# Install kafka with Homebrew, pacman, scoop, zypper

Open-source distributed event streaming platform. Version 4.3.1 via Homebrew; verified 2026-06-25.

## Install

```sh
sudo av install brew:kafka
```

Additional install commands:

### macOS

- Homebrew (100%):

```sh
brew install kafka
```

  Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata

### Linux

- pacman (92%):

```sh
sudo pacman -S kafka
```

  Evidence: Arch Linux sync databases: kafka from https://geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com/extra/os/x86_64/extra.db.tar.gz

- zypper (92%):

```sh
sudo zypper install kafka-source
```

  Evidence: openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: kafka-source from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/be8d3611d25469107f32075a1697e69ec57a2b850b42348a658cc671ad5ec2b50760d02c3e59524d50da9a11d5be799bdaffba2e166e8ca8858512e3c0bd665d-primary.xml.zst

### Windows

- Scoop (92%):

```sh
scoop install main/kafka
```

  Evidence: Scoop official bucket manifest trees: bucket/kafka.json from https://api.github.com/repos/ScoopInstaller/Main/git/trees/master?recursive=1

## Package facts

- **Package key:** brew:kafka
- **Package manager:** Homebrew
- **Package manager page:** <https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/kafka>
- **Version:** 4.3.1
- **Source summary:** Open-source distributed event streaming platform
- **Homepage:** <https://kafka.apache.org/>
- **Repository:** <https://github.com/apache/kafka>
- **Upstream docs:** <https://kafka.apache.org/documentation>
- **License:** Apache-2.0
- **Source archive:** <https://www.apache.org/dyn/closer.lua?path=kafka/4.3.1/kafka_2.13-4.3.1.tgz>
- **Last updated:** 2026-06-25T20:07:33Z
- **Generated:** 2026-07-08T07:18:31+00:00

## Executables

- connect-distributed (cli)
- connect-mirror-maker (cli)
- connect-plugin-path (cli)
- connect-standalone (cli)
- kafka-acls (cli)
- kafka-broker-api-versions (cli)
- kafka-client-metrics (cli)
- kafka-cluster (cli)
- kafka-configs (cli)
- kafka-console-consumer (cli)
- kafka-console-producer (cli)
- kafka-console-share-consumer (cli)
- kafka-consumer-groups (cli)
- kafka-consumer-perf-test (cli)
- kafka-delegation-tokens (cli)
- kafka-delete-records (cli)
- kafka-dump-log (cli)
- kafka-e2e-latency (cli)
- kafka-features (cli)
- kafka-get-offsets (cli)
- kafka-groups (cli)
- kafka-jmx (cli)
- kafka-leader-election (cli)
- kafka-log-dirs (cli)
- kafka-metadata-quorum (cli)
- kafka-metadata-shell (cli)
- kafka-producer-perf-test (cli)
- kafka-reassign-partitions (cli)
- kafka-replica-verification (cli)
- kafka-run-class (cli)
- kafka-server-start (cli)
- kafka-server-stop (cli)
- kafka-share-consumer-perf-test (cli)
- kafka-share-groups (cli)
- kafka-storage (cli)
- kafka-streams-application-reset (cli)
- kafka-streams-groups (cli)
- kafka-topics (cli)
- kafka-transactions (cli)
- kafka-verifiable-consumer (cli)
- kafka-verifiable-producer (cli)
- kafka-verifiable-share-consumer (cli)
- trogdor (cli)
- connect-distributed (alias)
- connect-mirror-maker (alias)
- connect-plugin-path (alias)
- connect-standalone (alias)
- kafka-acls (alias)
- kafka-broker-api-versions (alias)
- kafka-client-metrics (alias)
- kafka-cluster (alias)
- kafka-configs (alias)
- kafka-console-consumer (alias)
- kafka-console-producer (alias)
- kafka-console-share-consumer (alias)
- kafka-consumer-groups (alias)
- kafka-consumer-perf-test (alias)
- kafka-delegation-tokens (alias)
- kafka-delete-records (alias)
- kafka-dump-log (alias)
- kafka-e2e-latency (alias)
- kafka-features (alias)
- kafka-get-offsets (alias)
- kafka-groups (alias)
- kafka-jmx (alias)
- kafka-leader-election (alias)
- kafka-log-dirs (alias)
- kafka-metadata-quorum (alias)
- kafka-metadata-shell (alias)
- kafka-producer-perf-test (alias)
- kafka-reassign-partitions (alias)
- kafka-replica-verification (alias)
- kafka-run-class (alias)
- kafka-server-start (alias)
- kafka-server-stop (alias)
- kafka-share-consumer-perf-test (alias)
- kafka-share-groups (alias)
- kafka-storage (alias)
- kafka-streams-application-reset (alias)
- kafka-streams-groups (alias)
- kafka-topics (alias)
- kafka-transactions (alias)
- kafka-verifiable-consumer (alias)
- kafka-verifiable-producer (alias)
- kafka-verifiable-share-consumer (alias)
- trogdor (alias)

