Implementation:Apache Kafka TopicCommand Execute

Knowledge Sources	Apache Kafka
Domains	Administration, CLI_Tools
Last Updated	2026-02-09 12:00 GMT

Overview

Concrete tool for bootstrapping topic management operations via CLI provided by TopicCommand.

Description

The TopicCommand class is the entry point for kafka-topics.sh. The execute method parses arguments into TopicCommandOptions, creates a TopicService backed by Admin.create(), routes to the appropriate operation, and ensures the Admin client is closed in a finally block.

Usage

Invoked via kafka-topics.sh which delegates to TopicCommand.main(). Not typically imported directly by user code.

Code Reference

Source Location

• Repository: Apache Kafka
• File: tools/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/tools/TopicCommand.java
• Lines: L83-130

Signature

public class TopicCommand {
    public static void main(String... args) {
        Exit.exit(mainNoExit(args));
    }

    static void execute(String... args) throws Exception {
        TopicCommandOptions opts = new TopicCommandOptions(args);
        // Creates Admin client and routes to sub-command
        // Handles: --create, --alter, --list, --describe, --delete
    }
}

Import

bin/kafka-topics.sh --bootstrap-server localhost:9092 --list

I/O Contract

Inputs

Name	Type	Required	Description
--bootstrap-server	String	Yes	Kafka broker connection string
--command-config	String	No	Client configuration properties file
Sub-command flag	flag	Yes	One of: --create, --list, --describe, --alter, --delete

Outputs

Name	Type	Description
Admin client	Admin	Connected AdminClient for executing operations
Exit code	int	0 on success, 1 on failure

Usage Examples

List All Topics

bin/kafka-topics.sh --bootstrap-server localhost:9092 --list

With Authentication

bin/kafka-topics.sh --bootstrap-server broker:9093 \
  --command-config client.properties --list

Related Pages

Implements Principle

• Principle:Apache_Kafka_Topic_CLI_Bootstrap
• Environment:Apache_Kafka_JVM_Runtime_Environment