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Apache Kafka

Apache Kafka is an open-source distributed event streaming platform used by thousands of companies for high-performance data pipelines, streaming analytics, data integration, and mission-critical applications. It provides a REST Proxy API, Kafka Connect REST API, and AsyncAPI for event streaming.

agent native

Real signal across most facets with visible, nameable gaps — the contract exists but is thin, or the portal is good while governance and commercial terms are absent.

Kin Score

API Evangelist profiles Apache Kafka the way a machine reads it — 113 machine-readable artifacts across 12 APIs, pulled from the provider's own public surface and indexed so a developer, an analyst, or an AI agent can evaluate it against every other provider on the network.

Every provider in the network is reduced to the same set of machine-readable artifacts — OpenAPI contracts, event specifications, GraphQL schemas, runnable collections, pricing and rate-limit signals, security posture, OAuth scopes, and the agent surfaces (MCP servers and skills) that let software drive the API on its own. We profile them because the interface is the part of a company you can actually inspect: it is a truer signal of what a provider does than any marketing page. From those artifacts we compute the Kin Score — Apache Kafka scores 59.3/100 (developing), with a separate agent-readiness read of 70/100 (agent native). The full breakdown is below, followed by every artifact we hold — each card links through to its machine-readable definition on apis.io.

Kin Score

This is the API Evangelist rating — a single, repeatable read computed from the artifacts on this page. Green fill is points earned; the red track is points possible, so every bar shows earned-versus-possible at a glance.

Kin Score Kin Score How this is scored →
scored 2026-07-27 · rubric v0.5
Composite quality — 59.3/100 · developing
Contract Quality 15.9 / 25
Developer Ergonomics 7.4 / 20
Commercial Clarity 10.0 / 20
Operational Transparency 6.8 / 13
Governance 10.4 / 12
Discoverability 8.8 / 10
Agent readiness — 70/100 · agent native
Machine-Readable Contract 18 / 18
Agentic Access Contract 15 / 15
MCP Server 12 / 12
Machine-Readable Auth 0 / 10
Idempotency 0 / 9
Stable Error Semantics 8 / 8
Request/Response Examples 0 / 7
Rate-Limit Signaling 7 / 7
Typed Event Surface 6 / 6
Agent Skills 0 / 5
Well-Known Catalog 4 / 4
Consent & Bot Identity 3 / 3

How we profile Apache Kafka

Each block below is one kind of artifact we hold for Apache Kafka. For each we say what it is and why it earns a place in the profile, then list every one we've indexed — capped at two rows, scroll within the panel for the rest.

APIs 12

Each API is captured as its own OpenAPI definition — every operation, parameter, and response. This is the single most useful machine-readable description of what an API does, and it's what lets us score, lint, mock, and generate against it without asking the provider for anything.

Individual APIs this provider publishes, each with its own machine-readable definition.

Apache Kafka Messaging API

The core Kafka messaging protocol for producing and consuming records to/from topics using the native Kafka binary protocol, supporting exactly-once semantics, compaction, and p...

Apache Kafka ACL API

The ACL API from Apache Kafka — 1 operation(s) for acl.

Apache Kafka Broker API

The Broker API from Apache Kafka — 1 operation(s) for broker.

Apache Kafka Cluster API

The Cluster API from Apache Kafka — 3 operation(s) for cluster.

Apache Kafka Connectors API

The Connectors API from Apache Kafka — 8 operation(s) for connectors.

Apache Kafka Consumer Group API

The Consumer Group API from Apache Kafka — 2 operation(s) for consumer group.

Apache Kafka Offsets API

The Offsets API from Apache Kafka — 1 operation(s) for offsets.

Apache Kafka Partition API

The Partition API from Apache Kafka — 1 operation(s) for partition.

Apache Kafka Plugins API

The Plugins API from Apache Kafka — 2 operation(s) for plugins.

Apache Kafka Records API

The Records API from Apache Kafka — 1 operation(s) for records.

Apache Kafka Tasks API

The Tasks API from Apache Kafka — 3 operation(s) for tasks.

Apache Kafka Topic API

The Topic API from Apache Kafka — 2 operation(s) for topic.

Scroll within the panel for all 12 ·

Open Collections 2

Open, tool-agnostic collections carry the same runnable value as Postman without locking you to one client — the portable, forkable form of the same exercise.

Open, tool-agnostic API collections (OpenAPI-derived and Bruno).

Arazzo Workflows 12

Real integrations are rarely a single call. Arazzo describes the multi-step sequences — auth, then create, then confirm — so both a human and an agent can follow the choreography, not just the endpoints.

Multi-step API workflows described with the Arazzo specification.

Apache Kafka Update a Connector Configuration

Read the current config, validate the replacement, apply it, restart, and confirm.

ARAZZO

Apache Kafka Decommission a Connector

Capture a connector's config and offsets, stop it cleanly, delete it, and verify it is gone.

ARAZZO

Apache Kafka Triage a Failed Connector

Find the connector, read its status, drill into the failing task, and restart what is broken.

