Apache Kafka

Topics Commands

Kafka topics are the fundamental unit for organizing messages. Learn to create, configure, and manage topics for your streaming applications.

7 commands

Pro Tips

Partition count can only be increased, not decreased. Plan capacity ahead.

Use consistent topic naming conventions like domain.entity.event.

Common Mistakes

Topic deletion is permanent. Ensure consumers are stopped first.

Commands

Create topic

$ kafka-topics.sh --create --topic my-topic --bootstrap-server localhost:9092 --partitions 3 --replication-factor 1

Create topic with partitions and replication.

List topics

$ kafka-topics.sh --list --bootstrap-server localhost:9092

List all topics.

Describe topic

$ kafka-topics.sh --describe --topic my-topic --bootstrap-server localhost:9092

Show topic details.

Delete topic

$ kafka-topics.sh --delete --topic my-topic --bootstrap-server localhost:9092

Delete a topic.

Alter partitions

$ kafka-topics.sh --alter --topic my-topic --partitions 6 --bootstrap-server localhost:9092

Increase partition count.

Topic config

$ kafka-configs.sh --describe --entity-type topics --entity-name my-topic --bootstrap-server localhost:9092

Show topic configuration.

Set retention

$ kafka-configs.sh --alter --entity-type topics --entity-name my-topic --add-config retention.ms=86400000 --bootstrap-server localhost:9092

Set topic retention to 24 hours.