## Dependencies

- openjdk

## Install behavior

- Post-install hook: defined
- Service: declared
- Bottle: available on arm64_linux, arm64_sequoia, arm64_sonoma, arm64_tahoe, sonoma, x86_64_linux

## Freshness

- Page generated: 2026-07-08
- Package-manager version: 4.3.1
- Package-manager updated: 2026-06-25
- Local data: ok
- Upstream repository: https://kafka.apache.org/
- info: Release/tag comparison is only available for GitHub repositories.
## Project history and usage

Apache Kafka is a distributed event-streaming platform that began at LinkedIn and became a major Apache Software Foundation data project. It is both a server platform and a package that installs a large family of command-line tools for brokers, topics, consumers, producers, Connect, Streams, storage, metadata, and operations.

### Project history

LinkedIn announced Kafka publicly on June 16, 2011 as a distributed publish-subscribe messaging system, open sourced under the Apache 2.0 license and submitted to the Apache Incubator. The announcement described Kafka as a system for high-throughput event data and noted that a paper had appeared at NetDB 2011.

The Apache GitHub repository was created in August 2011. Kafka graduated from the Apache Incubator on October 23, 2012, and Apache project records identify the Kafka committee as established in November 2012.

Over time Kafka expanded beyond a broker and client protocol into a broader event-streaming platform. Kafka Connect, Kafka Streams, MirrorMaker, security features, storage tooling, metadata tooling, and the Kafka Improvement Proposal process all became part of the operational and governance surface around the package.

### Adoption history

Kafka's adoption followed from its original LinkedIn use case: durable, high-throughput movement of event data between many producers and consumers. Its Apache governance and Java/Scala ecosystem helped it become a common foundation for streaming analytics, log aggregation, change-data capture, event-driven services, and data pipelines.

Package-manager adoption reflects two overlapping audiences. Developers install Kafka locally to run brokers and command scripts for development, while operators use the same scripts to inspect and administer clusters. Homebrew, Scoop, Pacman, and other package entries expose Kafka as a developer workstation dependency as much as a server component.

### How it is used

The Homebrew package installs many command-line entry points, including kafka-topics, kafka-console-producer, kafka-console-consumer, kafka-consumer-groups, kafka-configs, kafka-server-start, kafka-storage, and Kafka Connect scripts. That makes it both a runnable local broker distribution and a CLI toolbox.

Kafka is used when systems need durable ordered logs, consumer groups, replayable event streams, and integration points between services and data systems. The official documentation and quickstart center the core loop: start a broker, create topics, write events, read events, and build producers, consumers, Streams, or Connect workloads.

### Why package nerds care

Apache Kafka is significant in package databases because one formula exposes an entire infrastructure platform plus dozens of command shims. It is a good stress test for package metadata: executable lists are long, config files are distribution-relative, and the package name refers to a server, protocol ecosystem, and CLI family at once.

It is also historically important because many later packages in this batch exist to make Kafka easier to operate: kaf and kafkactl provide friendlier CLIs, while cloud-specific plugins exist because managed Kafka-compatible services introduced authentication and provider-specific edge cases.

### Timeline

- 2011-06-16: LinkedIn announced Kafka as an open-source distributed publish-subscribe messaging system.
- 2011-08: Apache Kafka GitHub repository created.
- 2012-10-23: Kafka graduated from the Apache Incubator.
- 2012-11: Apache Kafka committee established.
- 2015 onward: Kafka's ecosystem expanded around Streams, Connect, managed services, and Kafka Improvement Proposals.

