A simple web framework
for Java and Kotlin
- Java
- Kotlin
import io.javalin.Javalin;
void main() {
var app = Javalin.create(/*config*/)
.get("/", ctx -> ctx.result("Hello World"))
.start(7070);
}
import io.javalin.Javalin
fun main() {
val app = Javalin.create(/*config*/)
.get("/") { ctx -> ctx.result("Hello World") }
.start(7070)
}
Why Javalin?
Simple
Unlike other Java and Kotlin web frameworks, Javalin has very few concepts that you need to learn. You never extend classes and you rarely implement interfaces.
Lightweight
Javalin is just a few thousand lines of code on top of Jetty, and its performance is equivalent to raw Jetty code. Due to its size, it's very easy to reason about the source code.
Interoperable
Other Java and Kotlin web frameworks usually offer one version for each language. Javalin is being made with inter-operability in mind, apps are built the same way in both Java and Kotlin.
Flexible
Javalin is designed to be simple and blocking, as this is the easiest programming model to reason about.
But, if you set a Future as a result, Javalin switches into asynchronous mode.
OpenAPI
Many lightweight Java and Kotlin web frameworks don't support OpenAPI, but Javalin does (including Swagger UI and ReDoc). Learn more at the OpenAPI plugin page.
Jetty
Javalin runs on top of Jetty, one of the most used and stable web-servers on the JVM. You can configure the Jetty server fully, including SSL and HTTP3 and everything else that Jetty offers.
Declare your server and API
in the same file
- Java
- Kotlin
import io.javalin.Javalin;
import static io.javalin.apibuilder.ApiBuilder.*;
void main() {
var app = Javalin.create(config -> {
config.useVirtualThreads = true;
config.http.asyncTimeout = 10_000L;
config.staticFiles.add("/public");
config.staticFiles.enableWebjars();
config.router.apiBuilder(() -> {
path("/users", () -> {
get(UserController::getAll);
post(UserController::create);
path("/{userId}", () -> {
get(UserController::getOne);
patch(UserController::update);
delete(UserController::delete);
});
ws("/events", userController::webSocketEvents);
});
});
}).start(7070);
}
import io.javalin.Javalin
import io.javalin.apibuilder.ApiBuilder.*
fun main() {
val app = Javalin.create { config ->
config.useVirtualThreads = true
config.http.asyncTimeout = 10_000L
config.staticFiles.add("/public")
config.staticFiles.enableWebjars()
config.router.apiBuilder {
path("/users") {
get(UserController::getAll)
post(UserController::create)
path("/{userId}") {
get(UserController::getOne)
patch(UserController::update)
delete(UserController::delete)
}
ws("/events", userController::webSocketEvents)
}
}
}.start(7070)
}
Creating a REST API has never been easier
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As of November 2025