Framework merge: Wasabi joins Ktor to form one super-powered Kotlin creation

Getting hungry for spicy sushi? Wasabi is an HTTP framework “for dynamic analysis of WebAssembly programs”. However, now Wasabi has now merged with Ktor. What is Ktor? Is it similar to Wasabi?

Let’s take a look at these two HTTP frameworks, see what the common goal between them is, and find out how Ktor can be used!

Coming together

First of all, why the merge? The answer from Wasabi’s GitHub: “Ktor and Wasabi both have the same goals – define a simple, extensible HTTP framework for the JVM, built with Kotlin“. Wasabi actually came before Ktor, and the latter took influence from Wasabi, so the depreciation of Wasabi may come as a surprise to some of its fans.

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However, Wasabi’s development team currently lacks the time and ability to commit the proper resources to Wasabi. So, they decided it was best to merge the two frameworks together into one cohesive tool. The shared languages and similar goals make the merge a perfect fit. Don’t mourn, however, because this means that users will now experience the best of both worlds.

Migration should be easy, and members of both teams can help if you decide to make the switch over to Ktor. The Kotlin Slack channel is the place to go if you need moving assistance, have questions, or concerns.

GitHub states that “You can, of course, fork this project and continue it, or contribute your efforts to #Ktor”, so if you don’t want to leave the spicy world of Wasabi, you can still fork the project. (Or, should we say you can chopstick the project?)

Easy asynchronous apps

Besides Wasabi, Ktor also took inspiration from another depreciated Kotlin web framework known as Kara.

Ktor is a framework for building asynchronous servers and clients in connected systems using the powerful Kotlin programming language.

Ktor also boasts that creating web applications requires minimal effort.

One of the features that makes Ktor a great framework is that it has few constraints on what kind of technology a project uses. Whether it’s logging, templating, messaging, or serializing, Ktor is unopinionated. All Ktor applications can be hosted in a test environment that emulates a web server. This enables users to forgo the networking and check its performance easily and quickly.

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Whats the big goal of Ktor? It hopes to eventually provide an end-to-end multiplatform application framework for connected applications.

Take an in-depth look at all of its features to fully understand everything that Ktor can do. Some feature highlights include:

• Type-safe routing
• Streaming media
• LDAP authentication
• Authenticating clients
• Control cache headers

Ready, set, framework!

Getting started with Ktor takes an estimated four minutes. Further instructions are found in the QuickStart guide for Docker, Gradle, Maven, and IntelliJ IDEA.

Sample projects are available for browsing, as well as the source code. No matter your use case, there is likely a sample project. Some samples include:

• FullStack app sample
• Creating an embedded application
• Wiring up metrics sample
• YouTube-like application sample
• Twitter-like application sample

While the lingering spice of Wasabi will always remain, we look forward to seeing what this merge does for Ktor. The framework can only grow and hopefully reach higher and higher goals!

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