# rpk topic

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

---
title: rpk topic
latest-redpanda-tag: v26.2.1
latest-console-tag: v3.10.0
latest-operator-version: v26.2.1
# EOL = End-of-Life (support lifecycle status)
page-is-nearing-eol: "false"
page-is-past-eol: "false"
page-eol-date: July 28, 2027
latest-connect-version: 4.104.0
docname: rpk/rpk-topic/rpk-topic
page-component-name: streaming
page-version: "26.2"
page-component-version: "26.2"
page-component-title: Streaming
page-relative-src-path: rpk/rpk-topic/rpk-topic.adoc
page-edit-url: https://github.com/redpanda-data/docs/edit/main/modules/reference/pages/rpk/rpk-topic/rpk-topic.adoc
description: Manage Kafka topics, including creating, deleting, and configuring topics. Also includes commands for producing and consuming messages.
page-git-created-date: "2023-05-17"
page-git-modified-date: "2026-08-03"
support-status: supported
---

<!-- Source: https://docs.redpanda.com/streaming/current/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 analyze | Analyze topics. This command consumes records from the specified topics to determine topic characteristics such as batch rate and batch size. |
| 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 describe-storage | Describe the topic storage status. This commands prints detailed information about the cloud storage status of a given topic, the information is divided in 4 sections: SUMMARY. |
| 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

-   [Create a topic](https://docs.redpanda.com/streaming/current/reference/rpk/rpk-topic/rpk-topic-create/)

-   [Produce records to a topic](https://docs.redpanda.com/streaming/current/reference/rpk/rpk-topic/rpk-topic-produce/)

-   [List topics](https://docs.redpanda.com/streaming/current/reference/rpk/rpk-topic/rpk-topic-list/)

-   [Consume records from a topic](https://docs.redpanda.com/streaming/current/reference/rpk/rpk-topic/rpk-topic-consume/)

-   [Delete a topic](https://docs.redpanda.com/streaming/current/reference/rpk/rpk-topic/rpk-topic-delete/)

-   [Describe a topic and its configuration](https://docs.redpanda.com/streaming/current/reference/rpk/rpk-topic/rpk-topic-describe/)

-   [Describe the storage status of a topic](https://docs.redpanda.com/streaming/current/reference/rpk/rpk-topic/rpk-topic-describe-storage/)

-   [Modify topic configuration](https://docs.redpanda.com/streaming/current/reference/rpk/rpk-topic/rpk-topic-alter-config/)

-   [Trim existing records in a topic](https://docs.redpanda.com/streaming/current/reference/rpk/rpk-topic/rpk-topic-trim-prefix/)

-   [Add partitions to an existing topic](https://docs.redpanda.com/streaming/current/reference/rpk/rpk-topic/rpk-topic-add-partitions/)