Kottpd Development Roadmap

Vision

Kottpd aims to be a lightweight, pure Kotlin HTTP server framework that is easy to use, performant, and suitable for building microservices and REST APIs.

Current State (v0.2.2)

Strengths

• Minimal footprint: ~316 lines of core code
• Pure Kotlin: No external framework dependencies
• Simple API: Easy to understand and use
• HTTP/HTTPS support: Built-in SSL/TLS support
• Routing: Path-based and regex-based routing
• Filters: Before/after request filters
• Exception handling: Custom exception handlers
• Static files: Built-in static file serving

Areas for Improvement

• Testing: Minimal test coverage
• Documentation: Limited examples and API documentation
• Performance: Not benchmarked or optimized
• Features: Missing common REST framework features
• Tooling: Outdated dependencies and build tools

Short-term Goals (Next 3-6 months)

1. Testing & Quality (Priority: High)

• Add comprehensive unit tests for all components
• Add integration tests for HTTP scenarios
• Add performance benchmarks
• Set up code coverage reporting (JaCoCo)
• Add mutation testing (PIT)
• Target: 80%+ code coverage

2. Documentation (Priority: High)

• Expand README with comprehensive examples
• Add API documentation for all public methods
• Create getting started guide
• Add architecture documentation
• Create comparison with other Kotlin frameworks
• Add troubleshooting guide
• Document security best practices

3. Dependency Updates (Priority: Medium)

• Update Kotlin to latest stable version (2.0.x)
• Update Dokka to match Kotlin version
• Migrate from JUnit 4 to JUnit 5
• Update GitHub Actions to latest versions
• Review and update Maven plugins

4. Code Quality (Priority: Medium)

• Add ktlint for code formatting
• Add detekt for static analysis
• Fix Dokka compatibility warnings
• Add EditorConfig file
• Improve error handling and logging
• Add validation for inputs

Medium-term Goals (6-12 months)

5. Feature Enhancements (Priority: Medium)

• JSON serialization/deserialization support
• Request/response interceptors
• CORS support
• Request body parsing (JSON, form data, multipart)
• Response compression (gzip, deflate)
• Content negotiation
• Cookie support
• Session management
• WebSocket support
• HTTP/2 support

6. Developer Experience (Priority: Medium)

• Add Kotlin DSL for route configuration
• Improve error messages
• Add request/response logging middleware
• Add development mode with auto-reload
• Create starter templates/examples
• Add metrics and monitoring support
• Create CLI tool for project scaffolding

7. Performance & Scalability (Priority: Low-Medium)

• Benchmark against similar frameworks (Ktor, Javalin)
• Optimize thread pool configuration
• Add connection pooling
• Implement request timeout handling
• Add rate limiting support
• Optimize memory usage
• Support async/coroutines for handlers

8. Security (Priority: High)

• Add security headers by default
• Implement CSRF protection
• Add input validation framework
• Support authentication mechanisms (Basic, Bearer, JWT)
• Add HTTPS redirect option
• Implement security audit logging
• Add SQL injection prevention for examples

Long-term Goals (12+ months)

9. Ecosystem & Integration (Priority: Low)

• Create Spring Boot starter
• Add OpenAPI/Swagger support
• Support for common templating engines
• Database integration helpers
• Cache integration (Redis, Memcached)
• Message queue integration
• Cloud platform deployment guides

10. Community & Adoption (Priority: Medium)

• Create contribution guidelines
• Add issue templates
• Set up discussions forum
• Create community examples repository
• Regular blog posts/tutorials
• Conference talks/presentations
• Build showcase of projects using Kottpd

11. Advanced Features (Priority: Low)

• GraphQL support
• Server-Sent Events (SSE)
• gRPC support
• Multi-tenant support
• Plugin system
• Admin UI for monitoring

Migration & Breaking Changes

Planned for v0.3.0

• Migrate to JUnit 5
• Update minimum Java version to 11 (current baseline)
• Modernize API with Kotlin coroutines

Planned for v1.0.0

• Stabilize public API
• Comprehensive documentation
• Production-ready security defaults
• Performance benchmarks published
• Migration guide from v0.x

Success Metrics

Technical Metrics

• Code coverage: >80%
• Build time: <2 minutes
• Startup time: <1 second
• Request latency: <10ms (p99)
• Memory footprint: <50MB (base)

Community Metrics

• GitHub stars: 500+ (currently ~200)
• Active contributors: 10+
• Monthly downloads: 1000+
• Documentation coverage: 100%
• Issues response time: <48 hours

Contributing

We welcome contributions in all these areas! Please see CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

Release Schedule

• v0.2.3: Bug fixes and dependency updates (Next release)
• v0.3.0: Testing infrastructure and JUnit 5 migration (Q1 2026)
• v0.4.0: Feature enhancements (JSON, CORS, etc.) (Q2 2026)
• v0.5.0: Performance optimizations and async support (Q3 2026)
• v1.0.0: Stable release with comprehensive features (Q4 2026)

Research & Exploration

Areas to investigate:

• Project Loom (virtual threads) integration
• Kotlin Multiplatform support
• GraalVM native image support
• Reactive programming patterns
• Modern HTTP/3 support (QUIC)

---

Last updated: 2025-10-29 Maintainer: Andrei Chernyshev (@gimlet2)