Install or Upgrade with rpk

The Redpanda CLI (rpk) is the recommended way to install, upgrade, and manage Redpanda Connect on bare metal. It provides a simple, automated workflow for most users.

Install

To install Redpanda Connect using the Redpanda CLI, choose your platform:

Linux

To install, or update to, the latest version of rpk for Linux, run:

  • amd64

  • arm64

curl -LO https://github.com/redpanda-data/redpanda/releases/latest/download/rpk-linux-amd64.zip &&
  mkdir -p ~/.local/bin &&
  export PATH="~/.local/bin:$PATH" &&
  unzip rpk-linux-amd64.zip -d ~/.local/bin/
curl -LO https://github.com/redpanda-data/redpanda/releases/latest/download/rpk-linux-arm64.zip &&
  mkdir -p ~/.local/bin &&
  export PATH="~/.local/bin:$PATH" &&
  unzip rpk-linux-arm64.zip -d ~/.local/bin/
You can use rpk on Windows only with WSL. However, commands that require Redpanda to be installed on your machine are not supported, such as rpk container commands, rpk iotune, and rpk redpanda commands.

To install, or update to, a version other than the latest, run:

  • amd64

  • arm64

curl -LO https://github.com/redpanda-data/redpanda/releases/download/v<version>/rpk-linux-amd64.zip &&
  mkdir -p ~/.local/bin &&
  export PATH="~/.local/bin:$PATH" &&
  unzip rpk-linux-amd64.zip -d ~/.local/bin/
curl -LO https://github.com/redpanda-data/redpanda/releases/download/v<version>/rpk-linux-arm64.zip &&
  mkdir -p ~/.local/bin &&
  export PATH="~/.local/bin:$PATH" &&
  unzip rpk-linux-arm64.zip -d ~/.local/bin/

FIPS compliance

This feature requires an enterprise license. You can either upgrade to an Enterprise Edition license, or generate a trial license key that’s valid for 30 days.

To install rpk to run the latest version of Redpanda Connect in FIPS-compliant mode, you must install the redpanda-rpk-fips and redpanda-connect-fips packages. Both packages are built using the Microsoft GoLang compiler and the Microsoft’s Go Crypto OpenSSL package, which uses the FIPS-approved version of OpenSSL.

The packages for FIPS-compliant rpk (redpanda-rpk-fips) and Redpanda rpk (redpanda-rpk) are mutually exclusive, and so cannot be installed in the same environment.

  • RHEL

  • Debian/Ubuntu

  1. To make sure your distribution is up to date, run:

    sudo dnf upgrade

  2. Add redpanda to your dnf list of repositories.

    curl -1sLf 'https://dl.redpanda.com/nzc4ZYQK3WRGd9sy/redpanda/cfg/setup/bash.rpm.sh' | \
sudo -E bash

  3. Install Redpanda packages for FIPS compliance.

    sudo dnf install -y redpanda-rpk-fips redpanda-connect-fips

  4. Verify your installation.

    rpk connect --version

    To keep up-to-date with Redpanda Connect releases, run the following command:

sudo dnf update

  1. To make sure your distribution is up to date, run:

    sudo apt upgrade

  2. Add redpanda to your apt list of repositories.

    curl -1sLf 'https://dl.redpanda.com/nzc4ZYQK3WRGd9sy/redpanda/cfg/setup/bash.deb.sh' | sudo -E bash

  3. Install Redpanda packages for FIPS compliance.

    sudo apt install -y redpanda-rpk-fips redpanda-connect-fips

  4. Verify your installation.

    rpk connect --version

    To keep up-to-date with the Redpanda Connect releases, run the following command:

sudo apt update

MacOS

  • Homebrew

  • Manual Download

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

  2. To install or update rpk, run:

    brew install redpanda-data/tap/redpanda

To install or update rpk through a manual download, choose the option for your system architecture. For example, if you have an M1 or newer chip, select Apple Silicon.

  • Intel macOS

  • Apple Silicon

To install, or update to, the latest version of rpk for Intel macOS, run:

curl -LO https://github.com/redpanda-data/redpanda/releases/latest/download/rpk-darwin-amd64.zip &&
  mkdir -p ~/.local/bin &&
  export PATH="~/.local/bin:$PATH" &&
  unzip rpk-darwin-amd64.zip -d ~/.local/bin/

To install, or update to, a version other than the latest, run:

curl -LO https://github.com/redpanda-data/redpanda/releases/download/v<version>/rpk-darwin-amd64.zip &&
  mkdir -p ~/.local/bin &&
  export PATH="~/.local/bin:$PATH" &&
  unzip rpk-darwin-amd64.zip -d ~/.local/bin/

To install, or update to, the latest version of rpk for Apple Silicon, run:

curl -LO https://github.com/redpanda-data/redpanda/releases/latest/download/rpk-darwin-arm64.zip &&
  mkdir -p ~/.local/bin &&
  export PATH="~/.local/bin:$PATH" &&
  unzip rpk-darwin-arm64.zip -d ~/.local/bin/

To install, or update to, a version other than the latest, run:

curl -LO https://github.com/redpanda-data/redpanda/releases/download/v<version>/rpk-darwin-arm64.zip &&
  mkdir -p ~/.local/bin &&
  export PATH="~/.local/bin:$PATH" &&
  unzip rpk-darwin-arm64.zip -d ~/.local/bin/

Docker

To use rpk in Docker, you can use the Redpanda Docker image, which includes both Redpanda and rpk as part of the installation.

docker pull docker.redpanda.com/redpandadata/connect

Upgrade

Redpanda Connect uses the rpk connect plugin to manage upgrades, which is automatically installed when you start to run rpk connect commands from the rpk CLI. You do not need to upgrade the entire Redpanda CLI.

Check the version of Redpanda Connect already installed:

rpk connect --version

Upgrade to the latest version

The simplest way to upgrade is to use the rpk connect upgrade command:

rpk connect upgrade

Example output:

Redpanda Connect successfully upgraded from 4.38.0 to the latest version (4.65.0).

For a full list of rpk connect upgrade options, run:

rpk connect upgrade --help

Upgrade to a specific version

Force an upgrade (or downgrade) to a specific version of Redpanda Connect using the following command:

rpk connect install --connect-version <version> --force

Replace the <version> placeholder with the full version number, for example: 4.38.0. You may need to wait a few seconds before the installation completes.

Example output:

Redpanda Connect 4.38.0 successfully installed.

Uninstall

If you no longer want to use Redpanda Connect, you can uninstall the rpk connect plugin from the CLI:

rpk connect uninstall

Example output:

PATH                                                MESSAGE
/Users/username/.local/bin/.rpk.managed-connect     OK
After upgrading (or downgrading), you must restart a pipeline to use features in the Redpanda Connect version you have deployed.

Next steps

Explore the available connectors in the catalog.