Confluent CLI Overview

The Confluent command line interface (CLI), confluent, enables developers to manage both Confluent Cloud and Confluent Platform.

It’s feature-packed to help users go from learning Confluent to building automated workflows.

Getting started

To install the latest version of the Confluent CLI, complete the following steps:

1. Download and install the latest version in the default directory, ./bin:

   curl -sL --http1.1 https://cnfl.io/cli | sh -s -- latest
   

2. Add the ./bin directory to your $PATH:

   export PATH=$(pwd)/bin:$PATH
   

For additional installation options, see the Install Confluent CLI page.

1. Sign up for a free Confluent Cloud account by entering the following command and following the prompts:

   confluent cloud-signup
   

2. Start auto complete using the following command:

   confluent shell
   

3. Log in to your Confluent Cloud account:

   confluent login
   

   Tip

   You can add the --save flag if you want to save your credentials locally. This prevents you from having to enter them again in the future.

4. Create your first Kafka cluster:

   confluent kafka cluster create <name> --cloud <cloud provider> --region <cloud region>
   

   For example:

   confluent kafka cluster create dev0 --cloud aws --region us-east-1
   

5. Create a topic in the cluster:

   confluent kafka topic create <name> --cluster <cluster ID>
   

   For example:

   confluent kafka topic create test_topic --cluster <ID of the dev0 cluster>
   

6. Create an API key for the cluster:

   confluent api-key create --resource <cluster ID>
   

7. Produce messages to your topic:

   confluent kafka topic produce <topic name> --api-key <API key> --api-secret <API secret>
   

   For example:

   confluent kafka topic produce test_topic --api-key <API key created in step 7> --api-secret <API secret created in step 7>
   

   Once the producer is active, you can type messages, delimiting them with return. When you’re finished producing, exit with Ctrl-C or Ctrl-D.

8. Read back your produced messages, from the beginning:

   confluent kafka topic consume <topic name> --api-key <API key> --api-secret <API secret> --from-begining
   

   For example:

   confluent kafka topic consume test_topic --api-key <API key created in step 7> --api-secret <API secret created in step 7> --from-begining