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kotlinlang

*Proposal: SLF4J-like Logging Facade for Kotlin Multiplatform?*

Hi everyone,
I’m wondering if there’s been any discussion around introducing a platform-agnostic logging facade for Kotlin Multiplatform, similar in spirit to what SLF4J is for the Java ecosystem.

The idea would be to define a common logging interface in commonMain that doesn’t enforce any particular implementation – allowing platform-specific bindings (e.g. Logcat on Android, NSLog on iOS, console.log on JS, etc.), or integrations with existing libraries like Kermit or Napier.

Such a facade could:
• Encourage interface-driven logging across shared and platform code
• Allow binding swap or mocking during testing
• Provide a consistent API without favoring a specific logging backend
• Reduce fragmentation across KMP libraries/projects using different solutions
To be clear, I’m not talking about bringing SLF4J into KMP, but rather asking:
Would it make sense to define a lightweight, SLF4J-style abstraction for logging in KMP?

Has something like this already been discussed or attempted?
Would like to hear your thoughts

<@UDR62RYLW> This is not about a concrete implementation but rather a proposal for an abstract layer / facade for logging in KMP (provided by Kotlin).

<https://github.com/oshai/kotlin-logging>?

<@U58GRE73J> I had the idea that it might be helpful if something like this were provided directly by Kotlin Core. I believe this could encourage broader adoption of the feature in third-party libraries and promote more consistent usage across the ecosystem.

Kotlin-logging, which was mentioned above, is not a pure facade. It builds upon SLF4J on JVM platforms but for other platforms it uses the platform native logging. So, it’s not a pure facade but is close enough for me.

<@U58GRE73J> How do we proceed with this? Would you take up the topic and discuss it internally?

No, I am not responsible for this part. Though I shared your request internally.