# rpk group describe

> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.redpanda.com/llms.txt). Component-specific: [cloud-data-platform-full.txt](https://docs.redpanda.com/cloud-data-platform-full.txt)

---
title: rpk group describe
latest-operator-version: v26.2.1
latest-console-tag: v3.9.0
latest-connect-version: 4.104.0
latest-redpanda-tag: v26.2.1
docname: rpk/rpk-group/rpk-group-describe
page-component-name: cloud-data-platform
page-version: master
page-component-version: master
page-component-title: Cloud
page-relative-src-path: rpk/rpk-group/rpk-group-describe.adoc
page-edit-url: https://github.com/redpanda-data/cloud-docs/edit/main/modules/reference/pages/rpk/rpk-group/rpk-group-describe.adoc
page-git-created-date: "2024-07-25"
page-git-modified-date: "2026-05-26"
---

<!-- Source: https://docs.redpanda.com/cloud-data-platform/reference/rpk/rpk-group/rpk-group-describe.md -->

Describe group offset status & lag.

This command describes group members, calculates their lag, and prints detailed information about the members. COORDINATOR-PARTITION indicates the partition in the \_\_consumer\_offsets topic responsible for the group, if topic details are available; run with –verbose for more info if it is missing.

The `--regex` flag (`-r`) parses arguments as regular expressions and describes groups that match any of the expressions.

## [](#usage)Usage

```bash
rpk group describe <groups...> [flags]
```

## [](#examples)Examples

This section provides examples of how to use `rpk group describe`.

Describe groups `<foo>` and `<bar>`.

```bash
rpk group describe <foo> <bar>
```

Describe any group starting with f and ending in r.

```bash
rpk group describe -r '^f.*' '.*r$'
```

Describe all groups.

```bash
rpk group describe -r '*'
```

Describe any one-character group.

```bash
rpk group describe -r .
```

## [](#flags)Flags

| Value | Type | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| --format | string | Output format (json,yaml,text,wide,help). |
| -i, --instance-ID | bool | Include each group member’s instance ID. |
| -c, --print-commits | bool | Print only the group commits section. |
| -t, --print-lag-per-topic | bool | Print the aggregated lag per topic. |
| -s, --print-summary | bool | Print only the group summary section. |
| -r, --regex | bool | Parse arguments as regex; describe any group that matches any input group expression. |

## [](#global-flags)Global flags

| Value | Type | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| --config | string | Redpanda or rpk config file; default search paths are ~/.config/rpk/rpk.yaml, $PWD/redpanda.yaml, and /etc/redpanda/redpanda.yaml. |
| -X, --config-opt | stringArray | Override rpk configuration settings; -X help for detail or -X list for terser detail. |
| --ignore-profile | bool | Ignore rpk.yaml and redpanda.yaml; use default settings. |
| --profile | string | rpk profile to use. |
| -v, --verbose | bool | Enable verbose logging. |