SonarLint Kotlin analyzer crashes on large Android project (Internal error / parse failure) but work

[devilyoung2504]

Hello Sonar team ,

I’m facing a persistent SonarLint analysis failure on a large Android project.
After extensive troubleshooting, this looks like a Kotlin analyzer incompatibility rather than a project misconfiguration.

I’ll try to be as precise and reproducible as possible.

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Environment

• OS: macOS 26.2 (Apple Silicon)
• IDE: Android Studio Otter 3 Feature Drop | 2025.2.3
Build #AI-252.28238.7.2523.14688667 (Jan 9, 2026)
• Runtime: 21.0.8±14196175-b1038.72 (JetBrains)
• JVM: OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM by JetBrains
• Memory: 5 GB
• Cores: 10
• Metal rendering: ON

Installed non-bundled plugins

• SonarLint for IntelliJ: 11.12.0.84088
• Snyk
• Anthropic Code plugin
• JetBrains Marketplace
• Full Line Completion

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Project characteristics

• Android multi-module project
• ~900+ Kotlin source files
• Mix of Java + Kotlin
• Uses modern Kotlin features
• Gradle build syncs and compiles successfully
• No syntax errors (verified)

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Kotlin / Gradle setup

• AGP: 8.10.0
• Kotlin versions tested:

• 2.2.21
• 2.1.21
  • KSP versions tested:
• 2.2.20-2.0.3
• 2.1.21-1.0.20
  • Gradle: 8.14.3
  • JDK for Gradle: Java 21 (Amazon Corretto / JetBrains runtime)

Build works fine in all cases.

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The problem

SonarLint always fails during Kotlin analysis with an internal error.

Typical behavior:
• Java analysis completes successfully
• Kotlin analysis starts (hundreds of files)
• Analysis crashes with:

• ResponseErrorException: Internal error
• Error during analysis
  • Sometimes it hangs, sometimes it fails immediately

Relevant log excerpt:

[sonarlint-analysis-scheduler] INFO ProgressReport - 935 source files to be analyzed
… then analysis fails with internal error

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Important observations

SonarLint works perfectly on:
• Small Android/Kotlin projects
• Same IDE
• Same SonarLint version
• Same machine

SonarLint fails only on this large project.

Binding vs disconnected mode:
• Connected mode → fails
• Disconnected mode → fails
• Same result

Kotlin K2 mode:
• K2 OFF → analysis often hangs
• K2 ON → analysis progresses further but still crashes

File exclusions / scope limiting:
• Tried sonar.inclusions / sonar.exclusions
• Tried limiting to a single package
• Tried excluding build/, generated/, res/, assets/
• Analyzer still crashes globally

Cache & reinstall attempts:
• Removed all SonarLint caches
• Fully uninstalled plugin
• Deleted ~/.sonarlint
• Reinstalled plugin cleanly
• Same result

Comparison with teammate:
• Same repo
• Same SonarLint version
• Works on teammate’s machine
• Suggests environment + Kotlin analyzer interaction

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What this suggests

This does not appear to be:
• A Gradle issue
• A Kotlin syntax issue
• A project configuration issue

It does appear to be:
• A Kotlin analyzer bug triggered by:

• Project size
• Specific Kotlin constructs
• Or Kotlin/K2/IDE compatibility

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Question

1. Is there a known incompatibility between:

   • SonarLint Kotlin analyzer
   • Kotlin 2.1+ / 2.2+
   • Android Studio Otter 2025.2.x?

2. Is there any way to:

   • Run Kotlin analysis incrementally?
   • Disable specific Kotlin rules?
   • Enable deeper debug logging for Kotlin parsing?

3. Would providing a minimal reproducer (subset of files) help?

I’m happy to provide additional logs or isolate problematic files if needed.

