Yes, you can use that simpler approach! For Kafka 3.7.1, KRaft mode is the default, so it's much simpler:

Simple Kafka Setup

Run Redis (Alpine - smallest image ~40MB)

docker run -d --name hackstack-redis -p 6379:6379 redis:7.2-alpine

Run Kafka (smallest available ~400MB)

docker run -d --name hackstack-kafka -p 9092:9092 apache/kafka:3.7.1

Working with Kafka

Get into the Kafka container

docker exec -it hackstack-kafka /bin/bash

Navigate to Kafka bin directory

cd /opt/kafka/bin

Create the actual topics used by HackStack

./kafka-topics.sh --create --topic code-executor --bootstrap-server localhost:9092 ./kafka-topics.sh --create --topic code-results --bootstrap-server localhost:9092

List topics

./kafka-topics.sh --list --bootstrap-server localhost:9092

Monitor code-executor topic (execution requests)

./kafka-console-consumer.sh --topic code-executor --from-beginning --bootstrap-server localhost:9092

Monitor code-results topic (execution results) - in another terminal

docker exec -it hackstack-kafka /bin/bash cd /opt/kafka/bin ./kafka-console-consumer.sh --topic code-results --from-beginning --bootstrap-server localhost:9092

Your .env configuration

REDIS_URL=redis://localhost:6379 KAFKA_BROKER=localhost:9092

This simpler approach works perfectly for development! The Kafka 3.7.1 image comes pre-configured with KRaft mode, so no Zookeeper neede

Kafka Monitorning UI

docker run -d
-p 8080:8080
-e AKHQ_CONFIGURATION=' akhq: connections: local: properties: bootstrap.servers: "localhost:9092" '
tchiotludo/akhq