Docs Self-Managed Get Started Redpanda CLI Introduction to rpk This is documentation for Self-Managed v23.3. To view the latest available version of the docs, see v24.2. Introduction to rpk The rpk command line interface tool is designed to manage your entire Redpanda cluster, without the need to run a separate script for each function, as with Apache Kafka. The rpk commands handle everything from configuring brokers and low-level tuning, to high-level general Redpanda tasks. For example, you can use rpk to perform rolling upgrades and tuning, monitor your cluster’s health, and implement access control lists (ACLs) and other security features. You can also use rpk to perform basic streaming tasks, such as creating topics, producing to topics, and consuming from topics. In general, rpk commands can be divided into these categories: Managing Redpanda Managing topics, producing to topics, and consuming from topics Debugging and tuning the host Interacting with Redpanda Cloud Installation methods The rpk binary is bundled with Redpanda, so it is automatically installed on each Redpanda broker. In addition, you can install rpk on your local machine as a standalone binary. This method can be used for self-hosted and cloud deployments, as well as Kubernetes deployments. After you install rpk, you can use it to interact with a Redpanda cluster. The cluster can run on your local machine, or it can run externally on a remote server or on Redpanda Cloud, for example. The following diagram shows how rpk communicates with a Redpanda broker installed on your local machine. The rpk binary is installed as part of the Redpanda bundle. The next diagram shows how rpk communicates with a remote cluster when you install rpk as a standalone binary on your local machine. Specifying command properties You can specify rpk command properties in the following ways: By specifying the appropriate flag on the command line. By defining the corresponding environment variables. Environment variable settings only last for the duration of a shell session. By editing the configuration file settings in the rpk section of the redpanda.yaml file. Configuration file property settings stay the same for each shell session. By editing the configuration file settings in the rpk.yaml file. Configuration file property settings stay the same for each shell session. Command line flag settings take precedence over the corresponding environment variables, and environment variables take precedence over configuration file settings. If a required flag is not specified on the command line, Redpanda searches the environment variable. If the environment variable is not set, the value in the rpk.yaml configuration file is used, if that file is available, otherwise the value in the redpanda.yaml configuration file is used. If you specify rpk command properties in the configuration files or as environment variables, you don’t need to specify them again on the command line. Common configuration properties Every rpk command supports a set of common configuration properties. You can set one or more options in an rpk command by using the -X flag: rpk -X <config-option-1> -X <config-option-2> Get a list of available options with -X list: rpk -X list Or, get a detailed description about each option with -X help: rpk -X help Some of the common configuration properties apply across all rpk commands as defaults. These default properties have keys with names starting with defaults, and they’re viewable in rpk -X list and rpk -X help. For more details, see rpk -X options. Configuration flags deprecated by -X options Prior to rpk supporting the -X flag, each common configuration option was itself a configurable flag. Those flags are deprecated in this version of rpk. The following table lists the deprecated flags and their corresponding properties, environment variables, and configuration file settings. Property Deprecated Flag Deprecated Configuration File Field Supported -X Flag Redpanda Brokers --brokers rpk.kafka_api.brokers brokers Admin API --api-urls rpk.admin_api.addresses admin.hosts Redpanda TLS Key --tls-key rpk.kafka_api.tls.key_file tls.key Redpanda TLS Cert --tls-cert rpk.kafka_api.tls.cert_file tls.cert Redpanda TLS Truststore --tls-truststore rpk.kafka_api.tls.truststore_file tls.ca Redpanda SASL Mechanism --sasl-mechanism rpk.kafka_api.sasl.type sasl.mechanism Redpanda SASL Username --user rpk.kafka_api.sasl.user user Redpanda SASL Password --password rpk.kafka_api.sasl.password pass Redpanda Admin API TLS Key --admin-api-tls-key rpk.admin_api.tls.key_file admin.tls.key Redpanda Admin API TLS Cert --admin-api-tls-cert rpk.admin_api.tls.cert_file admin.tls.cert Redpanda Admin API TLS Truststore --admin-api-tls-truststore rpk.admin_api.tls.truststore_file admin.tls.ca Next steps Learn how to configure rpk profiles. Learn more about setting broker and admin API addresses. Use rpk generate app to generate a sample application to connect with Redpanda. See the rpk documentation for a list of all rpk commands and their syntax. Back to top × Simple online edits For simple changes, such as fixing a typo, you can edit the content directly on GitHub. Edit on GitHub Or, open an issue to let us know about something that you want us to change. Open an issue Contribution guide For extensive content updates, or if you prefer to work locally, read our contribution guide . Was this helpful? thumb_up thumb_down group Ask in the community mail Share your feedback group_add Make a contribution Redpanda CLI Broker and Admin API Addresses