Thanks a lot for your time and for maintaining SonarLint

[devilyoung2504]

To help with reproducing this reliably, here are some additional observations and constraints that might clarify the behavior:

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Reproduction conditions that trigger the crash

This happens only on large Android projects with hundreds of Kotlin files.
On a small Kotlin project (same IDE + same SonarLint version + same machine) the analysis runs cleanly in all modes (connected / disconnected / K2 ON / K2 OFF).
On the large project (the real codebase), the crash always occurs when the Kotlin analysis attempts to start (after Java analysis finishes).

---

Attempts already made

These steps have already been tried and all produce the same crash:

1. Clean reinstall of SonarLint plugin

   • Uninstalled plugin
   • Deleted ~/.sonarlint
   • Deleted Android Studio SonarLint caches
   • Reinstalled SonarLint
   • Same crash

2. Clearing all IDE caches

   • Invalidate Caches / Restart
   • Same crash

3. Multiple Kotlin / KSP versions

   • Kotlin 2.2.21
   • Kotlin 2.1.21
   • KSP variants compatible
   • Gradle sync / compile works

4. JDK alignment

   • Gradle JDK = Java 21 (matches IDE)
   • Build success is unaffected

5. Analysis variations

   • Connected (binding) → crash
   • Disconnected → crash
   • K2 OFF → often hangs before crash
   • K2 ON → progresses further then crash

6. Inclusions / exclusions adjusted

   • sonar.inclusions, sonar.sources, sonar.exclusions tried
   • Still crash when analyzer reaches Kotlin files

7. Scoped analysis

   • Attempted to analyze only specific folders via IDE context menu
   • Still crashes (analyzer still indexed entire module)

---

What doesn’t appear to be the cause

Not a Gradle build error
Not a pure syntax issue (small test cases compile)
Not a caching leftover
Not solely a plugin install issue
Not a JVM mismatch

---

Additional context

• Android Studio Otter 3 Feature Drop | 2025.2.3
Runtime: Java 21.0.8
macOS 26.2 (arm64)

• SonarLint 11.12.0

• Java analysis always completes successfully
• Kotlin analysis always reaches hundreds of files before crashing

• Logs indicate:

…
INFO ProgressReport - X source files to be analyzed
… then internal error / parser failure

• Teammate on same project + same SonarLint + same IDE version does not see the crash — so environment alone likely isn’t the full cause.

---

Questions that would help pinpoint the issue

1. Is there a known limitation in sonar-kotlin analyzer for large Kotlin codebases?
2. Are there specific Kotlin/K2 constructs that cause internal parser failures in SonarLint?
3. Are there flags to run Kotlin analysis with more logging (DEBUG/TRACE) that can expose where the crash happens?
4. Could this be a memory/streaming issue when indexing large Kotlin sources?
5. Is there a way to disable just the Kotlin analyzer in SonarLint to narrow down the execution?

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I can provide more logs (debug), a minified repro, or GitHub access snippet if needed.

Happy to help further to nail this down

[ganncamp (G Ann Campbell)]

Hi,

Welcome to the community and thanks for this very thorough report!

Could you give us a verbose log from IDE startup through to the error, please?

 
Thx!
Ann

[devilyoung2504]

Diagnostics Report 2026 02 03 - 084218.zip (809.9 KB)

sonarlog.txt (1 MB)

Hi Ann,

I collected a full diagnostic report using Help → Collect logs and diagnostic data, and I’m attaching it (zip).
I’m also attaching the Sonar log output from the IDE (sonarlog.txt).

The Kotlin analysis fails on multiple .kt files with:
null cannot be cast to non-null type org.jetbrains.kotlin.psi.KtFile
e.g. EditSaleActivity.kt, CountriesModel.kt, etc.

Environment: Android Studio Otter 3 Feature Drop (2025.2.3), SonarQube for IDE 11.12.0, macOS aarch64.

Thanks!

[ganncamp (G Ann Campbell)]

Hi,

Thanks! This is flagged for the team.

 
Ann

[devilyoung2504]

Thanks, Ann!
I’ll wait for your team’s feedback. Let me know if you need any additional logs or tests on my side.