Public API declaration with implicit return type

Reports public and protected functions and properties that have an implicit return type. For API stability reasons, it's recommended to specify such types explicitly.

Example:

  fun publicFunctionWhichAbusesTypeInference() =
      otherFunctionWithNotObviousReturnType() ?: yetAnotherFunctionWithNotObviousReturnType()

After the quick-fix is applied:

  fun publicFunctionWhichAbusesTypeInference(): Api =
      otherFunctionWithNotObviousReturnType() ?: yetAnotherFunctionWithNotObviousReturnType()

Locating this inspection

By ID

Can be used to locate inspection in e.g. Qodana configuration files, where you can quickly enable or disable it, or adjust its settings.

PublicApiImplicitType

Via Settings dialog

Path to the inspection settings via IntelliJ Platform IDE Settings dialog, when you need to adjust inspection settings directly from your IDE.

Settings or Preferences | Editor | Inspections | Kotlin | Other problems

Inspection options

Here you can find the description of settings available for the Public API declaration with implicit return type inspection, and the reference of their default values.

Apply also to internal members: Default value:
Not selected
Apply also to private members: Default value:
Not selected

Suppressing Inspection

You can suppress this inspection by placing the following comment marker before the code fragment where you no longer want messages from this inspection to appear:

//noinspection PublicApiImplicitType

More detailed instructions as well as other ways and options that you have can be found in the product documentation:

IntelliJ IDEA 2025.2

Inspection Details
By default bundled with:	IntelliJ IDEA 2025.2, Qodana for JVM 2025.2,

Last modified: 18 September 2025