0016. Use Kafbat UI for Kafka inspection¶
- Status: Accepted
- Date: 2026-09-26
Context¶
Operators need to browse topics, consumer groups, lag, schemas and ACLs without shell access to brokers.
Options¶
| Option | License | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kafbat UI | Apache-2.0 | Community continuation of provectus/kafka-ui, schema registry support, RBAC | Community-maintained |
| AKHQ | Apache-2.0 | Mature | Less active UI development |
| Redpanda Console | BUSL-1.1 (parts) | Polished | Not fully open source |
Decision¶
Use Kafbat UI, exposed through the Gateway with authentication and read-only defaults.
Consequences¶
- UI access is itself an access-control concern (who can read order flow) and is covered by the control matrix.