Dialog Overview

The Script Generator uses a four-page wizard.

1. Objects Page - choose the Kafka connection and the objects to script.
2. Commands Page - choose command groups and command options for the selected object categories.
3. Options Page - choose output, formatting, and security options.
4. Review Page - review generated script files and save the project JSON.

Opening the Script Generator

Open the full wizard from the Tools menu by selecting "Generate CLI Scripts...". The wizard opens on the Objects page.

The wizard can also be opened from the right-click menu in the Browser for supported Kafka object types, and from the right-click menus in supported object lists. When opened from a context menu, the wizard still opens on the Objects page, but the related connection, tab, and objects are preselected so they can be reviewed or changed before continuing.

Location	Context
Browser server connection node and server list	Preselects the Cluster row.
Topic tree and Topic list	Preselects one or more Topics.
Consumer list	Preselects one or more Consumer groups.
Broker list	Preselects one or more Brokers.
ACL list	Preselects one or more ACLs.
Quota list	Preselects one or more quota entities when the Kafka version supports quotas.

Objects Page

Select a connection from the Cluster dropdown. The first connected cluster is selected by default; after using the wizard, the last selected connection is remembered. The dropdown shows the same connected or disconnected icon used in the browser tree.

If the selected connection is not connected, click Connect. The object tabs show "Not Connected" until the connection is available. Changing the Cluster dropdown updates the object panels and loads objects when the newly selected cluster is already connected.

Object tabs are lazy-loaded. Only the active tab is loaded immediately. Each tab contains a grid with object details and a Script checkbox at the end of the row. Use the quick filter to find objects, select one or more rows, right-click to Select or Deselect, or use Select All and Deselect All below the grid.

Commands Page

The left side lists the selected object categories. The right side shows the command sections available for the selected category. Only categories selected on the Objects page are shown. Command options that require a newer Kafka version are hidden for older connections.

Cluster Commands

Section	Command	Kafka CLI	Default
List Commands	Topics	kafka-topics --list	Selected
List Commands	Consumer groups	kafka-consumer-groups --list	Not selected
List Commands	ACLs	kafka-acls --list	Not selected
List Commands	Broker configs	kafka-configs --describe --entity-type brokers	Not selected
List Commands	Topic configs	kafka-configs --describe --entity-type topics	Not selected
List Commands	User configs	kafka-configs --describe --entity-type users	Not selected
List Commands	Client configs	kafka-configs --describe --entity-type clients	Not selected
List Commands	IP configs	kafka-configs --describe --entity-type ips	Not selected
List Commands	Delegation tokens	kafka-delegation-tokens --describe	Not selected
List Commands	Log directories	kafka-log-dirs --describe	Not selected
List Commands	Cluster metadata	kafka-cluster cluster-id	Not selected
List Commands	Metadata quorum	kafka-metadata-quorum describe --status	Not selected
Diagnostics	Describe Broker API versions	kafka-broker-api-versions	Selected
Diagnostics	Describe features	kafka-features describe	Selected

Object Commands

Category	Commands
Topics	Describe Topic, Create Topic, Delete Topic, Describe Topic configs, Console Consumer, Console Producer.
Consumers	Describe Consumer group, Reset Offsets, Delete Consumer group.
Brokers	Describe Broker API versions, Describe log directories.
ACLs	List matching ACL, Remove ACL.
Quotas	Describe quota entity, Add or update quota, Delete quota.

Destructive commands, such as deleting Topics, deleting Consumer groups, resetting Offsets, removing ACLs, and deleting quota settings, can be generated but are commented out by default when the safety option is enabled.

Kafka Version Handling

Offset Explorer uses the selected connection's Kafka version to hide command options that are not available for that version. For example, quota scripting is available only when the selected connection is configured for a Kafka version that supports quotas, and newer commands such as metadata quorum and feature-level descriptions are hidden for older versions.

Options Page

The Options page contains General and Security sections.

General

Option	Description
Script Type	Generates Unix shell scripts, Windows batch scripts, or both. The default is based on the operating system.
Output Mode	Creates one file per command, one file per selected object, or one combined script file.
Kafka Bin Path	The folder or variable used before each Kafka CLI executable, for example $KAFKA_HOME/bin.
Output Folder	The folder where generated files are written. The folder must already exist.
Line Endings	Uses Windows (CRLF) or Unix (LF) line endings. The default is based on the operating system.
.sh Execute Permission	Controls which POSIX execute bits are set on generated .sh files: none, user, user and group, or all. This option is available only when running Offset Explorer on macOS or Linux and does not apply when packaging scripts into a ZIP file.
Command Format	Uses multi-line commands with continuation characters or single-line commands.
Include Header	Adds a generated-by timestamp and cluster name to each script.
Package as zip	Writes generated files into kafka-cli-scripts.zip instead of individual files.

Security

Option	Description
Reference existing client.properties	Adds --command-config pointing to client.properties, but does not generate that file. For console consumer and producer scripts targeting Kafka versions older than 4.2.0, the generator uses --consumer.config or --producer.config.
Do not include credentials	Does not add a client.properties option to generated commands, except for commands such as delegation tokens where Kafka requires --command-config.
Generate sanitized client.properties	Creates client.properties with non-secret connection settings and placeholder comments for secrets.
Generate full client.properties with secrets	Creates client.properties including available secrets from the saved connection.
Use environment variables for secrets	Creates client.properties using environment variable placeholders for passwords and JAAS config.
Copy truststore file to output folder	Copies the connection truststore file and writes its file name into client.properties.
Copy keystore file to output folder	Copies the connection keystore file and writes its file name into client.properties.
Comment out destructive commands	Comments out generated destructive commands so they must be manually enabled before running.

For SSL and SASL_SSL connections, truststore and keystore locations are passed through client.properties. If the copy options are unchecked, the generated file references the original configured locations. If copy options are checked, the generated file references the copied file names in the output folder.

Review Page

The Review page shows generated files. The grid at the top contains one row per file, including the file name, type, command count, and risk level. Selecting a row shows the file contents below it. Files have already been written to the output folder or ZIP file when this page is shown.

Saving and Loading Projects

Load Project and Recent Projects are available on the Objects page. Save Project is available on the Review page after scripts have been generated.

A project JSON file contains the saved connection reference, selected objects, command selections, and output/security options. If the original connection id is no longer available, Offset Explorer tries to find a saved connection with the same name.

Command-Line Support

A saved Script Generator project can be run from the Offset Explorer command-line tool. The command uses the settings in the JSON file and writes generated files to the configured output folder.

commandline.exe -scriptGenerator "C:\Offset Explorer Projects\script-generator-settings.json"

See the Command-Line Tool documentation for command-line usage details.