Strimzi Kafka Cli

[](https://pypi.org/project/strimzi-kafka-cli/) [](https://pepy.tech/project/strimzi-kafka-cli) [](http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0) [](https://github.com/strimzi/strimzi-kafka-operator/releases/tag/1.0.0)

Strimzi Kafka CLI

Strimzi Kafka CLI is a CLI that helps traditional Apache Kafka users -both developers and administrators- to easily adapt to Strimzi, a Kubernetes operator for Apache Kafka.

The main intention is to ramp up Strimzi usage by creating a similar CLI experience with the traditional Apache Kafka tools that mostly starts with kafka-* prefix under the bin directory in an ordinary Kafka package.

Strimzi Kafka CLI uses the kfk command as an abbreviation for "Kafka For Kubernetes" or simply "k a f k a" which reminds of the kafka-* prefix of the ordinary Kafka script file names.

While having similar set of commands or options for some of the common objects, Strimzi Kafka CLI has some extra capabilities for managing or configuring Strimzi related resources.

Following are the commands of the current version of Strimzi Kafka CLI, that are used for different purposes:

``` bash Usage: kfk [OPTIONS] COMMAND [ARGS]...

Strimzi Kafka CLI.

Options: --version Show the version and exit. --help Show this message and exit.

Commands: acls Manages ACLs on Kafka. clusters Creates, alters, deletes, describes Kafka cluster(s). configs Adds/Removes entity config for a topic, client, user... connect Creates, alters, deletes, describes Kafka Connect... console-consumer Reads data from Kafka topics and outputs it to... console-producer Reads data from standard input and publish it to Kafka. env Prints the environment variable values for Strimzi... mcp Starts the Strimzi MCP server. operator Installs/Uninstalls Strimzi Kafka Operator. topics Creates, alters, deletes, describes Kafka topic(s). users Creates, alters, deletes, describes Kafka users(s).

Please take a look at the relevant article [Strimzi Kafka CLI: Managing Strimzi in a Kafka Native Way](https://www.systemcraftsman.com/2020/08/25/strimzi-kafka-cli-managing-strimzi-in-a-kafka-native-way/) for more details.

## Installation

### Using Python Package Installer

``` bash
pip install strimzi-kafka-cli --user

Or to install Strimzi Kafka CLI in an isolated environment, you can simply use pipx:

``` bash pipx install strimzi-kafka-cli

To install with MCP server support:

``` bash
pip install strimzi-kafka-cli[mcp] --user

Using Homebrew

``` bash #Tap the homebrew repository first. brew tap systemcraftsman/strimzi-kafka-cli

#Install Strimzi Kafka CLI brew install strimzi-kafka-cli

> Installing the CLI by using Homebrew already uses a virtual environment, so you don't have to worry about your main Python environment.

Project requires: Python >=3.11

## Examples

* [TLS Authentication](https://github.com/systemcraftsman/strimzi-kafka-cli/tree/master/examples/2_tls_authentication)
* [Simple ACL Authorization](https://github.com/systemcraftsman/strimzi-kafka-cli/tree/master/examples/3_simple_acl_authorization)
* [Topic, User and Broker Configuration](https://github.com/systemcraftsman/strimzi-kafka-cli/tree/master/examples/4_configuration)
* [Kafka Connect](https://github.com/systemcraftsman/strimzi-kafka-cli/tree/master/examples/5_connect)

## MCP Server

Strimzi Kafka CLI includes an [MCP (Model Context Protocol)](https://modelcontextprotocol.io/) server that allows AI assistants to manage Strimzi Kafka deployments on Kubernetes.

### Starting the MCP Server

``` bash
kfk mcp

Registering with Claude Code

``` bash claude mcp add strimzi-kafka-cli -- kfk mcp

### Available Tools (32)

| Category | Tools |
|----------|-------|
| Kafka Clusters | `list_kafkas`, `get_kafka`, `get_kafka_status`, `create_kafka`, `delete_kafka`, `alter_kafka_config` |
| Topics | `list_topics`, `get_topic`, `create_topic`, `delete_topic`, `alter_topic` |
| Users | `list_users`, `get_user`, `create_user`, `delete_user`, `alter_user` |
| Connect Clusters | `list_connects`, `get_connect`, `create_connect`, `delete_connect`, `alter_connect` |
| Connectors | `list_connectors`, `get_connector`, `create_connector`, `delete_connector`, `alter_connector` |
| ACLs | `add_or_remove_acls` |
| Operator | `install_operator`, `uninstall_operator` |
| Node Pools | `list_node_pools`, `get_node_pool` |
| Version | `get_version` |

## Dependencies
### Python Dependencies
Please see [pyproject.toml](https://github.com/SystemCraftsman/strimzi-kafka-cli/blob/main/pyproject.toml) file.
### External Dependencies
`Strimzi resources` are automatically downloaded when the first `kfk` command is run. Strimzi Kafka CLI uses the Python Kubernetes client to interact with the cluster directly. You can check the dependency versions with:

``` bash
kfk --version

You can use the following environment variables to customize paths:

STRIMZIKAFKACLIBASEPATH: Set this if you want to have a custom Strimzi Kafka CLI folder. It is ~/.strimzi-kafka-cli as default.

STRIMZIKAFKACLISTRIMZIPATH: Set this if you want to use a custom Strimzi/AMQ Streams. We only recommend this when using AMQ Streams instead of Strimzi.

Source & license

This open-source MCP server is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: SystemCraftsman
• Source: SystemCraftsman/strimzi-kafka-cli
• License: Apache-2.0

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.