> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://spring-gcp.saturnism.me/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://spring-gcp.saturnism.me/app-dev/cloud-services/messaging/kafka.md). # Kafka Google Cloud does not have first-party managed Kafka service. For messaging, you can mostly use Cloud Pub/Sub. If you need capabilities of Kafka, then you can run Kafka cluster either as a third-party managed service (e.g., from Confluent Cloud), or run it on Kubernetes with an operator. ## Confluent Cloud Confluent can create managed Kafka clusters using [Confluent Cloud](https://www.confluent.io/confluent-cloud/) on Google Cloud. Check out the [Confluent Cloud's Quickstart documentation](https://docs.confluent.io/current/quickstart/cloud-quickstart/index.html) for more information. ## Confluent Operator If you want to run Confluent's Kafka platform yourself, you can use the [Confluent Operator](https://docs.confluent.io/current/installation/operator/index.html), which can provision Kafka clusters on Kubernetes Engine. See [Confluent Platform on Google Kubernetes Engine documentation](https://docs.confluent.io/current/tutorials/examples/kubernetes/gke-base/docs/index.html#quickstart-demos-operator-gke) for more detail. ## Strimzi Operator You can run Kafka in Kubernetes using the [Strimzi Operator](https://strimzi.io). See [Strimzi Quickstart ](https://strimzi.io/quickstarts/)documentation and the more detailed [Strimzi Quick Start Guide](https://strimzi.io/docs/operators/latest/quickstart.html) for more information. --- # Agent Instructions This documentation is published with GitBook. GitBook is the documentation platform designed so that both humans and AI agents can read, navigate, and reason over technical content effectively. Learn more at gitbook.com. ## Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter, and the optional `goal` query parameter: ``` GET https://spring-gcp.saturnism.me/app-dev/cloud-services/messaging/kafka.md?ask=&goal= ``` `ask` is the immediate question: it should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. `goal` is optional and describes the broader end goal you are ultimately trying to accomplish on behalf of the user. GitBook uses it to tailor the answer towards what is most useful for that goal. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.