Kafka CLI inspired by kubectl & docker

Install via Go from source:

go install github.com/birdayz/kaf/cmd/kaf@latest

Install via install script:

curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/birdayz/kaf/master/godownloader.sh | BINDIR=$HOME/bin bash

Install on Archlinux via AUR:

yay -S kaf-bin

Install via Homebrew:

brew tap birdayz/kaf
brew install kaf

Show the tool version

kaf --version

Add a local Kafka with no auth

kaf config add-cluster local -b localhost:9092

Select cluster from dropdown list

kaf config select-cluster

Describe and List nodes

kaf node ls

List topics, partitions and replicas

kaf topics

Describe a given topic called mqtt.messages.incoming

kaf topic describe mqtt.messages.incoming

List consumer groups

kaf groups

Describe a given consumer group called dispatcher

kaf group describe dispatcher

Write message into given topic from stdin

echo test | kaf produce mqtt.messages.incoming

echo {"data":1} | kaf produce mqtt.messages.incoming --key 1 --header h1:hv1
> Sent record to partition 0 at offset 0.

kaf consume mqtt.messages.incoming --output json-each-row
> {"topic":"mqtt.messages.incoming","partition":0,"offset":0,"timestamp":"2025-07-04T12:53:46.841+02:00","headers":[{"key":"h1","value":"hv1"}],"key":"1","payload":"{data:1}"}


echo '{"topic":"mqtt.messages.incoming","partition":0,"offset":0,"timestamp":"2025-07-04T12:53:46.841+02:00","headers":[{"key":"h1","value":"hv1"}],"key":"1","payload":"{data:1}"}' | kaf produce mqtt.messages.incoming --input json-each-row

kaf consume mqtt.messages.incoming --output json-each-row
> {"topic":"mqtt.messages.incoming","partition":0,"offset":1,"timestamp":"2025-07-04T13:05:57.9+02:00","headers":[{"key":"h1","value":"hv1"}],"key":"1","payload":"{data:1}"}

Pipe from one topic to another kaf consume topic-a --output json-each-row -f | kaf produce topic-b --input json-each-row

Important: kaf produce will overwrite key, partition and all the headers and of input messages if provided

Consume messages with filtering by header kaf consume mqtt.messages.incoming --header h1:hv1

Set offset for consumer group dispatcher consuming from topic mqtt.messages.incoming to latest for all partitions

kaf group commit dispatcher -t mqtt.messages.incoming --offset latest --all-partitions

Set offset to oldest

kaf group commit dispatcher -t mqtt.messages.incoming --offset oldest --all-partitions

Set offset to 1001 for partition 0

kaf group commit dispatcher -t mqtt.messages.incoming --offset 1001 --partition 0

See the examples folder

Source the completion script in your shell commands file:

Bash Linux:

kaf completion bash > /etc/bash_completion.d/kaf

Bash MacOS:

kaf completion bash > /usr/local/etc/bash_completion.d/kaf

Zsh

kaf completion zsh > "${fpath[1]}/_kaf"

Fish

kaf completion fish > ~/.config/fish/completions/kaf.fish

Powershell

Invoke-Expression (@(kaf completion powershell) -replace " ''\)$"," ' ')" -join "`n")

• The streaming data platform for developers
• Single binary w/no dependencies
• Fully Kafka API compatible
• 10x lower P99 latencies, 6x faster transactions
• Zero data loss by default