Jetpack Compose Preview & Hilt Dependency Injection: Common Issues, Solutions, and Best Practices

In modern Android development, Jetpack Compose has simplified UI development, and Hilt has made dependency injection more streamlined. However, when working with Jetpack Compose Previews, you may encounter a common issue: Hilt dependency injection does not work in the context of Compose Previews.

In this detailed blog, we’ll break down the problem, explore why PreviewActivity doesn't support Hilt, and show the best practices for managing dependencies during Compose Previews. We’ll also explore alternatives to using Hilt in previews while maintaining a smooth development experience.

What Are Compose Previews and Why Do We Use Them?

Before diving into the problem and solution, let’s first clarify what Compose Previews are and why they are useful:

• Compose Previews allow developers to see their UI components directly in Android Studio without needing to run the entire app on a device or emulator.
• Previews are a design-time tool for visualizing how your Composables will look under different states, layouts, and conditions.
• The goal is to quickly iterate on your UI, test multiple configurations (like different themes, device…