Kafka MCP Server

This project provides a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that enables interaction with a Kafka cluster via standard tool-based interfaces. It exposes Kafka operations like producing messages, consuming, listing topics, and more — all accessible through Claude Desktop or any MCP-compatible client.

🛠 Features

• List Kafka topics
• Create and delete topics
• Produce messages

🚀 Quick Start

1. Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/joel-hanson/kafka-mcp-server.git
cd kafka-mcp-server

2. Setup Python environment (using conda)

conda create -n kafka-mcp python=3.10 -y
conda activate kafka-mcp
pip install -r requirements.txt

3. Start the MCP server (for local dev)

mcp dev

This starts the server and opens the MCP Inspector so you can test tool prompts and responses.

Usage

Running the Server

python server.py

Available Tools

1. kafka_initialize_connection - Connect to Kafka using a properties file
2. kafka_list_topics - List all topics in the cluster
3. kafka_create_topic - Create a new topic
4. kafka_delete_topic - Delete an existing topic
5. kafka_get_topic_info - Get detailed information about a topic

Example Usage Flow

1. First, connect to Kafka:

   Use kafka_initialize_connection with your properties file <path>
   OR
   Initialize connection with kafka using the properties file <path>
   

2. List existing topics:

   Use kafka_list_topics to see all topics
   OR
   List all the topics
   

3. Create a new topic:

   Use kafka_create_topic with name "my-topic", partitions 3, replication_factor 1
   OR
   Create me a topic with name "my-topic"
   

4. Get topic details:

   Use kafka_get_topic_info for "my-topic"
   

Features

• Configuration Management: Loads Kafka connection details from standard properties files
• Topic Management: List, create, delete, and inspect topics
• Error Handling: Comprehensive error handling with informative messages
• Connection Management: Efficient connection pooling and cleanup
• Extensible: Easy to add more Kafka operations

Supported Kafka Operations

Current

• Topic listing
• Topic creation with custom partitions and replication factor
• Topic deletion
• Topic inspection (partitions, replicas, ISR)

Planned Features

• Message production
• Message consumption
• Consumer group management
• Offset management
• Cluster information
• Performance metrics

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

1. Connection Failed: Verify your bootstrap.servers in the properties file
2. Authentication Error: Check your SASL/SSL configuration
3. Topic Already Exists: Use kafka_get_topic_info to check existing topics
4. Permission Denied: Ensure your Kafka user has the necessary permissions

Logging

The server logs to stdout. You can adjust the logging level by modifying the logging.basicConfig(level=logging.INFO) line in the code.

Security Notes

• Store sensitive credentials securely
• Use SSL/TLS for production environments
• Implement proper authentication and authorization
• Regularly rotate credentials

🧠 Using with Claude Desktop

To integrate your Kafka MCP server with Claude Desktop:

Install it into Claude:

mcp install <file_spec> -f <optional env file>

Note: If you are seeing dependency-related issues, please configure the claud_desktop_config.json with the absolute path to the python and provide the file to run.

MCP Client Configuration

Add this to your MCP client configuration (e.g., Claude Desktop):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "kafka": {
      "command": "python",
      "args": ["/path/to/server.py"]
    }
  }
}

{
"mcpServers": {
      "Kafka MCP Server": {
         "command": "/opt/miniconda3/envs/kafka-mcp/bin/python",
         "args": [
         "/path/to/server.py"
         ]
      }
   }
}

Claude will now detect and interact with the tools you've defined via @mcp.prompt() in your Python server.

Configuration

Create a Kafka properties file (e.g., kafka.properties) with your Kafka connection details:

# Basic Kafka connection
bootstrap.servers=localhost:9092
client.id=kafka-mcp-client

# Security configuration (if needed)
# security.protocol=SASL_SSL
# sasl.mechanism=PLAIN
# sasl.username=your-username
# sasl.password=your-password

# SSL configuration (if needed)
# ssl.ca.location=/path/to/ca-cert
# ssl.certificate.location=/path/to/client-cert
# ssl.key.location=/path/to/client-key

📂 Project Structure

kafka_mcp_server/
├── server.py               # Main FastMCP server defining tools
├── kafka_utils.py
├── requirements.txt
├── README.md
└── ...

🧩 Tool Debugging Tips

• Use mcp dev to inspect prompt behavior interactively
• Add print() or logging.debug() in your tool functions
• Use structured @prompt function signatures to ensure correct parsing

📦 Requirements

Add this to your requirements.txt:

kafka-python
mcp[cli]
pydantic
uv

Testing

Please run docker compose up to bring up kafka cluster with a single broker you can interact with using the bootstrap.server localhost:9092.

🔗 Resources

• MCP Protocol Docs
• Claude + MCP Guide
• mcp CLI Reference