KetoyVM is a Kotlin execution runtime for Android that runs Ketoy Bytecode compiled from plain Kotlin source, including Jetpack Compose, coroutines, ViewModels, and Navigation, delivered as a .ktx bundle. Hilt and Room stay in the host app; KetoyVM exposes their functions for new features because updating them requires a Play Store release.

How do I ship Android app updates in seconds?

Write Kotlin, run ./gradlew ketoyBundle, upload the resulting .ktx to Ketoy Cloud, and the KetoyRuntime on every device fetches and executes the new bundle in about 60 seconds without Play Store review or binary split.

Is KetoyVM a server-driven UI framework?

KetoyVM is stronger than a server-driven UI DSL: it executes real Kotlin on device with native Jetpack Compose rendering, real coroutine semantics and real ViewModel lifecycles, so you keep full-surface Compose without a custom schema.

Is this like CodePush or Hermes?

What Hermes is to React Native's JavaScript, KetoyVM is to Kotlin and Compose: a purpose-built execution runtime, not a script interpreter wedged into a different stack.

A tour of the .ktx bundle: sections, manifests, signatures.

A .ktx bundle is the file your app will download at 3am. This is the field guide.

Every bundle is a signed container with three load-bearing sections: a manifest, a code section, and a resource table. The header is short; the signature is mandatory; the order is fixed.

§ 01 — THE HEADERTwelve bytes that never move

Magic, format version, minimum runtime version. Three u32s, in that order, little-endian. We will not change this. We will change what follows.

— A.V., Mar 27 2026

Anya Voronova

Compiler lead at KetoyVM. Previously JetBrains, previously LLVM. Writes one Field Note a month, usually about IR.