Routing and JSON Serialization in Ktor Microservices

Building scalable, lightweight microservices requires a solid understanding of how to direct incoming traffic and exchange data efficiently. This course guides you through the foundational concepts of setting up a Kotlin-based microservice using Ktor, focusing on clean routing structures and robust data serialization. You will start with the absolute basics of server architecture and configuration before moving on to practical request handling. By working through the written explanations and code examples, you will learn how to parse incoming requests, structure your application endpoints, and seamlessly serialize data to and from JSON. The course also covers modern Kotlin development practices, including the use of type-safe routing and the latest kotlinx-serialization library to ensure your services are both efficient and maintainable. What you'll learn: - Understand the core architecture of a Ktor server and how to configure basic application modules - Implement structured routing to handle diverse API endpoints and request methods - Configure the kotlinx-serialization library to automatically convert Kotlin objects to JSON responses - Apply modern Kotlin type-safety principles to prevent common runtime serialization errors - Manage query parameters and path variables to capture dynamic request data - Structure your microservice project for clean separation of concerns and future scalability This course begins with essential definitions and step-by-step setup instructions, gradually advancing to structured routing patterns and real-world JSON handling workflows. It is designed specifically for beginners who have a basic familiarity with Kotlin and want to dive into backend microservices without any complex prerequisites. Start reading today to build your first high-performance Ktor service.