kafka-mcp-channel

Proof of concept — Bridge Kafka topics into Claude Code sessions via MCP channels.

Kafka messages arrive as real-time <channel> notifications in your Claude Code session, letting Claude proactively react to deployments, errors, alerts, and pipeline events.

Documentation

Quick Start

1. Install

From source (recommended during POC):

git clone https://github.com/pipie-io/kafka-mcp-channel.git
cd kafka-mcp-channel
npm install
npm run build

2. Configure Claude Code

Add to your .mcp.json (project-level) or ~/.claude.json (global):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "kafka": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/kafka-mcp-channel/dist/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "KAFKA_BROKERS": "localhost:9092",
        "KAFKA_TOPICS": "deployments,alerts,errors"
      }
    }
  }
}

3. Launch with channels enabled

claude --dangerously-load-development-channels server:kafka

Without this flag, MCP tools work but push notifications won't arrive. See the channels docs for details.

4. Test

docker compose -f docker-compose.test.yml up -d
./test.sh

Development

npm install
npm run build
npm test                 # 60 unit tests
npm run test:integration # integration tests (requires Docker)

Docs site

cd website
npm install
npm start                # dev server at localhost:3000
npm run build            # production build to website/build/

Releasing

This project is a proof of concept. During this phase, install directly from the git repo.

From git (current approach)

Users clone the repo and build from source:

git clone https://github.com/pipie-io/kafka-mcp-channel.git
cd kafka-mcp-channel
npm install && npm run build

To pin a version, tag a release:

git tag v0.1.0
git push origin v0.1.0

Users can then install a specific version:

git clone --branch v0.1.0 https://github.com/pipie-io/kafka-mcp-channel.git

npm (future)

When the project is ready for wider use, publish to npm:

npm version patch   # or minor/major
npm publish

Users would then install with:

npx kafka-mcp-channel

And reference it in their MCP config as:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "kafka": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["kafka-mcp-channel"],
      "env": { "KAFKA_BROKERS": "...", "KAFKA_TOPICS": "..." }
    }
  }
}

Before publishing to npm:

• Ensure "bin" in package.json points to dist/index.js
• Add "files": ["dist"] to package.json to keep the package small
• Add a .npmignore or verify only dist/ is included
• Consider scoping the package (e.g. @pipie/kafka-mcp-channel)

License

MIT