This library adds YAML support to kotlinx.serialization.

Currently, only Kotlin/JVM is fully supported.

Kotlin/JS and Kotlin/Wasm support are considered highly experimental. It is not yet fully functional, and may be removed or modified at any time.

(Follow this issue for a discussion of adding support for other targets.)

YAML version 1.2 is supported.

@Serializable
data class Team(
    val leader: String,
    val members: List<String>
)

val input = """
        leader: Amy
        members:
          - Bob
          - Cindy
          - Dan
    """.trimIndent()

val result = Yaml.default.decodeFromString(Team.serializer(), input)

println(result)

@Serializable
data class Team(
    val leader: String,
    val members: List<String>
)

val input = Team("Amy", listOf("Bob", "Cindy", "Dan"))

val result = Yaml.default.encodeToString(Team.serializer(), input)

println(result)

It is possible to parse a string or an InputStream directly into a YamlNode, for example the following code prints Cindy.

val input = """
        leader: Amy
        members:
          - Bob
          - Cindy
          - Dan
    """.trimIndent()

val result = Yaml.default.parseToYamlNode(input)

println(
    result
        .yamlMap.get<YamlList>("members")!![1]
        .yamlScalar
        .content
)

Add the following to your Gradle build script:

Groovy DSL

plugins {
    id 'org.jetbrains.kotlin.jvm' version '1.4.20'
    id 'org.jetbrains.kotlin.plugin.serialization' version '1.4.20'
}

dependencies {
  implementation "com.charleskorn.kaml:kaml:<version number here>" // Get the latest version number from https://github.com/charleskorn/kaml/releases/latest
}

Kotlin DSL

plugins {
    kotlin("jvm") version "1.4.20"
    kotlin("plugin.serialization") version "1.4.20"
}

dependencies {
  implementation("com.charleskorn.kaml:kaml:<version number here>") // Get the latest version number from https://github.com/charleskorn/kaml/releases/latest
}

Check the releases page for the latest release information, and the Maven Central page for examples of how to reference the library in other build systems.

• Supports most major YAML features:

  • Scalars, including strings, booleans, integers and floats
  • Sequences (lists)
  • Maps
  • Nulls
  • Aliases and anchors, including merging aliases to form one map

• Supports parsing YAML to Kotlin objects (deserializing) and writing Kotlin objects as YAML (serializing)

• Supports kotlinx.serialization's polymorphism for sealed and unsealed types

  Two styles are available (set YamlConfiguration.polymorphismStyle when creating an instance of Yaml):

  • using YAML tags to specify the type:

    servers:
      - !<frontend>
        hostname: a.mycompany.com
      - !<backend>
        database: db-1

  • using a type property to specify the type:

    servers:
      - type: frontend
        hostname: a.mycompany.com
      - type: backend
        database: db-1

  The fragments above could be generated with:

  @Serializable
  sealed class Server {
    @SerialName("frontend")
    @Serializable
    data class Frontend(val hostname: String) : Server()
  
    @SerialName("backend")
    @Serializable
    data class Backend(val database: String) : Server()
  }
  
  @Serializable
  data class Config(val servers: List<Server>)
  
  val config = Config(listOf(
    Frontend("a.mycompany.com"),
    Backend("db-1")
  ))
  
  val result = Yaml.default.encodeToString(Config.serializer(), config)
  
  println(result)

• Supports Docker Compose-style extension fields

  x-common-labels: &common-labels
    labels:
      owned-by: myteam@mycompany.com
      cost-centre: myteam
  
  servers:
    server-a:
      <<: *common-labels
      kind: frontend
  
    server-b:
      <<: *common-labels
      kind: backend
  
    # server-b and server-c are equivalent
    server-c:
      labels:
        owned-by: myteam@mycompany.com
        cost-centre: myteam
      kind: backend

  Specify the extension prefix by setting YamlConfiguration.extensionDefinitionPrefix when creating an instance of Yaml (eg. "x-" for the example above).

  Extensions can only be defined at the top level of a document, and only if the top level element is a map or object. Any key starting with the extension prefix must have an anchor defined (&...) and will not be included in the deserialised value.

Pull requests and bug reports are always welcome!

kaml uses Gradle for builds and testing:

• To build the library: ./gradlew assemble
• To run the tests and static analysis tools: ./gradlew check
• To run the tests and static analysis tools continuously: ./gradlew --continuous check

• YAML 1.2 Specification
• snakeyaml-engine-kmp, a Kotlin Multiplatform port of snakeyaml-engine, the YAML parser this library is based on