kafka-util 0.1.3

CLI tool for managing Apache Kafka clusters

Kafka CLI (kafka)

CLI tool for managing Apache Kafka clusters — topics, consumer groups, messages, Schema Registry, ACLs, and multi-cluster configurations.

Installation

Requires Python 3.10+.

pip install kafka-cli

Or with pipx (recommended for CLI tools):

pipx install kafka-cli

With optional serialization support:

pipx install "kafka-cli[avro]"       # Avro support
pipx install "kafka-cli[protobuf]"   # Protobuf support
pipx install "kafka-cli[all]"        # All formats

Verify:

kafka --help

From Source

git clone <repo-url>
cd kafka-cli
poetry install

Quick Start

# 1. Initialize — set up your first org & cluster
kafka init

# 2. Check cluster health
kafka cluster info

# 3. List topics
kafka topic list

# 4. Create a topic
kafka topic create my-topic --partitions 6 --replication 3

# 5. Produce a message
kafka produce my-topic --message "hello world"

# 6. Consume messages
kafka consume my-topic --from-beginning --limit 10

Commands

kafka init

Interactive setup wizard. Creates or adds organizations and clusters to ~/.kafka-cli/config.yaml.

kafka init

First run prompts for organization ID, name, cluster name, bootstrap servers, authentication, and optional Schema Registry URL.

---

kafka config

Manage configurations and switch clusters.

kafka config list                              # List all orgs & clusters
kafka config current                           # Show current active config
kafka config use                               # Switch cluster (interactive)
kafka config use acme-corp prod                # Switch cluster (direct)
kafka config test                              # Test current connection
kafka config delete acme-corp staging --yes    # Remove a cluster config

Config file: ~/.kafka-cli/config.yaml

Example config structure:

organizations:
  acme-corp:
    name: Acme Corporation
    clusters:
      dev:
        bootstrap_servers: localhost:9092
        auth:
          mechanism: none
        schema_registry:
          url: http://localhost:8081
      prod:
        bootstrap_servers: kafka-prod-1:9092,kafka-prod-2:9092
        auth:
          mechanism: sasl_scram_256
          username: ${KAFKA_USER}
          password: ${KAFKA_PASSWORD}
          security_protocol: SASL_SSL
default:
  organization: acme-corp
  cluster: dev

---

kafka cluster

Cluster information and health.

kafka cluster info                             # Cluster metadata
kafka cluster health                           # Broker health check
kafka cluster brokers                          # List brokers
kafka cluster topics-summary                   # Topic/partition overview

---

kafka topic

Manage Kafka topics.

kafka topic list                               # List all topics
kafka topic list --filter "order*"             # Glob filter
kafka topic create my-topic -p 6 -r 3         # Create topic
kafka topic describe my-topic                  # Full topic detail
kafka topic alter my-topic --config retention.ms=604800000
kafka topic delete my-topic                    # Delete topic
kafka topic consume-offsets my-topic           # Consumer group lag per topic

Global flags for all cluster commands:

kafka topic list --org acme-corp --cluster prod

---

kafka group

Manage consumer groups.

kafka group list                               # List all groups
kafka group list --state stable                # Filter by state
kafka group describe my-group                  # Group detail + offsets
kafka group delete my-group                    # Delete group
kafka group reset-offsets my-group \
  --topic my-topic --to-earliest --execute     # Reset offsets

---

kafka produce

Send messages to a topic.

kafka produce my-topic                                # Interactive mode
kafka produce my-topic -m "hello world"               # Single message
kafka produce my-topic -k "key1" -m '{"data": 1}'    # With key
kafka produce my-topic --file data.jsonl              # Bulk from file
kafka produce my-topic --file data.jsonl --key-field "id" --rate 100

---

kafka consume

Read messages from a topic.

kafka consume my-topic                                # Live tail
kafka consume my-topic --from-beginning --limit 10    # First 10 messages
kafka consume my-topic --group my-reader              # With consumer group
kafka consume my-topic --follow                       # Continuous (tail -f)
kafka consume my-topic --output json                  # JSON for piping
kafka consume my-topic --output raw                   # Values only
kafka consume my-topic --schema-registry              # Auto-deserialize

---

kafka schema

Schema Registry management (Avro, JSON Schema, Protobuf).

kafka schema list                                     # List subjects
kafka schema get my-topic-value                       # Get latest schema
kafka schema get my-topic-value --version 3           # Specific version
kafka schema versions my-topic-value                  # List versions
kafka schema create my-topic-value --file schema.avsc # Register schema
kafka schema test my-topic-value --file schema.avsc   # Test compatibility
kafka schema delete my-topic-value                    # Soft delete
kafka schema config --level BACKWARD                  # Set compatibility

---

kafka acl

ACL (Access Control List) management.

kafka acl list                                        # List all ACLs
kafka acl list --principal "User:alice"               # Filter by user
kafka acl create --principal "User:alice" \
  --topic my-topic --operation read --permission allow
kafka acl delete --principal "User:alice" \
  --topic my-topic --operation read --yes

---

kafka history

View CLI command history.

kafka history                  # Show recent commands (default: 50)
kafka history -n 10            # Last 10
kafka history --clear          # Clear history

---

Multi-Cluster Workflow

# Set up dev cluster
kafka init
# Org: acme-corp, Cluster: dev, Bootstrap: localhost:9092

# Add prod cluster
kafka init
# Select: acme-corp, Cluster: prod, Bootstrap: kafka-prod-1:9092,...

# Switch between clusters
kafka config use acme-corp dev
kafka config use acme-corp prod

# Run against specific cluster without switching
kafka topic list --org acme-corp --cluster prod

---

Development

# Install with dev dependencies
poetry install

# Run tests
pytest

# Run tests with coverage
pytest --cov=kafka_cli --cov-report=html

# Lint
ruff check src/
ruff format src/

# Type check
mypy src/

Project Structure

src/kafka_cli/
  main.py              # Typer app entry point
  commands/
    init.py            # kafka init
    config.py          # kafka config [list|use|current|delete|test]
    cluster.py         # kafka cluster [info|health|brokers|topics-summary]
    topic.py           # kafka topic [list|create|describe|alter|delete]
    group.py           # kafka group [list|describe|delete|reset-offsets]
    produce.py         # kafka produce
    consume.py         # kafka consume
    schema.py          # kafka schema [list|get|create|delete|test|versions|config]
    acl.py             # kafka acl [list|create|delete]
    history.py         # kafka history
  core/
    config.py          # Config load/save (~/.kafka-cli/)
    context.py         # Current org/cluster context
    client.py          # KafkaClientFactory (confluent-kafka wrapper)
    admin_client.py    # Admin operations (topics, groups, ACLs)
    producer.py        # Producer wrapper
    consumer.py        # Consumer wrapper
    schema_client.py   # Schema Registry HTTP client
    history.py         # Command history tracking
  models/              # Pydantic schemas
  serializers/         # Message serialization (string, JSON, Avro, Protobuf)
  ui/
    console.py         # Rich console helpers
    prompts.py         # Questionary wrappers
    tables.py          # Rich table builders
  utils/
    validators.py      # Input validators
    clipboard.py       # Copy to clipboard
    formatters.py      # Byte/timestamp formatting

Documentation

• Project Structure — Architecture & module details
• Command Reference — All commands, flags, output examples
• Configuration — Config schema & multi-cluster setup
• Authentication — SASL, SSL, mTLS, Confluent Cloud
• Schema Registry — Avro, JSON Schema, Protobuf workflows
• Examples — Real-world usage examples

License

GPL-3.0-or-later