Skip to main content

FAQ

You will find hereafter answers to common questions. For more details or to get in touch directly, see our contact options.

What is the Kotzilla Platform?​

💡 The Kotzilla Platform is a new generation of observability for Kotlin developers using Koin, focused on root cause analysis and issue remediation. It tracks the KPIs that impact user experience and revenue (crash-free rate, ANR-free rate, cold and warm startup times, slow screens) and links each symptom back to the specific components and dependencies causing it. Built by the creators of the Koin framework, it supports Android and Kotlin Multiplatform apps across both development and production.

How does the Kotzilla Platform work?​

💡 The Kotzilla Platform is built on a symbolic approach to observability. It uses Koin's container to capture both the structure of your app (dependency graph, components, bindings) and its runtime behavior (resolution timings, lifecycle events, crashes) as one connected model. Root causes are computed from that structured data rather than inferred statistically from unstructured logs, which is why every issue carries the full causal chain, ready to be investigated in your IDE, in the Kotzilla Console, or handed to your AI coding assistant via the MCP Server.

Can I use the Kotzilla Platform for free?​

💡 Yes, the developer plan is free and includes unlimited time usage of Kotzilla Platform with a limited quota of events. Details available here. No payment details are required.

How does Kotzilla Platform compare to Firebase Performance Monitoring for Kotlin developers?​

💡 Unlike Firebase, which requires manual tracing and offers limited insights, Kotzilla Platform provides automatic, real-time performance monitoring built specifically for Kotlin and Koin. It visualizes dependency graphs and monitors components and dependency resolutions across different thread executions. It automatically detects issues and includes graphical tools for root cause analysis with full context. This means faster, deeper insights into your app’s behavior in both development and production, enabling quicker fixes and early signs of performance problems to prevent downtime.

A detailed side-by-side comparison is available here

How is the Kotzilla Platform different from observability tools like Datadog, Sentry or Embrace?​

💡 Datadog, Sentry, and Embrace provide broad observability for production crash reporting, error tracking, and monitoring of ANRs, network and database/APIs call performance. However, they usually require manual instrumentation to trace complex internal app behaviors, and root causes are inferred statistically from unstructured logs, which is why AI layered on top has to guess. Kotzilla is built specifically for Kotlin developers using Koin: it captures app structure and runtime behavior as one connected model, computes root causes instead of inferring them, and hands the full causal chain to your AI coding assistant via the MCP Server. The result is grounded, actionable fixes rather than plausible-sounding guesses.

How is Kotzilla Platform different from the Android Studio Debugger?​

💡 While Android Studio’s debugger is great for development, it requires manual breakpoint setup and can significantly slow down your app. It struggles with debugging multithreaded interactions, especially in optimized code, and its performance impact makes it unsuitable for production. The Kotzilla Platform, in contrast, automatically tracks execution flow with minimal overhead, even in production environments, allowing you to visualize and debug issues without the slowdown.

What issues can the Kotzilla Platform help me identify?​

💡 The Kotzilla Platform helps identify a range of performance issues including startup delays, slow background tasks, main thread bottlenecks, inefficient dependency resolutions, complex dependency graphs, and performance slowdowns caused by individual dependencies, all of which can impact app performance, maintainability, and stability. It also provides insights into crashes across Android, Kotlin Multiplatform (KMP) apps, and SDK libraries, in full context of other issues detected.

Can I detect and fix issues directly in my IDE using the Kotzilla Platform?​

💡 Yes, in two ways. The Koin IDE Plugin for Android Studio and IntelliJ IDEA helps visualize Koin configurations, spot issues related to component lifecycles, dependencies, performance, and threading, and lets you investigate further in the Kotzilla Console. The Kotzilla MCP Server connects your AI coding assistant (Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, Android Studio) to the platform, so you can ask performance and stability questions in natural language and apply guided fixes directly in your code.

How can I get started with the Kotzilla Platform?​

💡 The fastest path is the MCP Server quick start, which registers your app and configures the SDK in one prompt from your AI coding assistant. If you prefer a guided walkthrough on a sample app, follow the NowInAndroid tutorial. Full onboarding options (MCP, Koin IDE Plugin, Kotzilla Console) are listed in the Get Started overview.

What is the Kotzilla MCP Server?​

💡 The Kotzilla MCP Server connects your AI coding assistant to the Kotzilla Platform. It gives the assistant the structural and runtime context Kotzilla captures from real user sessions, plus a knowledge base of proven Kotlin fix patterns, so it can register your app, analyze production issues, and apply guided fixes in your code. See the quick start to install it.

Which AI coding assistants work with the Kotzilla MCP Server?​

💡 The Kotzilla MCP Server works with any MCP-compatible AI coding assistant, including Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, and Android Studio through its AI plugins (JetBrains AI Assistant, Junie). See the MCP Server quick start for per-tool configuration details.

Is my source code or data sent to AI providers when using the MCP Server?​

💡 The Kotzilla MCP Server only proxies queries between your AI coding assistant and the Kotzilla Platform. On the Kotzilla side, the MCP Server accesses the same technical, non-sensitive session data already collected by the Kotzilla SDK. No business logic or user-sensitive data is shared.

Is the Kotzilla Platform compatible with KMP apps?​

💡 Yes, the Kotzilla Platform is fully compatible with Kotlin Multiplatform (KMP) apps. It provides comprehensive insights into component issues, dependencies, and crashes across both Android and iOS devices.

Can I debug my SDK library with the Kotzilla Platform?​

💡 Yes. with the Kotzilla Platform you can debug your SDK libraries and white-label apps using Koin isolated contexts to pinpointing problems down to specific lines of code.

What are the dependencies of the Kotzilla SDK libraries? Are any Google libraries required?​

💡 Google libraries are not required. The Kotzilla SDK uses only full Kotlin Multiplatform (KMP) along with Koin. Koin itself only links the basic Android libraries, such as those related to Activity and Fragment.

Can I enrich the data collected by the Kotzilla SDK?​

💡 Yes, the Kotzilla SDK API allows you to add custom messages, trace performance of specific code sections, and add session/user ID properties. For more details, please refer to the official API documentation.

Can I collaborate with my team on debugging my app?​

💡 Yes! By upgrading to the Enterprise plan, you and your teammates can collaborate in real-time to debug issues across all your apps and SDK libraries. You can invite team members to investigate and resolve issues together, enhancing collaboration during development. Take a look at the details and team features.

What version of Koin should I use?​

💡 The Kotzilla SDK 2.0.x requires Koin 4.0.4 or higher. If you're using SDK 1.4.x, Koin 3.5+ is still supported. See the migration guide for upgrade instructions.