About
Built by people tired of debugging streams blind.
Wharf started from a simple frustration: understanding what's actually moving through a Kafka or Pulsar cluster shouldn't require four terminal tabs and a script you'll throw away tomorrow.
Event-driven systems have become the default way backend teams move data, but the tooling for actually looking at that data hasn't kept up. Console consumers, one-off Python scripts, and admin CLIs get the job done, but none of them were built for a human to read.
What we're building
Wharf is a local-first desktop client for inspecting and debugging event streams. It connects directly to your broker — no relay server, no data leaving your machine — and gives you a visual surface for topics, messages, and payloads.
Where we are
Wharf is in early access today, with native support for Kafka and Pulsar. We're a small team building the tool we wished existed, and we're rolling out access gradually as we work through feedback.
How this is different
There are other tools for looking at Kafka topics, and most of them are solid. The two things we've optimized for that many aren't: Wharf runs as a native desktop app you install and open, rather than a web UI you have to deploy and host yourself — and it speaks Kafka and Pulsar through the same interface, so you're not switching tools when your stack does.