategy of positioning Kotlin as a true “write once, run anywhere” language. As Kotlin 2.3.0 shapes up, developers can expect even deeper improvements to concurrency, language expressiveness, and platform integration.