Build, Manage, and Monitor Data Streaming Applications, All Within Your Favorite IDE

Today, we’re excited to announce the Early Access Program for Confluent for VS Code! 

Confluent has integrated support for Visual Studio Code (VS Code), which is a free, open-source code editor developed by Microsoft. Confluent for VS Code streamlines workflows, accelerates development cycles, and enhances real-time data processing, all within a unified environment.

With features like local Kafka process support, integration with stream processing tools like Apache Flink®, and enhanced visibility into data streams, the extension enables developers to work more efficiently, collaborate effortlessly, and focus on innovation without leaving their preferred IDE.

Furthermore, we’re making the code open source and offering the publicly available extension on the VS Code Marketplace. We’re seeking to empower streaming developers through both rich features and the ability to contribute improvements to the tooling they use.

With Confluent for VS Code, Kafka and Flink developers can: 

• Quickly set up new projects with ready-to-use templates, reducing setup time and ensuring consistency across your development efforts

• Gain visibility into Confluent resources and easily view and search Kafka messages, enabling live debugging alongside your code

• Develop, manage, debug, and monitor real-time data streams without needing to switch between multiple tools

Let’s explore how these capabilities come to life in the early access offering.

Accelerate project setup

Confluent for VS Code offers Smart Project Templates that accelerate project setup by providing ready-to-use templates tailored for common development patterns. These templates allow developers to quickly launch new projects with minimal configuration, significantly reducing setup time.

These templates incorporate best practices to help teams maintain high standards and avoid repetitive setup tasks so that developers can focus on building and innovating.

Effortless Kafka topic management

Confluent for VS Code simplifies Kafka topic management with an intuitive UI that makes it easy to list, create, edit, and delete Kafka topics directly within the IDE. Developers can quickly browse and compare Kafka messages, streamlining the debugging process and enhancing efficiency.

The extension’s integration with Confluent Schema Registry allows developers to view and manage schemas, compare schema versions, and easily associate schemas with topics to ensure data consistency across their streaming applications.

Enhanced visibility and debugging

Confluent for VS Code offers powerful tools to view and search Kafka messages, allowing developers to quickly browse, filter, and locate specific messages to streamline the debugging process. Developers get enhanced visibility into resources like Kafka topics and Flink, and can easily monitor data flows and system health in real time—aiding in identifying and resolving issues faster.

Developers can debug data streams alongside the code right within their IDE, eliminating the need for context switching and making the development workflow more efficient and cohesive.

How to get started

Ready to get started? In VS Code, open the Extensions panel and search for Confluent. Once the extension appears in the results, click Install to begin the download.

Log in to Confluent Cloud to see your cloud environments, clusters, topics, and schemas. You can expand the Confluent Cloud environments to see your clusters. If you run confluent local kafka start, the extension will automatically connect and show the local Kafka cluster.

Select one of the Kafka clusters to load the Topics subpanel. There you can take several actions, including right-clicking on topic names or clicking on the action buttons visible in the panel.

Click the green triangle to the right of any topic in the Topics panel to view messages from that topic.

In the Resources panel, select a Schema Registry to activate the Schemas subpanel. The schemas from that selected Schema Registry will also appear under the associated topics in the Topics panel. Select any of these schemas to inspect and interact with them, and even compare two different schemas or schema versions.

The Support panel shows how you can get a walkthrough of the extension, give feedback, and report issues.

Click on the Generate Project from Template in the Support panel to select from a list of available, ready-to-use templates, including different example applications and starter applications.

Fill in the details for your project, referencing the notes to the right of the fields for guidance. Finally, click Generate & Save to create a new workspace. You will be prompted to load the new workspace immediately if you’re ready to get started right away.

What’s next?

Confluent for VS Code is available in Early Access and we’re looking for feedback and input from our customers and users before making this extension generally available on Confluent Cloud and Confluent Platform in 2025. We look forward to expanding and adding exciting new features in quarters to come. 

It’s important to us to deliver the experience our developers need and we value your input. Check out Confluent for VS Code today! Download the extension from the Visual Studio Marketplace for free and start exploring, or join the open source project on GitHub and help us make this tool even more useful.

Want to learn more? Tune in to the Current Keynote and visit the product page for more information. Join Confluent Community and subscribe to our biweekly newsletter for the latest Kafka and Flink learning materials, news, community meetups and events, useful terminal hacks, and some fun finds from around the web.

If you’re new to Confluent and haven’t already, sign up for a free trial of Confluent Cloud and create your first cluster to explore new topics and create streaming pipelines and applications. New sign-ups receive $400 to spend within Confluent Cloud during their first 30 days. Use the code CL60BLOG for an additional $60 of free usage.*