Question 1

What is the Kafka UI Plugin?

Accepted Answer

The Kafka UI Plugin is a JetBrains IDE plugin that lets you connect to a Kafka cluster, view topics, browse live messages, and produce messages without leaving your IDE.

Question 2

Which Kafka clusters can I connect to?

Accepted Answer

You can connect to any Kafka cluster accessible from your machine, including Aiven, Confluent, or a self-hosted Kafka deployment.

Question 3

Which authentication methods are supported?

Accepted Answer

The plugin supports SASL_SSL and SASL_PLAINTEXT authentication methods.

Question 4

What connection details do I need?

Accepted Answer

You need access to a running Kafka cluster and the following details:

Bootstrap servers (host:port)
Security settings, such as SASL or SSL, if applicable
Authentication credentials, if required by the cluster

Question 5

Can I connect to multiple Kafka clusters at the same time?

Accepted Answer

Yes. You can connect to multiple clusters, and there is no limit on the number of connections.

Question 6

Can I view existing topics?

Accepted Answer

Yes. After you connect, the plugin lists all topics in your cluster. You can browse partitions, offsets, and message contents.

Question 7

Can I view live messages?

Accepted Answer

Yes. The plugin displays messages in real time, including key, value, partition, and timestamp, as they are produced to a topic.

Question 8

Can I produce messages?

Accepted Answer

Yes. You can produce messages directly from the Kafka UI plugin after connecting to a Kafka cluster. You can also produce messages from the Aiven Console if you prefer.

Question 9

Can I create or delete topics?

Accepted Answer

Not yet. Currently, you can only view existing topics. Topic creation and deletion will be available in a future release.

Kafka UI

Kafka UI Plugin for JetBrains IDEs

Key Features

Kafka UI FAQ