kafka-plugin 1.0.1

PYTHON module to create and integrate kafka consumer

kafka-plugin

Description

This package helps developers to integrate GSSAPI and keytab supported kafka consumer to their existing system just like plugin. It just needs kafka configurations that are required to establish connection which can be loaded through a yaml manifest.

It also supports loading config through dictionary. Create a manifest with required configs and get started. Use sample manifest as reference for creating one.

This uses Confluent-kafka library in backend and designed for reliable, at-least-once delivery and works well with FastAPI, background workers, and microservices.

Features

• Easy plugin use.
• Uses in-memory local queue to store the message.
• Runs consumer instance as separate thread.
• Uses manual commit to ensure data is not lost.
• Option to override default values.
• Applies backpressure (pause/resumes) when the app is slow.
• Robust and Reliable config loading options.
• Encapsulated method to read data from queue.
• Safe JSON decoding.
• Works with synchronous or async apps.
• Kerberos (GSSAPI) authentication support

Installation

Install using pip:

pip install kafka_plugin

Usage

Sample Manifest

app_constants:
  kafka_topics: ["SAMPLE.TOPIC"]
  kafka_principal: "sample_principal@REALM"
  kafka_servicename: "sample_servicename"
  kafka_keytab: "/path/to/samplefile.keytab"
  kafka_sslca: "/path/to/sample.pem"
  kafka_groupid: "SAMPLE_GROUPID"
  kafka_servers: "broker1:9092 broker2:9092"
  queue_size: 10000               #optional (default: 10000)
  client_id: "sample_client"      #optional (default: "default")
  cache_path: "./path/tmp/sample" #optional
  poll_timeout: 10.0              #optional (default: 5.0)
  session_timeout: 6000           #optional (default: 6000)
  auto_commit: False              #optional (default: False)

Sample Dictionary

app_config = {
    "app_constants": {
        "kafka_topics": ["my-topic"],
        "kafka_principal": "user@REALM",
        "kafka_servicename": "sample_servicename",
        "kafka_keytab": "/path/samplefile.keytab",
        "kafka_sslca": "/path/to/ca.pem",
        "kafka_groupid": "my-group",
        "kafka_servers": "broker1:9093,broker2:9093",

        "client_id": "my-client",       #optional (default: "default")
        "cache_path": "/tmp/krb5cc_",   #optional
        "queue_size": 10000,            #optional (default: 10000)
        "poll_timeout": 5.0,            #optional (default: 5.0)
        "session_timeout": 6000,        #optional (default: 6000)
        "auto_commit": False            #optional (default: False)
    }
}

Initialization

Load Config File

from kafka_plugin import load_manifest

path = "/root/config/kafka_manifest.yaml"
app_conf = load_manifest.Config(path)

config_data = app_conf.get_config()

Start Kafka

Load config through manifest

from kafka_plugin import kafka_consumer, load_manifest

path = "/root/config/kafka_manifest.yaml"
app_conf = load_manifest.Config(path)

config_data = app_conf.get_config()

# This auto initiates the consumer instance
kafka_local_agent = kafka_consumer.KafkaConsumer(config_data)
kafka_local_agent.start_read_msg()

while True:
    msg = kafka_local_agent.get_message()
    if msg:
        print("Received:", msg)

This package uses

enable.auto.commit = False

commits offsets manually after enqueue. So it provides At-least-once delivery Messages are not committed until safely stored in the local queue.

If your app crashes, Kafka may resend messages. No message is silently dropped under load.

kafka_plugin starts consumer instance by default when it is initiated. This behaviour can be overidden by setting it to False

from kafka_plugin import kafka_consumer

kafka_local_agent = kafka_consumer.KafkaConsumer(config_data,auto_start=False)
kafka_local_agent.start_consumer()
if kafka_local_agent.consumer:
    kafka_local_agent.start_read_msg()
else:
    print("Consumer hasn't spinned up")

Async Wrapper

import asyncio

async def async_worker():
    while True:
        msg = consumer.get_message()
        if msg:
            print(msg)
        await asyncio.sleep(0.01)

Threading Model

• Kafka runs in a background daemon thread.
• Application runs in the main thread.
• Communication happens via a thread-safe queue.Queue

Process

KafkaConsumer(app_config)

Creates a new consumer instance.

---

start_read_msg()

Starts the Kafka polling loop in a background thread.

---

get_message()

Returns the next message from the local queue.

Key Points

• Designed for Linux environments with Kerberos auth.
• Messages must be valid JSON.
• Queue size controls memory usage.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.