diff --git a/libraries/tools/kotlin-gradle-plugin-api/src/main/kotlin/org/jetbrains/kotlin/gradle/plugin/KotlinCompilation.kt b/libraries/tools/kotlin-gradle-plugin-api/src/main/kotlin/org/jetbrains/kotlin/gradle/plugin/KotlinCompilation.kt
index f3e0cb5bda4..96358d7dc7f 100644
--- a/libraries/tools/kotlin-gradle-plugin-api/src/main/kotlin/org/jetbrains/kotlin/gradle/plugin/KotlinCompilation.kt
+++ b/libraries/tools/kotlin-gradle-plugin-api/src/main/kotlin/org/jetbrains/kotlin/gradle/plugin/KotlinCompilation.kt
@@ -29,6 +29,10 @@ interface KotlinCompilation<out T : KotlinCommonOptions> : Named, HasAttributes,
 
     val kotlinSourceSets: Set<KotlinSourceSet>
 
+    val defaultSourceSet: KotlinSourceSet
+
+    fun defaultSourceSet(configure: KotlinSourceSet.() -> Unit)
+
     val compileDependencyConfigurationName: String
 
     var compileDependencyFiles: FileCollection
diff --git a/libraries/tools/kotlin-gradle-plugin-integration-tests/src/test/kotlin/org/jetbrains/kotlin/gradle/NewMultiplatformIT.kt b/libraries/tools/kotlin-gradle-plugin-integration-tests/src/test/kotlin/org/jetbrains/kotlin/gradle/NewMultiplatformIT.kt
index 6870e958b20..2fa28392ab3 100644
--- a/libraries/tools/kotlin-gradle-plugin-integration-tests/src/test/kotlin/org/jetbrains/kotlin/gradle/NewMultiplatformIT.kt
+++ b/libraries/tools/kotlin-gradle-plugin-integration-tests/src/test/kotlin/org/jetbrains/kotlin/gradle/NewMultiplatformIT.kt
@@ -1114,6 +1114,42 @@ class NewMultiplatformIT : BaseGradleIT() {
         }
     }
 
+    @Test
+    fun testDefaultSourceSetsDsl() = with(Project("sample-lib", gradleVersion, "new-mpp-lib-and-app")) {
+        setupWorkingDir()
+
+        val testOutputPrefix = "# default source set "
+        val testOutputRegex = Regex("${Regex.escape(testOutputPrefix)} (.*?) (.*?) (.*)")
+
+        gradleBuildScript().appendText(
+            "\n" + """
+            kotlin.targets.each { target ->
+                target.compilations.each { compilation ->
+                    println "$testOutputPrefix ${'$'}{target.name} ${'$'}{compilation.name} ${'$'}{compilation.defaultSourceSet.name}"
+                }
+            }
+            """.trimIndent()
+        )
+
+        build {
+            assertSuccessful()
+
+            val actualDefaultSourceSets = testOutputRegex.findAll(output).mapTo(mutableSetOf()) {
+                it.groupValues.let { (_, target, compilation, sourceSet) -> Triple(target, compilation, sourceSet) }
+            }
+
+            val expectedDefaultSourceSets = listOf(
+                "jvm6", "nodeJs", "wasm32", "mingw64", "linux64", "macos64"
+            ).flatMapTo(mutableSetOf()) { target ->
+                listOf("main", "test").map { compilation ->
+                    Triple(target, compilation, "$target${compilation.capitalize()}")
+                }
+            } + Triple("metadata", "main", "commonMain")
+
+            assertEquals(expectedDefaultSourceSets, actualDefaultSourceSets)
+        }
+    }
+
     @Test
     fun testUnusedSourceSetsReport() = with(Project("sample-lib", gradleVersion, "new-mpp-lib-and-app")) {
         setupWorkingDir()
diff --git a/libraries/tools/kotlin-gradle-plugin/src/main/kotlin/org/jetbrains/kotlin/gradle/plugin/mpp/kotlinCompilations.kt b/libraries/tools/kotlin-gradle-plugin/src/main/kotlin/org/jetbrains/kotlin/gradle/plugin/mpp/kotlinCompilations.kt
index 5363a423217..565c9ac1bbe 100644
--- a/libraries/tools/kotlin-gradle-plugin/src/main/kotlin/org/jetbrains/kotlin/gradle/plugin/mpp/kotlinCompilations.kt
+++ b/libraries/tools/kotlin-gradle-plugin/src/main/kotlin/org/jetbrains/kotlin/gradle/plugin/mpp/kotlinCompilations.kt
@@ -80,6 +80,12 @@ abstract class AbstractKotlinCompilation<T : KotlinCommonOptions>(
 
     override val kotlinSourceSets: MutableSet<KotlinSourceSet> = mutableSetOf()
 
+    override val defaultSourceSet: KotlinSourceSet
+        get() = target.project.kotlinExtension.sourceSets.getByName(defaultSourceSetName)
+
+    override fun defaultSourceSet(configure: KotlinSourceSet.() -> Unit) =
+        configure(defaultSourceSet)
+
     override val output: KotlinCompilationOutput by lazy {
         DefaultKotlinCompilationOutput(
             target.project,
@@ -285,6 +291,16 @@ class KotlinCommonCompilation(
 ) : AbstractKotlinCompilation<KotlinMultiplatformCommonOptions>(target, name) {
     override val compileKotlinTask: KotlinCompileCommon
         get() = super.compileKotlinTask as KotlinCompileCommon
+
+    // TODO once we properly compile metadata for each source set, the default source sets will likely become just the source sets
+    // which are transformed to metadata
+    private val commonSourceSetName = when (compilationName) {
+        KotlinCompilation.MAIN_COMPILATION_NAME -> KotlinSourceSet.COMMON_MAIN_SOURCE_SET_NAME
+        else -> error("Custom metadata compilations are not supported yet")
+    }
+
+    override val defaultSourceSet: KotlinSourceSet
+        get() = target.project.kotlinExtension.sourceSets.getByName(commonSourceSetName)
 }
 
 class KotlinNativeCompilation(