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Introduction

Plugins

Dokka can be customized with plugins. Each output format is internally a plugin. Additionally, kotlin-as-java plugin can be used to generate documentation as seen from Java perspective. Currently maintained plugins are:

• dokka-base - the main plugin needed to run Dokka, contains html format
• gfm-plugin - configures GFM output format
• jekyll-plugin - configures Jekyll output format
• javadoc-plugin - configures Javadoc output format, automatically applies kotlin-as-java-plugin
• kotlin-as-java-plugin - translates Kotlin definitions to Java

Please see the usage instructions for each build system on how to add plugins to Dokka.

Source sets

Dokka generates documentation based on source sets.

For single-platform & multi-platform projects, source sets are the same as in Kotlin plugin:

• One source set for each platform, eg. jvmMain or jsMain;
• One source set for each common source set, eg. the default commonMain and custom ones like jsAndJvmMain.

When configuring multi-platform projects manually (eg. in the CLI or in Gradle without the Kotlin Gradle Plugin) source sets must declare their dependent source sets. Eg. in the following Kotlin plugin configuration:

• jsMain and jvmMain both depend on commonMain (by default and transitively) and jsAndJvmMain;
• linuxX64Main only depends on commonMain.

kotlin { // Kotlin plugin configuration
    jvm()
    js()
    linuxX64()

    sourceSets {
        val commonMain by getting {}
        val jvmAndJsSecondCommonMain by creating { dependsOn(commonMain) }
        val jvmMain by getting { dependsOn(jvmAndJsSecondCommonMain) }
        val jsMain by getting { dependsOn(jvmAndJsSecondCommonMain) }
        val linuxX64Main by getting { dependsOn(commonMain) }
    }
}

Output formats

Dokka documents Java classes as seen in Kotlin by default, with javadoc format being the only exception.

• html - HTML format used by default
• javadoc - looks like JDK's Javadoc, Kotlin classes are translated to Java
• gfm - GitHub flavored markdown
• jekyll - Jekyll compatible markdown

If you want to generate the documentation as seen from Java perspective, you can add the kotlin-as-java plugin to the Dokka plugins classpath, eg. in Gradle:

dependencies{
    implementation("...")
    dokkaGfmPlugin("org.jetbrains.dokka:kotlin-as-java-plugin:${dokka-version}")
}

Platforms

Each Dokka source set is analyzed for a specific platform. The platform should be extracted automatically from the Kotlin plugin. In case of a manual source set configuration, you have to select one of the following:

• jvm
• js
• native
• common