Kafka Console CLI

A powerful and easy-to-use command-line interface for Apache Kafka operations.

Table of Contents

• Features
• Installation
• Quick Start
• Commands
  • Consuming Messages
  • Producing Messages
  • Topic Management
  • Cluster Information
• Authentication
• Message Formats
• Environment Variables
• Common Use Cases
• Troubleshooting
• License

Features

• ✅ Consumer & Producer - Full support for consuming and producing messages
• ✅ Multiple Authentication Methods - Plain, SCRAM-SHA-256/512, AWS IAM, OAuth Bearer
• ✅ Flexible Message Formats - JSON, JavaScript, raw text, or custom formatters
• ✅ Consumer Groups - Full consumer group support with offset management
• ✅ Time-based Consumption - Read messages from specific timestamps
• ✅ SSL/TLS Support - Secure connections to Kafka clusters
• ✅ Topic Management - Create, delete, and inspect topics
• ✅ Headers Support - Read and write message headers
• ✅ GZIP Compression - Automatic compression support
• ✅ TypeScript - Full TypeScript support

Installation

Global Installation (Recommended)

npm install -g kafka-console

Local Installation

npm install kafka-console

Using without Installation

npx kafka-console [command]

Quick Start

1. List all topics

kafka-console list --brokers localhost:9092

2. Consume messages from a topic

kafka-console consume my-topic --brokers localhost:9092

3. Produce a message to a topic

echo '{"message": "Hello Kafka!"}' | kafka-console produce my-topic --brokers localhost:9092

Commands

Consuming Messages

kafka-console consume <topic> [options]

Options

Option	Description	Default
-g, --group <group>	Consumer group name	kafka-console-consumer-{timestamp}
-f, --from <from>	Start position (timestamp/ISO date/0 for beginning)	latest
-c, --count <count>	Number of messages to read	unlimited
-s, --skip <skip>	Number of messages to skip	0
-o, --output <file>	Write output to file	stdout
-d, --data-format <format>	Message format (json/js/raw/custom)	json
-p, --pretty	Pretty print JSON output	false

Examples

Consume from beginning and pretty print:

kafka-console consume my-topic --from 0 --pretty

Consume last 10 messages:

kafka-console consume my-topic --count 10

Consume from specific timestamp:

kafka-console consume my-topic --from "2024-01-01T00:00:00Z"

Consume with specific consumer group:

kafka-console consume my-topic --group my-consumer-group

Save output to file:

kafka-console consume my-topic --output messages.json

Extract specific fields with jq:

kafka-console consume my-topic | jq '.value.userId'

Producing Messages

kafka-console produce <topic> [options]

Options

Option	Description	Default
-i, --input <file>	Read input from file	stdin
-d, --data-format <format>	Message format (json/js/raw/custom)	json
-h, --header <header>	Add message header (format: key:value)	none
-w, --wait <ms>	Wait time between messages	0

Examples

Produce single message:

echo '{"user": "john", "action": "login"}' | kafka-console produce my-topic

Produce from file:

kafka-console produce my-topic --input messages.json

Produce with headers:

echo '{"data": "test"}' | kafka-console produce my-topic --header "source:api" --header "version:1.0"

Produce multiple messages from JSON array:

cat users.json | jq -c '.[]' | kafka-console produce my-topic

Produce with key (for partitioning):

echo '{"key": "user123", "value": {"name": "John"}}' | kafka-console produce my-topic

Topic Management

Create Topic

kafka-console topic:create my-new-topic

Delete Topic

kafka-console topic:delete old-topic

Show Topic Offsets

kafka-console topic:offsets my-topic

Show Topic Offsets for Specific Timestamp

kafka-console topic:offsets my-topic "2024-01-01T00:00:00Z"

Cluster Information

List All Topics

kafka-console list

List Including Internal Topics

kafka-console list --all

Show Cluster Metadata

kafka-console metadata

Show Topic Configuration

kafka-console config --resource topic --resourceName my-topic

Authentication

SSL/TLS Connection

kafka-console consume my-topic \
  --brokers broker1:9093,broker2:9093 \
  --ssl

SASL/PLAIN

kafka-console consume my-topic \
  --brokers broker:9093 \
  --ssl \
  --mechanism plain \
  --username myuser \
  --password mypassword

SASL/SCRAM-SHA-256

kafka-console consume my-topic \
  --brokers broker:9093 \
  --ssl \
  --mechanism scram-sha-256 \
  --username myuser \
  --password mypassword

AWS IAM

kafka-console consume my-topic \
  --brokers broker:9093 \
  --ssl \
  --mechanism aws \
  --access-key-id AKIAXXXXXXXX \
  --secret-access-key XXXXXXXXXX \
  --session-token XXXXXXXXXX

OAuth Bearer

kafka-console consume my-topic \
  --brokers broker:9093 \
  --ssl \
  --mechanism oauthbearer \
  --oauth-bearer "eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIs..."

