confluent plugin

Description

Brief description:

Plugins are standalone executable files that allow users to extend the functionality of the confluent CLI. Plugins can be called from the confluent CLI as if they were built-in commands.

Making plugins discoverable by the CLI:

The filename of a plugin makes it discoverable by the confluent CLI and determines its command syntax. The filename must begin with confluent-. It must be executable and located in a directory on the user’s $PATH. Each dash (-) in a plugin filename delimits a subcommand in the callable syntax. For example, the plugin file /User/me/plugins/confluent-demo-env-create would be executed with the confluent CLI command confluent demo env create. Additionally, the parent directory must be on the user’s $PATH. For example, by adding export PATH=$PATH:/User/me/plugins to the user’s .zshrc file.

Arguments and flags with plugins:

Arguments and flags can be passed with plugin commands. It is the plugin’s responsibility to validate and parse them. For example, if you run confluent demo env create arg0 --flag0 true, the confluent CLI will first look for a plugin with the longest possible name: confluent-demo-env-create-arg0 in this case. If that is not found, it will look for a plugin with the next longest possible name: confluent-demo-env-create in this case. If it finds that, it will invoke the confluent-demo-env-create plugin, passing along arg0 --flag true for the plugin’s code to parse.

Naming collisions with existing CLI commands and other plugins:

Built-in confluent CLI commands take precedence over plugins if they share the same name. For example, there is a built-in confluent kafka cluster list command. A plugin named confluent-kafka-cluster-list on the user’s $PATH will therefore not run. The built-in command will be run, along with a warning that the plugin has been ignored. Partial overlap between a plugin’s name and a built-in command, however, is allowed. For example, a plugin named confluent-kafka-cluster-rebuild would be callable with the command confluent kafka cluster rebuild, since the name does not exactly match a built-in command. If two or more plugins with the same name are found in the user’s $PATH, the first one found in the $PATH is given precedence. Any subsequent plugin files with the same name will be ignored.

Subcommands

Command	Description
confluent plugin list	List Confluent CLI plugins in $PATH.