### Related projects

- Kafka's close project family includes Kafka Connect, Kafka Streams, MirrorMaker, Schema Registry implementations, kcat, kaf, kafkactl, Apache Flink, Apache Pulsar, and managed Kafka-compatible services such as Amazon MSK, Confluent Cloud, and Azure Event Hubs for Kafka clients.

### Sources

- <https://api.github.com/repos/apache/kafka>
- <https://engineering.linkedin.com/27/project-kafka-distributed-publish-subscribe-messaging-system-reaches-v06>
- <https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/kafka>
- <https://github.com/apache/kafka>
- <https://incubator.apache.org/projects/kafka.html>
- <https://kafka.apache.org/documentation/>
- <https://kafka.apache.org/quickstart>
- <https://projects.apache.org/committee.html?kafka=>


## Security Notes

broad file, network, media, or database tool signal. formula declares a Homebrew service.

- **Geiger risk:** orange / medium
- broad file, network, media, or database tool signal
- formula declares a Homebrew service
- generalized runtime or code generation signal
- infrastructure mutation or orchestration signal


## Configuration and credential file locations

These source-backed paths show where this package keeps local settings or durable credentials. Automic Vault can use them as review targets for secret scanning, migration, and command approval.


## Configuration files

- Unix: config/server.properties
## Source Database Details

- **Source Database:** Homebrew formula API
- **Tap:** homebrew/core
- **Full Name:** kafka
- **Version Scheme:** 0
- **Revision:** 0
- **Bottle Stable Root URL:** <https://ghcr.io/v2/homebrew/core>
- **Deprecated:** no
- **Disabled:** no
- **Keg Only:** no
- **URL Keys:** stable

## Other Package-Manager Records

- pacman - kafka - 4.3.0-1: normalized package name match | Arch Linux sync databases: kafka from https://geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com/extra/os/x86_64/extra.db.tar.gz | An open-source distributed event streaming platform | https://kafka.apache.org/
- zypper - kafka-source - 2.1.0-3.16: normalized package name match | openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: kafka-source from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/be8d3611d25469107f32075a1697e69ec57a2b850b42348a658cc671ad5ec2b50760d02c3e59524d50da9a11d5be799bdaffba2e166e8ca8858512e3c0bd665d-primary.xml.zst | Source code of Apache Kafka | http://kafka.apache.org
- Scoop - main/kafka: normalized package name match | Scoop official bucket manifest trees: bucket/kafka.json from https://api.github.com/repos/ScoopInstaller/Main/git/trees/master?recursive=1


## Related links

- [Secret-risk packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/secret-risk-packages/) - Has protected-tool coverage, approval-gate, or non-low Geiger security signals.
- [Terminal utility packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/terminal-utilities/) - Matched terminal and command-line workflow metadata.
- [Text processing packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/text-processing-tools/) - Matched text, document, or structured-data processing metadata.
- [Language runtime packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/language-runtime-packages/) - Matched language runtime, compiler, or interpreter metadata.
- [openjdk](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/openjdk/) - Runtime dependency declared by Homebrew.
- [apache-flink-cdc](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/apache-flink-cdc/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, data, streaming.
- [burrow](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/burrow/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, data, streaming.
- [conduit](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/conduit/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, data, streaming.
- [ktea](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/ktea/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, data, streaming.
- [maxwell](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/maxwell/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, data, streaming.
- [nsq](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/nsq/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, data, distributed-systems, messaging.
- [topicctl](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/topicctl/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, data, streaming.
- [yozefu](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/yozefu/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, data, streaming.
- [zookeeper](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/zookeeper/) - Local package facts share a topical domain. Shared terms: cli, data, distributed, distributed-systems, openjdk.

## Combined YAML source

View the package source record on GitHub. [combined/kafka.yml](https://github.com/automic-vault/db/blob/main/combined/kafka.yml)


## Sources

- Nucleus package database
- Geiger risk classifier
- package-page enrichment
- curated configuration and credential file locations
- curated package history
- package version freshness
- av.db category and tag curation
- package relationship graph
- external package-manager database matches
- cross-ecosystem install command graph