Connect Confluent Cloud CLI to a Cluster

You can connect your Confluent Cloud CLI instance to a Confluent Cloud cluster by following this procedure.

Prerequisite

The Confluent Cloud CLI must be installed.

1. Log in to your cluster using the ccloud login command with the cluster URL specified.

   ccloud login
   

   Enter your Confluent Cloud credentials:
   Email: susan@myemail.com
   Password:
   

2. Set the Confluent Cloud environment.

   1. Get the environment ID.

      ccloud environment list
      

      Your output should resemble:

           Id    |      Name
      +----------+----------------+
        * a-542  | dev
          a-4985 | prod
          a-2345 | jdoe-gcp-env
          a-9012 | jdoe-aws-env
      

   2. Set the environment using the ID (<env-id>).

      ccloud environment use <env-id>
      

      Your output should resemble:

      Now using a-4985 as the default (active) environment.
      

3. Set the cluster to use.

   1. Get the cluster ID.

      ccloud kafka cluster list
      

      Your output should resemble:

            Id      |       Name        | Provider |   Region    | Durability | Status
      +-------------+-------------------+----------+-------------+------------+--------+
          ekg-rr8v7 | dev-aws-oregon    | aws      | us-west-2   | LOW        | UP
          ekg-q2j96 | prod              | gcp      | us-central1 | LOW        | UP
      

   2. Set the cluster using the ID (<cluster-id>). This is the cluster where the commands are run.

      ccloud kafka cluster use <cluster-id>
      

4. Create an API key and secret, and save them. This is required to produce or consume to your topic.

   You can generate the API key from the Confluent Cloud web UI or on the Confluent Cloud CLI. Be sure to save the API key and secret.

   • On the web UI, click the Kafka API keys tab and click Create key. Save the key and secret, then click the checkbox next to I have saved my API key and secret and am ready to continue.

     

   • Or, from the Confluent Cloud CLI, type the following command:

     ccloud api-key create --resource <resource-id>
     

     Your output should resemble:

     Save the API key and secret. The secret is not retrievable later.
     +---------+------------------------------------------------------------------+
     | API Key | LD35EM2YJTCTRQRM                                                 |
     | Secret  | 67JImN+9vk+Hj3eaj2/UcwUlbDNlGGC3KAIOy5JNRVSnweumPBUpW31JWZSBeawz |
     +---------+------------------------------------------------------------------+
     

5. Optional: Add the API secret with ccloud api-key store <key> <secret>. When you create an API key with the CLI, it is automatically stored locally. However, when you create an API key using the UI, API, or with the CLI on another machine, the secret is not available for CLI use until you store it. This is required because secrets cannot be retrieved after creation.

   ccloud api-key store <api-key> <api-secret> --resource <resource-id>
   

6. Set the API key to use for Confluent Cloud CLI commands with the command ccloud api-key use <key> --resource <resource-id>.

   ccloud api-key use <api-key> --resource <resource-id>
   

You can now run Confluent Cloud CLI commands against the specified cluster. For more information, see Confluent Cloud CLI Command Reference.