kaskade - Efficient Management of Apache Kafka with a Text-Based Interface

Introducing Kaskade

Kaskade is an innovative text user interface (TUI) designed specifically for Apache Kafka. This handy tool is built using Textual, a popular Python library from Textualize, known for creating sophisticated, responsive terminal user interfaces. Kaskade aims to streamline Kafka management for developers through its visually engaging and user-friendly interface.

Features of Kaskade

Kaskade comes packed with numerous features that enhance Kafka management:

Admin Capabilities:
- View and manage Kafka topics, partitions, consumer groups, and group members effortlessly.
- Access detailed information about topics such as lag, replicas, and the total number of records.
- Create new topics, edit existing ones, or delete them as needed.
- Easy filtering of topics using names to quickly find what you need.
Consumer Features:
- Support for various data types like JSON, strings, integers, longs, floats, booleans, and doubles during deserialization.
- Filter messages by key, value, header, and partition for focused data handling.
- Seamless integration with Schema Registry using Avro for managing schema evolution.
- Protobuf deserialization support for handling complex data structures.

Installing Kaskade

Getting started with Kaskade is simple:

Using Homebrew:
```
brew install kaskade
```
Using pipx:
```
pipx install kaskade
```

Both methods support quick and easy installation across different environments.

How to Use Kaskade

Kaskade offers intuitive command-line options for managing Kafka:

Admin View:
```
kaskade admin -b my-kafka:9092
```

Consumer View:

kaskade consumer -b my-kafka:9092 -t my-topic

These commands connect to your Kafka server and allow you to interact with it directly.

Advanced Configuration

Kaskade also supports several advanced configurations to suit different needs:

Handle Multiple Servers:

kaskade admin -b my-kafka:9092,my-kafka:9093

Schema Registry Connection:

kaskade consumer -b my-kafka:9092 \
        -s url=http://my-schema-registry:8081 \
        -t my-topic -k avro -v avro

These configurations allow you to tailor Kaskade to specific deployment scenarios and security requirements.

Running Kaskade with Docker

You can run Kaskade using Docker for easy containerized deployment:

Admin Interface:

docker run --rm -it --network my-network sauljabin/kaskade:latest \
    admin -b my-kafka:9092

Consumer Interface:

docker run --rm -it --network my-network sauljabin/kaskade:latest \
    consumer -b my-kafka:9092 -t my-topic

The Docker setup allows for straightforward execution with minimal configuration hassle.

Development and Contributions

Those interested in further development or contributing can refer to the detailed instructions provided in the DEVELOPMENT.md.

Kaskade is a robust tool that bridges the gap between complex Kafka operations and user-friendly management, making it an invaluable asset for developers and system administrators alike.