Kotlin Multiplatform frontend for libretro: load emulator cores (melonDS, mGBA, DeSmuME, Genesis Plus GX, Snes9x…) and drive them from Kotlin — run frames, receive video and audio, send inputs, read and write the emulated memory, save and restore states. Supports Android, iOS, macOS, Linux, Windows, and JVM/Desktop from a single Kotlin API.

libretro cores are not bundled: they are shared libraries (.dylib, .so, .dll) that you load from a path at runtime. Prebuilt cores for every platform are available on the libretro buildbot, e.g. https://buildbot.libretro.com/nightly/apple/osx/arm64/latest/melonds_libretro.dylib.zip.

Add the dependency from Maven Central:

// build.gradle.kts
dependencies {
    implementation("dev.kotlinds:libretro-kmp:0.1.2")
}

No native dependency is needed: only download the cores you want to use.

• Android: ship the core's .so for each ABI in your app (e.g. in jniLibs, then load it from applicationInfo.nativeLibraryDir), or download it to the app's files directory.
• iOS: apps can only load code signed with the app, so embed cores as frameworks in your bundle and load them from there.
• macOS, Linux, Windows, JVM: any readable path works.

A core talks to its frontend (your application) through callbacks. Implement LibretroFrontend: only the two directories are required, everything else has a default.

val frontend = object : LibretroFrontend {
    // Where cores look for BIOS files, and where they write battery saves
    override val systemDirectory = "/path/to/system"
    override val saveDirectory = "/path/to/saves"

    // Core options ("variables"): return null to keep the core's default
    override fun variable(key: String): String? = when (key) {
        "melonds_boot_directly" -> "enabled"
        else -> null
    }

    // A frame is ready: ARGB pixels, whatever the core's pixel format
    override fun onVideoFrame(frame: VideoFrame) {
        display(frame.width, frame.height, frame.pixels)
    }

    // Interleaved stereo 16-bit samples (copy the array if you keep it)
    override fun onAudio(samples: ShortArray, frames: Int) {
        audioOutput.write(samples, frames)
    }

    // Inputs: 1 when the button is pressed
    override fun inputState(port: Int, device: Int, index: Int, id: Int): Short =
        if (port == 0 && device == Device.JOYPAD && id in pressedButtons) 1 else 0

    override fun onLog(level: LogLevel, message: String) = println("[$level] $message")
}

val core = LibretroCore("/path/to/melonds_libretro.dylib", frontend)
println("${core.systemInfo.libraryName} ${core.systemInfo.libraryVersion}")

core.loadGame("/path/to/game.nds")
core.setControllerPortDevice(port = 0, device = Device.JOYPAD)
val fps = core.avInfo.timing.fps            // e.g. 59.83 for the Nintendo DS

// One call = one emulated frame; callbacks are invoked during the call.
// Pace it to `fps` for real time, or run it as fast as possible to fast-forward.
while (running) core.run()

// Memory (e.g. for RAM watchers, cheats, bots…)
val ram: ByteArray? = core.readMemory(MemoryType.SYSTEM_RAM)

// Save states
val state = core.saveState()
core.loadState(state!!)

// Always close when done (also lets the core flush its battery save)
core.close()

A core must be driven from a single thread, and only one LibretroCore may be open at a time in a process (libretro cores keep global state, and their callbacks carry no user data).

Unit tests run everywhere. An end-to-end test against a real core runs on the JVM and on macOS when these environment variables are set:

LIBRETRO_TEST_CORE=/path/to/melonds_libretro.dylib LIBRETRO_TEST_GAME=/path/to/game.nds \
  ./gradlew :libretro-kmp:jvmTest :libretro-kmp:macosArm64Test

The Kotlin and C code in this library is licensed under the Apache License 2.0.

The bundled libretro.h header is © The RetroArch team, under the MIT license (see its header). Cores are not bundled: each core has its own license (most are GPL), which applies when you distribute it with your application.

See LICENSE for details.

• ai-plays-pokemon: AIs (decision models, LLMs, MCP agents) playing Pokémon games in an emulator.

If you are using libretro-kmp in your project/library, please let us know by opening a pull request to add it to this list!