Agent skill

Kafka

Kafka topic management, consumer group monitoring, message production/consumption, and cluster health diagnostics.

Install Kafka

skills CLI

$ npx skills add aspectrr/deer --skill kafka -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install aspectrr/deer kafka --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/aspectrr/deer.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/deer-cli/internal/skill/defaults/kafka .claude/skills/kafka && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.

Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/

Paste into Claude Code

Install the "kafka" agent skill from https://github.com/aspectrr/deer/tree/main/deer-cli/internal/skill/defaults/kafka into .claude/skills/kafka/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "kafka", then confirm the skill loads.

Claude Code copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

$skill-installer

$skill-installer install https://github.com/aspectrr/deer/tree/main/deer-cli/internal/skill/defaults/kafka

Type this inside Codex. $skill-installer <name> installs a curated skill from openai/skills. The installer writes to $CODEX_HOME/skills (default ~/.codex/skills). Restart Codex if the skill does not show up.

skills CLI

$ npx skills add aspectrr/deer --skill kafka -a codex

Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.codex/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install aspectrr/deer kafka --agent codex

Project scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/aspectrr/deer.git skills-src && mkdir -p .agents/skills && cp -r skills-src/deer-cli/internal/skill/defaults/kafka .agents/skills/kafka && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.agents/skills/ instead of .agents/skills for a personal install.

Codex skills documentation · loads skills from .agents/skills/

Paste into Codex

Install the "kafka" agent skill from https://github.com/aspectrr/deer/tree/main/deer-cli/internal/skill/defaults/kafka into .agents/skills/kafka/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "kafka", then confirm the skill loads.

Codex copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

skills CLI

$ npx skills add aspectrr/deer --skill kafka -a cursor

Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.cursor/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install aspectrr/deer kafka --agent cursor

Project scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/aspectrr/deer.git skills-src && mkdir -p .cursor/skills && cp -r skills-src/deer-cli/internal/skill/defaults/kafka .cursor/skills/kafka && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.cursor/skills/ instead of .cursor/skills for a personal install.

Cursor skills documentation · loads skills from .cursor/skills/, .agents/skills/, .claude/skills/, .codex/skills/

Paste into Cursor

Install the "kafka" agent skill from https://github.com/aspectrr/deer/tree/main/deer-cli/internal/skill/defaults/kafka into .cursor/skills/kafka/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "kafka", then confirm the skill loads.

Cursor copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

gemini skills install

$ gemini skills install https://github.com/aspectrr/deer.git --path deer-cli/internal/skill/defaults/kafka

--scope user (default) or --scope workspace; --path is the subfolder of the repo that holds the skill; --consent skips the security confirmation prompt.

skills CLI

$ npx skills add aspectrr/deer --skill kafka -a gemini-cli

Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.gemini/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install aspectrr/deer kafka --agent gemini-cli

Project scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/aspectrr/deer.git skills-src && mkdir -p .gemini/skills && cp -r skills-src/deer-cli/internal/skill/defaults/kafka .gemini/skills/kafka && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.gemini/skills/ instead of .gemini/skills for a personal install, then run /skills reload.

Gemini CLI skills documentation · loads skills from .gemini/skills/, .agents/skills/

Paste into Gemini CLI

Install the "kafka" agent skill from https://github.com/aspectrr/deer/tree/main/deer-cli/internal/skill/defaults/kafka into .gemini/skills/kafka/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "kafka", then confirm the skill loads.

Gemini CLI copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install aspectrr/deer kafka

Installs for Copilot at project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Preview a skill first with gh skill preview. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

skills CLI

$ npx skills add aspectrr/deer --skill kafka -a github-copilot

Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.copilot/skills/.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/aspectrr/deer.git skills-src && mkdir -p .github/skills && cp -r skills-src/deer-cli/internal/skill/defaults/kafka .github/skills/kafka && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.copilot/skills/ instead of .github/skills for a personal install. Commit .github/skills so cloud agent and code review can use it.

GitHub Copilot skills documentation · loads skills from .github/skills/, .claude/skills/, .agents/skills/

Paste into GitHub Copilot

Install the "kafka" agent skill from https://github.com/aspectrr/deer/tree/main/deer-cli/internal/skill/defaults/kafka into .github/skills/kafka/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "kafka", then confirm the skill loads.

GitHub Copilot copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

skills CLI

$ npx skills add aspectrr/deer --skill kafka -a opencode

OpenCode documents no install command of its own. Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.config/opencode/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install aspectrr/deer kafka --agent opencode

Project scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/aspectrr/deer.git skills-src && mkdir -p .opencode/skills && cp -r skills-src/deer-cli/internal/skill/defaults/kafka .opencode/skills/kafka && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.config/opencode/skills/ instead of .opencode/skills for a personal install.

