Get started with the Apache Kafka integrations

Apache Kafka is a distributed streaming platform for building real-time data pipelines and streaming applications. The Aspire Apache Kafka integration lets you model a Kafka server as a first-class resource in your AppHost, then hand the connection information to any consuming app — regardless of language.

Why use Apache Kafka with Aspire

Adding Apache Kafka through Aspire — rather than wiring up containers and connection strings by hand — gives you:

• Zero-config local development. Aspire runs Kafka from the confluentinc/confluent-local container image, automatically configured for local development.
• Consistent connection info across languages. Once you reference the Kafka resource from a consuming app, Aspire injects connection properties as environment variables in a predictable format that works from C#, TypeScript, Python, Go, or any other language.
• Built-in health checks. The hosting integration automatically registers a health check so the dashboard and your orchestrator can tell when Kafka is ready.
• Dashboard observability. The Kafka resource shows up in the Aspire dashboard with logs, status, and telemetry alongside your other services.
• A first-class C# client integration. C# apps can use the Aspire.Confluent.Kafka package to register producers and consumers through dependency injection, with health checks and OpenTelemetry wired up from the same resource name.
• Optional Kafka UI. Add the Kafka UI sub-resource to your AppHost to get a web interface for monitoring and managing your Kafka cluster during development.

How the pieces fit together

The Apache Kafka integration has two sides: a hosting integration that you use in your AppHost to model the Kafka resource, and a connection story for consuming apps that reference it.

architecture-beta

  group apphost(server)[AppHost]
  group consumer(server)[Consuming app]

  service hosting(server)[Hosting integration] in apphost
  service kafka(server)[Kafka server] in apphost

  service client(iconoir:server-connection)[Client integration] in consumer
  service app(server)[App] in consumer

  hosting:R --> L:kafka
  kafka:R --> L:client
  client:R --> L:app

The hosting integration lives in your AppHost project and models the Kafka server as a resource. The client integration lives in each consuming app and uses the connection information Aspire injects to talk to Kafka.

Getting there is a two-step process: model the Kafka resource in your AppHost, then connect to it from each app that needs it.

1. Model Apache Kafka in your AppHost

   Add the Apache Kafka hosting integration to your AppHost, then declare a Kafka server resource and reference it from the apps that need to produce or consume messages. The Apache Kafka Hosting integration article walks through every capability — Kafka UI, data volumes, data bind mounts, custom parameters, and more — with side-by-side C# and TypeScript examples.

   Set up Apache Kafka in the AppHost

2. Connect from your consuming app

   When you reference a Kafka resource from a consuming app, Aspire injects its connection information as environment variables. See Connect to Apache Kafka for the connection properties reference and per-language examples for C#, Go, Python, and TypeScript — including the full C# client integration with producers and consumers.

   Connect to Apache Kafka