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KafkaLens

Inspect Kafka messages, consumer groups and schemas from your Mac.

Get started ↓View source code
Platform
macOS
Licence
MIT
Documentation
Read the guide
KafkaLens dashboard displaying topic health, consumer groups, broker count and dead-letter queues
The actual app connected to a disposable local demo cluster with sample order, payment and inventory events.01 / 04
A closer look

In the app

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KafkaLens message browser showing keys, partitions, offsets and example JSON events
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Browse messages

Message inspection on the project's disposable local demo cluster.

KafkaLens consumer group table with committed offsets and partition lag
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Consumer groups

Consumer lag and offsets from the same local demo cluster.

KafkaLens Schema Registry comparing example Avro versions with a field added
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Compare schemas

Schema comparison using the project's sample event data.

Cluster dashboard
KafkaLens dashboard displaying topic health, consumer groups, broker count and dead-letter queues

The actual app connected to a disposable local demo cluster with sample order, payment and inventory events.

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A workspace for Kafka investigations

KafkaLens brings topic, partition, message, consumer-group, Schema Registry and broker views into one macOS desktop app. Use it to follow messages, understand lag and inspect the shape of your event data.

An optional AI assistant can help explain messages and investigate problems using your configured provider.

What you can do

  • Browse messages with offsets, partitions, decoded values and filters.
  • Inspect consumer groups, committed offsets and lag.
  • Compare schema versions and field changes.
  • Investigate dead-letter queues and replay failed records.
  • Inspect brokers and cluster health from a single dashboard.

Getting started

git clone https://github.com/Captain-Sangam/KafkaLens.git kafkalens
cd kafkalens
make install
make check
make export

Launch KafkaLens from Spotlight. Open Settings → Add Cluster, enter your bootstrap servers and authentication details, test the connection, and save it.

Docker Compose is optional for running the project’s disposable local Kafka fixtures. Follow the README for fixture configuration and development commands.

Things to know

Version 1.0.0 is in release preparation. Source builds are available; signed distribution and remaining acceptance checks are tracked in the validation results.

The local build is unsigned. Schema Registry and AI features require their corresponding services; cloud AI usage may incur provider charges. Cluster changes and replay operations should be performed with appropriate access and care.

Explore the source

KafkaLens is available under the MIT licence, with third-party attribution in its repository. Read the documentation or explore the source code.