OpenCode skills documentation · loads skills from .opencode/skills/, .claude/skills/, .agents/skills/

Paste into OpenCode

Install the "kafka" agent skill from https://github.com/aspectrr/deer/tree/main/deer-cli/internal/skill/defaults/kafka into .opencode/skills/kafka/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "kafka", then confirm the skill loads.

OpenCode copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

Facts

Skill name: kafka
GitHub stars: 405
Token cost: ~946 tokens
SKILL.md length: 229 words
Files: 1
Skills in repo: 14
Repo updated: Apr 21, 2026
First seen: Oct 7, 2026
Licence: MIT

At a glance

Kafka topic management, consumer group monitoring, message production/consumption, and cluster health diagnostics.

Works in 4 steps: Check lag: kafka-consumer-groups… → Check consumer is running: systemctl… → Check topic end offsets: GetOffsetShell… → …
Working with Kafka brokers
SKILL.md covers When to Use, Common Commands, Deer Sandbox Integration and Diagnostic Patterns
Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md

What it does

Kafka is an agent skill from aspectrr/deer. Kafka topic management, consumer group monitoring, message production/consumption, and cluster health diagnostics. Use when working with Kafka brokers, topics, consumer lag, or debugging pipeline issues.

Its SKILL.md is about 950 tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. It is a single SKILL.md file with no bundled scripts.

It sits in Backend & APIs, covering Event-driven systems. It works with Apache Kafka. The repository describes itself as: 🦌 The AI Elasticsearch Engineer. The licence is MIT.

When your agent uses it

Working with Kafka brokers
Debugging pipeline issues

Example prompts

“/kafka”

Workflow steps

4 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.

Check lag: kafka-consumer-groups --describe --group
Check consumer is running: systemctl status
Check topic end offsets: GetOffsetShell --topic
Common causes: slow consumer, network latency, too few partitions, consumer crashes

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit e4f9845. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

Tool permissions
Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.
From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.
Runs code
No scripts in the folder and no shell commands in SKILL.md (its code samples are bash).
From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.
Network
No URLs in SKILL.md.
From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.
Credentials
Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.
From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Kafka loads about 946 tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 52 tokens; SKILL.md has 229 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it: ~52
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches: ~946

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Auto-check passed

The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from aspectrr/deer at commit e4f9845, republished under its MIT licence (© aspectrr). 229 words, ~946 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/kafka/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).

name: kafka
description: Kafka topic management, consumer group monitoring, message production/consumption, and cluster health diagnostics. Use when working with Kafka brokers, topics, consumer lag, or debugging pipeline issues.
version: 1.0.0

Kafka Operations

When to Use

Managing Kafka topics (create, describe, delete, list)
Monitoring consumer group lag
Producing or consuming messages for testing
Diagnosing broker connectivity issues
Checking partition offsets and health
Debugging logstash pipelines that read from or write to Kafka

Common Commands

Cluster Status

bash

# Check broker health
kafka-broker-api-versions --bootstrap-server localhost:9092

# List topics with partition counts
kafka-topics --bootstrap-server localhost:9092 --list

# Describe a topic (partitions, replicas, ISR)
kafka-topics --bootstrap-server localhost:9092 --describe --topic <topic>

Topic Management

bash

# Create topic
kafka-topics --bootstrap-server localhost:9092 --create --topic <name> --partitions 3 --replication-factor 1

# Delete topic
kafka-topics --bootstrap-server localhost:9092 --delete --topic <name>

# Increase partitions
kafka-topics --bootstrap-server localhost:9092 --alter --topic <name> --partitions <count>

Consumer Groups

bash

# List all consumer groups
kafka-consumer-groups --bootstrap-server localhost:9092 --list

# Show consumer group lag (key debugging command)
kafka-consumer-groups --bootstrap-server localhost:9092 --describe --group <group>

# Reset consumer group offsets (use with caution)
kafka-consumer-groups --bootstrap-server localhost:9092 --group <group> --topic <topic> --reset-offsets --to-earliest --execute

Produce and Consume

bash

# Produce a message with key
echo "key:value" | kafka-console-producer --bootstrap-server localhost:9092 --topic <topic> --property "parse.key=true" --property "key.separator=:"

# Consume messages from beginning
kafka-console-consumer --bootstrap-server localhost:9092 --topic <topic> --from-beginning --max-messages 10

# Consume with key and value
kafka-console-consumer --bootstrap-server localhost:9092 --topic <topic> --from-beginning --property print.key=true --property key.separator="|"

Offset Inspection

bash

# Show earliest and latest offsets
kafka-run-class kafka.tools.GetOffsetShell --broker-list localhost:9092 --topic <topic>

Deer Sandbox Integration

When debugging Kafka-dependent services in a deer sandbox with kafka_stub=true:

