Practical overview
When it fits
Use Koog when building an AI agent into a Kotlin or Java application and you want framework support for tool use, workflows, model-provider connections and operational features.
Who it is for
- Kotlin and Java developers adding AI agents to backend services or applications.
- Teams building agent experiences for supported JVM, Android, iOS, JavaScript or WasmJS targets.
- Developers who need tool use, structured workflows, provider switching, or agent execution tracing.
Documented uses
- Build an agent that responds to users and invokes custom tools.
- Structure complex agent behavior as graph-based workflows.
- Connect an agent to supported language model providers or MCP tools.
- Add retries, persistence, streaming, history compression and observability to agent applications.
Requirements & limits
The framework is available as a public GitHub repository under the Apache-2.0 license, with dependency examples for Maven and Gradle using Maven Central.
- JVM use requires JDK 17 or higher; existing projects should set Kotlin 2.3.10 or higher.
- The repository lists JVM, JS, WasmJS and iOS as supported targets; Android is also named in its platform overview.
- The quickstart requires a provider API key, and provider-specific client and model choices shape agent configuration.
- Koog documents persistence, retries, tracing and OpenTelemetry exporters for applications with reliability or observability needs.
Check current requirements in the official documentation. Source-based guidance does not mean OpenViST has run or independently tested this project.
Add Koog to a JVM project
Declare Koog dependencies in an existing JVM project using Gradle or Maven.
Before you start
- JDK 17 or higher for JVM use
- Kotlin 2.3.10 or higher in existing projects
- Maven Central configured as a repository
Steps
For Gradle Kotlin DSL, add ai.koog:koog-agents:1.3.0 and, if needed, ai.koog:koog-agents-additions:1.3.0-beta to build.gradle.kts.
For Gradle Groovy, declare the same artifacts and versions in build.gradle.
For Maven, add the koog-agents-jvm:1.3.0 dependency and, if needed, koog-agents-additions-jvm:1.3.0-beta to pom.xml.
Ensure Maven Central is listed in the project's repositories.
Expected outcome
The project build declares Koog's agent library and optional additions dependency.
Guide limitations
- This covers dependency configuration only, not building or running an agent.
- The additions artifacts are identified as beta in the listed dependency versions.
Prepare the documented LLM quickstart
Configure the documented example's provider credential before constructing an agent.
Before you start
- A Koog project with its dependencies configured
- An API key for the selected supported LLM provider
- The corresponding provider client and model
Steps
Set the provider API key in an environment variable, as shown for OPENAI_API_KEY in the repository example.
Read the key from the environment in the application.
Use it to construct the corresponding provider client and configure an AIAgent with a system prompt and model.
Expected outcome
The example's provider credential and agent configuration are prepared for the subsequent run step.
Guide limitations
- The guide does not cover executing the example or obtaining provider credentials.
- The illustrated API-key variable is for the OpenAI example; other providers may require their own configuration.
Sources & review
Source record details
- Source availability
- Active
- Sources checked
- 7 October 2026
- Original website title
- JetBrains/koog · Official homepage title · retained in its source language