Confluent kubectl plugin

The Confluent for Kubernetes (CFK) bundle contains a Confluent kubectl plugin for interacting with Confluent for Kubernetes. The plugin supports Linux, Windows, and macOS. For more information, see Confluent plugin.

Install Confluent kubectl plugin

Step 1: Download and unpack the CFK bundle

If you deployed CFK using the Helm repository, download and unpack the CFK bundle as described in Step 1 of the download bundle procedure.

If you deployed CFK using the download bundle, skip this step.

Step 2: Remove any older plugin (upgrades only)

If you are upgrading from an older version of the Confluent plugin, delete the old plugin from the directory where you installed it.

Step 3: Check your machine architecture

Check the arm64 or amd64 architecture of the machine:

arch

Expected: Your machine’s architecture, for example, arm64 or amd64.

Step 4: Unpack the plugin

From the directory where you deployed CFK, unpack the kubectl plugin that matches your client environment (Linux, Windows, or Mac OS/Darwin) into your local executables directory. On Mac OS and Linux, the directory is /usr/local/bin/. This allows the standard kubectl command-line tool to find the plugin. Use the architecture you retrieved in the previous step (amd64 or arm64):

tar -xvf kubectl-plugin/kubectl-confluent-<environment>-<architecture>.tar.gz \
   -C <local directory for the plugin>

For example, on Mac OS with the arm64 architecture type:

tar -xvf kubectl-plugin/kubectl-confluent-darwin-arm64.tar.gz \
   -C /usr/local/bin/

Expected: x kubectl-confluent

Note

If /usr/local/bin/ is not writable by your user, prefix the command with sudo.

Verify the plugin is available through kubectl:

kubectl confluent --help

Expected: The help output for the confluent plugin, listing the available commands. For example, cluster, kraft, and connector.

Install Confluent plugin using Krew

Krew is the plugin manager for kubectl. To install the Confluent kubectl plugin using Krew, complete the following steps:

Step 1: Install Krew

Install Krew as described in the Krew User Guide.

Step 2: Download and unpack the CFK bundle

If you deployed CFK using the Helm repository, download and unpack the CFK bundle as described in Step 1 of the download bundle procedure.

If you deployed CFK using the download bundle, skip this step.

Step 3: Go to the plugin directory

Go to the kubectl-plugin sub-directory under the directory where you unpacked the CFK bundle.

Step 4: Remove any older plugin (upgrades only)

If you are upgrading from an older version of the Confluent plugin, delete the old plugin:

kubectl krew uninstall confluent

Step 5: Install the plugin