In build.gradle.kts I can define:

kotlin("jvm")

Is this 'merely' a short hand form for

id("org.jetbrains.kotlin.jvm" version "1.4.10"

or does it do anything else?

Our projects list it as:

kotlin("jvm") version "1.4.10"

And renovate picks it up fine. Would this work for you?

@Draget to answer your question: yes, it’s just a shortcut.

Interestingly renovate would ignore this Syntax @Saharath Kleips, we had 1.3.71 and if did not update. The moment we changed it to the id(...), it worked.