What is android-oss?

kickstarter/android-oss — explained in plain English

Analysis updated 2026-06-26

★ 5,783KotlinAudience · developerComplexity · 3/5LicenseSetup · moderate

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((Kickstarter Android))
    What it does
      Full app source code
      Production patterns
      Educational reference
    Tech Used
      Kotlin language
      RxJava reactive streams
      Android Studio
    Architecture
      View model pattern
      Reactive UI binding
      Mock data layer
    Getting Started
      Clone and bootstrap
      Run on emulator
      No real account needed

mindmap root((Kickstarter Android)) What it does Full app source code Production patterns Educational reference Tech Used Kotlin language RxJava reactive streams Android Studio Architecture View model pattern Reactive UI binding Mock data layer Getting Started Clone and bootstrap Run on emulator No real account needed

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What do people build with it?

USE CASE 1

Study how a real production Android app wires together view models, RxJava streams, and UI components.

USE CASE 2

Use the project structure and patterns as a reference when building your own Kotlin Android app.

USE CASE 3

Learn how reactive programming with RxJava is applied throughout an Android app's UI layer.

USE CASE 4

See how a professional mobile team handles mock data, environment configuration, and local development setup.

What is it built with?

KotlinAndroidRxJavaAndroid StudioJDK

How does it compare?

	kickstarter/android-oss	mygod/vpnhotspot	drakeet/multitype
Stars	5,783	5,787	5,766
Language	Kotlin	Kotlin	Kotlin
Setup difficulty	moderate	hard	easy
Complexity	3/5	4/5	2/5
Audience	developer	developer	developer

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

How do you get it running?

Difficulty · moderate Time to first run · 30min

Requires Android Studio, JDK, and running make bootstrap to configure the environment before opening in the IDE.

Use freely for any purpose including commercial projects under the Apache 2.0 license, keeping the copyright notice.

So what is it?

This repository contains the full source code for Kickstarter's official Android application, released publicly as an open-source project. The README frames it as an educational resource: Kickstarter's mobile engineering team made the code available so other developers could see how a real production app is structured, what patterns and libraries were chosen, and how the team approaches ongoing development. The app is written in Kotlin and uses RxJava, a library for reactive programming. Reactive programming is an approach where an application responds to streams of events and data changes in a structured, composable way, rather than writing explicit step-by-step instructions for each interaction. The view models in this project apply this pattern throughout to connect UI behavior to underlying logic. Getting the app running locally requires cloning the repository, installing Android Studio and the JDK, then running a setup command (make bootstrap) to configure the development environment. After that, the project can be imported into Android Studio and launched on an emulator or physical device. The app runs against mock data in this configuration, so no real Kickstarter account or credentials are needed. The README is intentionally brief: the main value is in reading the source code itself. A separate repository called native-docs holds additional written documentation. Bug reports and feedback are handled through GitHub issues. Kickstarter's iOS app is also open source and available in a separate repository written in Swift. The Android app is licensed under Apache 2.0.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1

Explain how kickstarter/android-oss uses RxJava to connect a view model to a UI component, and show me how to apply the same pattern for a product listing screen.

Prompt 2

Walk me through the kickstarter/android-oss project structure and point out where the network layer, view models, and UI screens are organized.

Prompt 3

How does kickstarter/android-oss handle switching between mock data in development and real API data in production?

Prompt 4

Show me how to write a unit test for a view model in Kotlin following the patterns used in kickstarter/android-oss.

Frequently asked questions