Kafka in Docker using Confluent CLI doesn't work

Question

I'm trying to set up a local Kafka cluster on my Mac (Intel-based, running macOS Sonoma 14.3.1) by following the Confluent developer guide. However, when I try to start the cluster, it doesn't do anything.

I installed Confluent CLI via Homebrew:

brew install confluentinc/tap/cli

And added the following to my ~/.bash_profile:

# For Confluent
export CONFLUENT_HOME="/usr/local/Cellar/cli/3.48.1"
export PATH=$PATH:$CONFLUENT_HOME/bin

I started Docker Desktop v4.27.1.

I then tried to start the Kafka broker using:

confluent local kafka start

I got the following message with no further information or any port details:

The local commands are intended for a single-node development environment only, NOT for production usage. See more: https://docs.confluent.io/current/cli/index.html

When I subsequently checked the status of the services with:

confluent local services status

It said the cluster was NOT running.

The local commands are intended for a single-node development environment only, NOT for production usage. See more: https://docs.confluent.io/current/cli/index.html
As of Confluent Platform 8.0, Java 8 will no longer be supported.

Using CONFLUENT_CURRENT: /var/folders/zn/z1znabcd70vcabcd0cv87y1j0000gn/T/confluent.092959
Connect is [DOWN]
Kafka is [DOWN]
Kafka REST is [DOWN]
ksqlDB Server is [DOWN]
Schema Registry is [DOWN]
ZooKeeper is [DOWN]

Can someone please help with setting up local Kafka cluster on a Mac via Confluent CLI? I'm surprised the docs aren't good on something this popular.

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Edit: Also asked this question in Confluent Community Forum.

Edit2: It started working after I restarted Docker Desktop and reran the command! ‍♂️

Answer 1

However, when I try to start the cluster, it doesn't do anything.

You should see the Docker image downloading, followed by output including the ports that you can use to connect to Kafka. The Plaintext Ports value is the port to use in the bootstrap.servers endpoint.

Do you not see any of that if you let confluent local kafka start run?

When I subsequently checked the status of the services with:

confluent local services status

It said the cluster was NOT running.

The confluent local services ... commands aren't intended to work with confluent local kafka start so this is expected. The confluent local services ... commands need a local install of Confluent Platform while confluent local kafka start is Docker-based and intended to be easier to get going. In the future the two sets of commands will likely get consolidated into one approach to avoid confusion.