· The Wharf team
Introducing Wharf
Why we're building a local-first desktop client for debugging Kafka and Pulsar.
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. That frustration is where Wharf started.
Duct tape, mostly
Event-driven systems have become the default way backend teams move data, but the tooling for looking at that data hasn't kept up. Reading a single message usually looks something like this:
kafka-console-consumer --bootstrap-server $BROKER --topic orders --from-beginning | jq .Console consumers, one-off 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 native desktop app that connects directly to your broker — no relay server, no data leaving your machine — and gives you one visual surface for topics, messages and payloads. It speaks Kafka and Pulsar through the same interface, so you're not switching tools when your stack does.
Wharf is in early access today. If you'd like to try it, request access, or start with the quickstart.