Install rpk

Redpanda Keeper (rpk) is a single binary application that provides a way to interact with your Redpanda clusters from the command line. You can install the rpk binary as a standalone tool for self-hosted and cloud deployments, as well as Kubernetes deployments.

Redpanda includes rpk as part of the installation. Follow this guide only if you want to install rpk as a standalone tool.

After you install rpk, you can use it to:

  • Monitor your cluster’s health.

  • Set up access control lists (ACLs) and other security features.

  • Create topics, produce to topics, and consume from topics.

  • Run the autotuner tool to optimize the Linux kernel to give you the best performance.

To install the rpk binary as a standalone application, follow the instructions for your operating system.

Install rpk on Linux

  1. Download the rpk archive for Linux, and make sure the version matches your Redpanda version.

    • To download the latest version of rpk:

      curl -LO https://github.com/redpanda-data/redpanda/releases/latest/download/rpk-linux-amd64.zip

    • To download a version other than the latest:

      curl -LO https://github.com/redpanda-data/redpanda/releases/download/v<version>/rpk-linux-amd64.zip

  2. Ensure that you have the folder ~/.local/bin:

    mkdir -p ~/.local/bin

  3. Add it to your $PATH:

    export PATH="~/.local/bin:$PATH"

  4. Unzip the rpk files to your ~/.local/bin/ directory:

    unzip rpk-linux-amd64.zip -d ~/.local/bin/

  5. Run rpk version to display the version of the rpk binary:

    rpk version
    23.2.21 (rev fd1019b)

Install rpk on macOS

  • Homebrew

  • Manual Download

  1. If you don’t have Homebrew installed, install it.

  2. Install rpk:

    brew install redpanda-data/tap/redpanda

  3. Run rpk version to display the version of the rpk binary:

    rpk version
    23.2.21 (rev fd1019b)
    This method installs the latest version of rpk, which is supported only with the latest version of Redpanda.

To install rpk through a manual download, choose an option that corresponds to your system architecture. For example, if you have an M1 or M2 chip, use the Apple Silicon instructions.

  • Intel macOS

  • Apple Silicon

  1. Download the rpk archive for macOS, and make sure the version matches your Redpanda version.

    • To download the latest version of rpk:

      curl -LO https://github.com/redpanda-data/redpanda/releases/latest/download/rpk-darwin-amd64.zip

    • To download a version other than the latest:

      curl -LO https://github.com/redpanda-data/redpanda/releases/download/v<version>/rpk-darwin-amd64.zip

  2. Ensure that you have the folder ~/.local/bin:

    mkdir -p ~/.local/bin

  3. Add it to your $PATH:

    export PATH=$PATH:~/.local/bin

  4. Unzip the rpk files to your ~/.local/bin/ directory:

    unzip rpk-darwin-amd64.zip -d ~/.local/bin/

  5. Run rpk version to display the version of the rpk binary:

    rpk version
    23.2.21 (rev fd1019b)

  1. Download the rpk archive for macOS, and make sure the version matches your Redpanda version.

    • To download the latest version of rpk:

      curl -LO https://github.com/redpanda-data/redpanda/releases/latest/download/rpk-darwin-arm64.zip

    • To download a version other than the latest:

      curl -LO https://github.com/redpanda-data/redpanda/releases/download/v<version>/rpk-darwin-arm64.zip

  2. Ensure that you have the folder ~/.local/bin:

    mkdir -p ~/.local/bin

  3. Add it to your $PATH:

    export PATH=$PATH:~/.local/bin

  4. Unzip the rpk files to your ~/.local/bin/ directory:

    unzip rpk-darwin-arm64.zip -d ~/.local/bin/

  5. Run rpk version to display the version of the rpk binary:

    rpk version
    23.2.21 (rev fd1019b)

Next steps

For a list of all rpk commands and their syntax, see the rpk documentation.