ARAZZO

Apache Kafka Pause and Resume a Connector for Maintenance

Pause a connector for a maintenance window, confirm it stopped, then resume it and confirm recovery.

ARAZZO

Apache Kafka Reset Connector Offsets

Stop a connector, snapshot its offsets, wipe them entirely, and resume from a clean slate.

ARAZZO

Apache Kafka Rewind Connector Offsets

Stop a connector, capture its offsets, rewind them to a chosen position, and resume.

ARAZZO

Apache Kafka Validate and Deploy a Connector

Check the worker, confirm the plugin is installed, validate the config, then create the connector.

ARAZZO

Apache Kafka Review Consumer Group Lag

Resolve the cluster, list the consumer groups, and pull the lag summary and assignment for one group.

ARAZZO

Apache Kafka Grant a Principal Access to a Topic

Resolve the cluster, confirm the topic, audit existing ACLs, grant read access, and verify the grant.

ARAZZO

Apache Kafka Review Cluster and Topic Capacity

Walk a cluster from brokers to topics to the partition and replica layout of one topic.

ARAZZO

Apache Kafka Decommission a Topic

Confirm the topic, check for active consumer groups and bound ACLs, then delete it.

ARAZZO

Apache Kafka Provision a Topic and Produce a Record

Resolve the cluster, create a topic with explicit partitioning, read it back, and produce a first record.

ARAZZO

Scroll within the panel for all 12 ·

MCP Servers 1

Model Context Protocol servers expose these APIs directly to AI agents. We profile them because agent-native access is the fastest-growing way this provider's capabilities actually get used.

Model Context Protocol servers that expose these APIs to AI agents.

Pricing Plans 1

Pricing is part of the interface. Machine-readable plans tell you what a tier costs and includes before you commit — one of the six things the Kin Score reads for commercial clarity.

Published pricing tiers and plan structures.

Rate Limits 1

Rate limits are the difference between a demo that works and a production integration that doesn't fall over. Publishing them is an operational-transparency signal — and a hard requirement for any agent that plans its own throughput.

Documented rate limits and quota policies.

Apache Kafka Rate Limits

5 limits

RATE LIMITS

FinOps 1

Cost, billing, and metering signals let a buyer model the financial operations of an API before it's live. We profile them for the same reason we profile pricing: the money is part of the contract.

Cost, billing, and metering signals for API financial operations.

Features 7

The notable capabilities this provider advertises, captured as structured features so they can be searched and compared instead of read one landing page at a time.

Notable capabilities this provider offers.

High Throughput

Handle millions of messages per second with low latency at massive scale.

Exactly-Once Semantics

Guarantee exactly-once message delivery with idempotent producers and transactional APIs.

Distributed Replication

Automatic replication across brokers for fault tolerance and high availability.

Stream Processing

Real-time stream processing via Kafka Streams library and KSQL.

Connector Ecosystem

200+ pre-built Kafka Connect connectors for databases, clouds, and SaaS.

Log Compaction

Retain the latest value for each key with topic log compaction.

Consumer Groups

Horizontally scalable consumers with automatic partition rebalancing.

Scroll within the panel for all 7 ·

Event Specifications 1

Not every API is request/response. AsyncAPI describes the event-driven and streaming side — the webhooks and channels — so the asynchronous half of the interface is documented the same way the synchronous half is.

AsyncAPI definitions for this provider's event-driven and streaming APIs.

Apache Kafka Messaging API

Apache Kafka is a distributed event streaming platform capable of handling trillions of events a day. This spec describes the core messaging protocol for producing and consuming...

ASYNCAPI

Semantic Vocabularies 5

JSON-LD contexts give the data shared meaning across APIs. We profile them because semantics are what let a machine reconcile 'customer' here with 'customer' somewhere else.

JSON-LD contexts and semantic vocabularies used across these APIs.

Apache Kafka Kafka Connect Config Context

2 classes · 3 properties

JSON-LD

Apache Kafka Kafka Connect Connector Context

5 classes · 7 properties

JSON-LD

Apache Kafka Kafka Connect Create Context

2 classes · 1 properties

JSON-LD

Apache Kafka Kafka Connect Task Context

2 classes · 7 properties

JSON-LD

Apache Kafka Kafka Rest Proxy Context

10 classes · 41 properties

JSON-LD

Spectral Rules 3

Governance rulesets we run against this provider's specs — the automated checks behind parts of the score. Profiling them makes the quality bar explicit and re-runnable, not a matter of opinion.

Apache Kafka API Rules

2 rules · 1 warnings

SPECTRAL

Apache Kafka API Rules

5 rules · 4 warnings

SPECTRAL

Apache Kafka API Rules

20 rules · 9 errors · 6 warnings

SPECTRAL

JSON Schema 19

Standalone JSON Schema definitions describe the data models behind the API. We profile them so the shapes are validatable on their own — useful long after a single request is forgotten.

Standalone JSON Schema definitions for this provider's data models.