Message Formats

JSON Format (Default)

Messages are parsed as JSON:

echo '{"name": "Alice", "age": 30}' | kafka-console produce my-topic

Raw Format

Messages are sent as plain text:

echo "Plain text message" | kafka-console produce my-topic --data-format raw

JavaScript Format

Messages can contain JavaScript exports:

echo 'module.exports = { timestamp: Date.now() }' | kafka-console produce my-topic --data-format js

Custom Formatter

Create a custom formatter module:

// formatter/custom.js
module.exports = {
  encode: (value) => Buffer.from(JSON.stringify(value)),
  decode: (buffer) => JSON.parse(buffer.toString())
};

Use the custom formatter:

kafka-console consume my-topic --data-format ./formatter/custom.js

Environment Variables

Set environment variables to avoid repeating common options:

export KAFKA_BROKERS=broker1:9092,broker2:9092
export KAFKA_USERNAME=myuser
export KAFKA_PASSWORD=mypassword
export KAFKA_MECHANISM=plain
export KAFKA_TIMEOUT=30000

All supported environment variables:

• KAFKA_BROKERS - Comma-separated list of brokers
• KAFKA_TIMEOUT - Operation timeout in milliseconds
• KAFKA_MECHANISM - SASL mechanism
• KAFKA_USERNAME - SASL username
• KAFKA_PASSWORD - SASL password
• KAFKA_AUTH_ID - AWS authorization identity
• KAFKA_ACCESS_KEY_ID - AWS access key ID
• KAFKA_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY - AWS secret access key
• KAFKA_SESSION_TOKEN - AWS session token
• KAFKA_OAUTH_BEARER - OAuth bearer token

Common Use Cases

Monitor Topic in Real-time

kafka-console consume logs --group monitor-group --pretty

Replay Messages from Yesterday

kafka-console consume events --from "$(date -d yesterday --iso-8601)"

Copy Messages Between Topics

kafka-console consume source-topic | kafka-console produce destination-topic

Filter Messages

kafka-console consume all-events | jq 'select(.value.type == "ERROR")' 

Count Messages in Topic

kafka-console consume my-topic --from 0 | wc -l

Sample Messages

kafka-console consume large-topic --count 100 --pretty

Debug Message Headers

kafka-console consume my-topic | jq '.headers'

Troubleshooting

Connection Issues

Problem: Cannot connect to Kafka broker

Error: KafkaJSConnectionError: Connection timeout

Solution:

• Verify broker addresses are correct
• Check network connectivity: telnet broker-host 9092
• Ensure security groups/firewalls allow connection
• For Docker: use host network or proper port mapping

Authentication Failures

Problem: Authentication failed

Error: KafkaJSProtocolError: SASL authentication failed

Solution:

• Verify credentials are correct
• Check SASL mechanism matches broker configuration
• Ensure SSL is enabled if required: --ssl

Consumer Group Issues

Problem: Not receiving messages Solution:

• Check consumer group offset: kafka-console topic:offsets my-topic --group my-group
• Reset to beginning: --from 0
• Use a new consumer group name

Message Format Errors

Problem: JSON parsing errors

SyntaxError: Unexpected token...

Solution:

• Verify message format matches specified data-format
• Use --data-format raw for non-JSON messages
• Check for malformed JSON with: jq . < input.json

Performance Issues

Problem: Slow message consumption Solution:

• Increase batch size in consumer configuration
• Use multiple consumer instances with same group
• Check network latency to brokers

SSL/TLS Issues

Problem: SSL handshake failed Solution:

• Ensure --ssl flag is used
• Verify broker SSL port (usually 9093)
• Check certificate validity

License

License The MIT License Copyright (c) 2024 Ivan Zakharchanka