Drive KubeMQ from the terminal

kmq is KubeMQ's command-line client — a single static binary that talks to the management API on port :8080, the same API the web dashboard uses. kmq does not run the broker. It is a client, not a server: every command it runs is an HTTP call against a KubeMQ instance that is already up.

Install

curl -sSfL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kubemq-io/kmq/main/install.sh | sh

install.sh detects your OS and architecture, downloads the matching archive, and performs a mandatory SHA-256 checksum verification before installing kmq into the first writable PATH directory.

To pin a specific version instead of the latest release:

curl -sSfL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kubemq-io/kmq/main/install.sh | sh -s -- --version v0.3.1

Prefer a container image over a local binary:

podman run --rm europe-docker.pkg.dev/kubemq/images/kmq:latest version

(docker run works identically in place of podman run.)

Full installer flags and environment variables (KMQ_VERSION, KMQ_INSTALL_DIR, signature verification) are in the kmq CLI reference.

Connect

kmq reads a context — a named connection profile — to know which server to talk to. Create one pointing at your running server:

kmq context create default --api-address http://localhost:8080

Confirm the connection:

kmq status

You should see a compact JSON health digest with is_healthy: true — visible proof that kmq can reach your KubeMQ server.

Send your first message

Round-trip a message through the Queues pattern — guaranteed delivery, send now, receive whenever you're ready:

kmq queue send orders '{"id":1}'

kmq queue receive orders

The second command returns the message you just sent. For a wider view across every pattern:

kmq overview

Teach your coding agent

kmq ships an installable agent skill so a coding agent can drive it correctly without guessing at flags. Three ways to install it:

npx skills add kubemq-io/kmq

The universal installer reaches 70+ agents — Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, Gemini CLI, Windsurf, and more.

claude plugin marketplace add kubemq-io/kmq

The Claude Code plugin path, if you're already using Claude Code's plugin marketplace.

kmq skills install

A zero-Node fallback that installs the skill stub locally for Claude Code; add --global to install it for the current user instead of just the current project.

Where next

kmq also ships migration commands (kmq assess kafka, kmq migrate assess|replicate|translate|cutover) that move an external Kafka cluster onto KubeMQ in phases — see the full reference for the complete workflow.