ConfigValidationResult

4 properties

JSON SCHEMA

ConnectorInfo

4 properties

JSON SCHEMA

ConnectorPlugin

3 properties

JSON SCHEMA

ConnectorStatus

4 properties

JSON SCHEMA

CreateConnectorRequest

2 properties

JSON SCHEMA

TaskInfo

2 properties

JSON SCHEMA

TaskStatus

4 properties

JSON SCHEMA

Kafka Record

8 properties

JSON SCHEMA

Acl

10 properties

JSON SCHEMA

Broker

6 properties

JSON SCHEMA

Cluster

6 properties

JSON SCHEMA

ConsumerGroup

10 properties

JSON SCHEMA

CreateAclRequest

7 properties

JSON SCHEMA

CreateTopicRequest

4 properties

JSON SCHEMA

Partition

7 properties

JSON SCHEMA

ProduceRequest

4 properties

JSON SCHEMA

ProduceResponse

6 properties

JSON SCHEMA

Topic

9 properties

JSON SCHEMA

Kafka Topic Configuration

4 properties

JSON SCHEMA

Scroll within the panel for all 19 ·

JSON Structure 17

JSON Structure captures the data shapes in a form built for tooling — a complement to JSON Schema that keeps the model machine-legible.

JSON Structure definitions describing this provider's data shapes.

Kafka Connect Connector Info Structure

4 properties

JSON STRUCTURE

Kafka Connect Connector Plugin Structure

3 properties

JSON STRUCTURE

Kafka Connect Connector Status Structure

4 properties

JSON STRUCTURE

Kafka Connect Task Info Structure

2 properties

JSON STRUCTURE

Kafka Connect Task Status Structure

4 properties

JSON STRUCTURE

Kafka Rest Proxy Acl Structure

10 properties

JSON STRUCTURE

Kafka Rest Proxy Broker Structure

6 properties

JSON STRUCTURE

Kafka Rest Proxy Cluster Structure

6 properties

JSON STRUCTURE

Kafka Rest Proxy Consumer Group Structure

10 properties

JSON STRUCTURE

Kafka Rest Proxy Partition Structure

7 properties

JSON STRUCTURE

Kafka Rest Proxy Produce Request Structure

4 properties

JSON STRUCTURE

Kafka Rest Proxy Topic Structure

9 properties

JSON STRUCTURE

Scroll within the panel for all 17 ·

Examples 17

Real request and response payloads are what turn a spec from abstract into obvious — and they're one of the twelve things an agent needs to call an API correctly on the first try.

Example request and response payloads for these APIs.

Scroll within the panel for all 17 ·

Security Posture 2

Authentication, domain security, vulnerability disclosure, and trust-center signals — the evidence that a provider takes security seriously enough to document it. We profile it because you can't govern what you can't see.

Authentication, domain security, vulnerability disclosure, and trust-center signals.

Apache Kafka Domain Security

TLSv1.3 · HSTS · DMARC

SECURITY

Apache Kafka Vulnerability Disclosure

security.txt · contact published

SECURITY

Agentic Access 1

An x-agentic-access contract marks which operations are safe for an agent to run on its own and which need a human in the loop. It is the difference between an API an agent can use and one it can use safely.

Recommended x-agentic-access execution contracts for AI agents.

Apache Kafka Agentic Access

34 operations · 16 acting · 2 human-in-the-loop

34 operations · 16 acting

AGENTIC

Use Cases 5

What developers actually build with this provider — captured so the catalogue answers 'what is this for', not just 'what does this expose'.

What developers build with this provider.

Event-Driven Architecture

Build event-driven microservices with reliable message delivery.

Data Pipeline

Move data between systems at scale with exactly-once delivery guarantees.

Real-Time Analytics

Process and analyze event streams in real time with Kafka Streams.

Log Aggregation

Centralize application and infrastructure logs for analysis and alerting.

CDC (Change Data Capture)

Capture database changes and stream them to data warehouses and caches.

Integrations 6

Pre-built integrations with other platforms tell you where this provider already fits in a stack.

Pre-built integrations with other platforms and tools.

Apache Spark

Spark Structured Streaming integration for batch and streaming analytics.

Apache Flink

Native Flink Kafka connector for low-latency stream processing.

Debezium

CDC platform using Kafka Connect to capture database change events.

Elasticsearch

Kafka Connect Elasticsearch sink for indexing event data.

Amazon S3

Kafka Connect S3 sink for archiving event streams to object storage.

Apache Hadoop

HDFS sink connector for streaming data into Hadoop data lake.

Resources

Every other property we hold for Apache Kafka — documentation, portals, status pages, policies, and corporate surface — grouped by the job it does, following the integrator's arc from getting started to running in production.

Get Started 1

Portal, sign-up, and the first successful call

Documentation 1

Reference material describing how the API behaves

Agent Surfaces 4

MCP servers, agent skills, and machine-readable catalogs

Access & Security 3

Authentication, authorization, and security posture

Operate 1

Status, limits, changes, and where to get help

Commercial 1

Pricing, plans, and the legal terms of use

Company 2

The organization behind the API

← All providers · Data indexed from github.com/api-evangelist/apache-kafka · machine-readable index on apis.io