Redpanda runs at localhost:9092 inside the sandbox
Use rpk topic list --brokers localhost:9092 for topic management
Use rpk topic produce <topic> --brokers localhost:9092 to send test messages
Use rpk topic consume <topic> --brokers localhost:9092 to read messages
Use rpk group list --brokers localhost:9092 for consumer groups

Diagnostic Patterns

High Consumer Lag

Check lag: kafka-consumer-groups --describe --group <group>
Check consumer is running: systemctl status <consumer-service>
Check topic end offsets: GetOffsetShell --topic <topic>
Common causes: slow consumer, network latency, too few partitions, consumer crashes

Broker Connectivity Issues

Verify broker is listening: ss -tlnp | grep 9092
Check advertised.listeners in server.properties
Test connectivity: kafka-broker-api-versions --bootstrap-server <host>:9092
Check logs: journalctl -u kafka --no-pager -n 100

Logstash Kafka Input Issues

Verify topic exists and has data
Check consumer group lag
Verify bootstrap_servers config in logstash pipeline
Check logstash logs for connection errors: journalctl -u logstash --no-pager -n 100
In sandbox: replace bootstrap address with localhost:9092

Files

Just SKILL.md in deer-cli/internal/skill/defaults/kafka of aspectrr/deer.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit e4f9845

Compare with similar skills

Kafka next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.

Kafka compared with similar skills
Skill	Stars	Used in	Tokens	Auto-check	Licence	Repo updated
Kafka this skillaspectrr/deer	405	—	~946	Automated safety check: Pass	MIT	5 mo ago
Windmill Trigger Type Checklistwindmill-labs/windmill	18k	—	~4.7k	Automated safety check: Pass	Custom licence	today
FoundatioFoundatioFx/Foundatio	2.1k	—	~3.9k	Automated safety check: Pass	Apache-2.0	today
Opensource Guide Coachcalf-ai/calfkit-sdk	149	1 repos	~2.1k	Automated safety check: Pass	Apache-2.0	1 mo ago
Create Environmentgodatadriven/whirl	205	—	~1.9k	Automated safety check: Pass	Apache-2.0	7 days ago
Monstermq Graphql Configvogler75/monster-mq	143	—	~2.3k	Automated safety check: Pass	GPL-3.0	2 days ago

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Questions about Kafka

What does Kafka do?

Kafka topic management, consumer group monitoring, message production/consumption, and cluster health diagnostics. Kafka is an agent skill from aspectrr/deer. Kafka topic management, consumer group monitoring, message production/consumption, and cluster health diagnostics.

When should I use Kafka?

Kafka fits situations like: working with Kafka brokers; debugging pipeline issues.

How do I install Kafka in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add aspectrr/deer --skill kafka -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (deer-cli/internal/skill/defaults/kafka in aspectrr/deer) into .claude/skills/kafka in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Kafka in Codex?

Run `npx skills add aspectrr/deer --skill kafka -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (deer-cli/internal/skill/defaults/kafka in aspectrr/deer) into .agents/skills/kafka in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Kafka in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?

Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add aspectrr/deer --skill kafka -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/kafka, .gemini/skills/kafka, .github/skills/kafka and .opencode/skills/kafka in your project.

What does Kafka need to run?

SKILL.md names no scripts, command-line tools or credentials: Kafka is instructions for the agent only.

Does Kafka access the network?

SKILL.md contains no URLs. Any network use would come from the scripts or tools the agent runs. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Kafka safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.

What licence does Kafka use?

Kafka is published under the MIT licence (the repository's licence). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Kafka use?

About 946 tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 3.8k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full.

What are the alternatives to Kafka?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Kafka: Windmill Trigger Type Checklist (windmill-labs/windmill, 18k stars), Foundatio (FoundatioFx/Foundatio, 2.1k stars), Opensource Guide Coach (calf-ai/calfkit-sdk, 149 stars) and Create Environment (godatadriven/whirl, 205 stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Kafka?

aspectrr (a GitHub user) maintains it in aspectrr/deer, which has 405 GitHub stars. The repository holds 14 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on April 21, 2026.

Source: aspectrr/deer on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.

Install Kafka

Facts

At a glance

What it does

When your agent uses it

Example prompts

Workflow steps

What it can do on your machine

Tool permissions

Runs code

Network

Credentials

Context cost

Safety

SKILL.md

Kafka Operations

When to Use

Common Commands

Cluster Status

Topic Management

Consumer Groups

Produce and Consume

Offset Inspection

Deer Sandbox Integration

Diagnostic Patterns

High Consumer Lag

Broker Connectivity Issues

Logstash Kafka Input Issues

Files

Compare with similar skills

Similar skills

More from aspectrr/deer

Related

Questions about Kafka