# rpk topic

> 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 topic
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-topic/rpk-topic
page-component-name: cloud-data-platform
page-version: master
page-component-version: master
page-component-title: Cloud
page-relative-src-path: rpk/rpk-topic/rpk-topic.adoc
page-edit-url: https://github.com/redpanda-data/cloud-docs/edit/main/modules/reference/pages/rpk/rpk-topic/rpk-topic.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-topic/rpk-topic.md -->

Manage Kafka topics, including creating, deleting, and configuring topics. Also includes commands for producing and consuming messages.

## [](#usage)Usage

```bash
rpk topic [flags]
```

## [](#subcommands)Subcommands

| Command | Description |
| --- | --- |
| rpk topic add-partitions | Add partitions to existing topics. |
| rpk topic alter-config | Set, delete, add, and remove key/value configs for a topic. This command allows you to incrementally alter the configuration for multiple topics at a time. |
| rpk topic consume | Consume records from topics. Consuming records reads from any amount of input topics, formats each record according to --format, and prints them to STDOUT. |
| rpk topic create | Create one or more Kafka topics with configurable partitions, replication factor, and topic-level settings. All topics created with one invocation have the same number of partitions, replication factor, and key/value configs. |
| rpk topic delete | Delete one or more Kafka topics. This command deletes all requested topics, printing the success or fail status per topic. |
| rpk topic describe | Print detailed information about topics. There are three potential views: a summary of the topic, the topic configurations, and a detailed partitions section. |
| rpk topic list | List topics, optionally listing specific topics. This command lists all topics that you have access to by default. |
| rpk topic produce | Produce records to a topic. Producing records reads from STDIN, parses input according to --format, and produces records to Redpanda. |
| rpk topic trim-prefix | Trim records from topics. This command allows you to trim records from topics, to trim the topics Redpanda sets the LogStartOffset for partitions to the requested offset. |

## [](#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. |

## [](#suggested-reading)Suggested reading