Open your own cluster in the simulator

Use monedula-sim-link to snapshot a real Kafka cluster, read-only, into a playground link that opens its brokers, topics and placement in free play.

How-to guides 9 of 10

1 min read

Updated 5 October 2026

Markdown

monedula-sim-link, our command-line tool, connects to your cluster read-only and prints a link that opens it in free play. What the link shows lists what it carries over.

Before you start

monedula-sim-link installed. The sim-link overview has the install commands.
A Kafka cluster you can reach. The tool only reads from it (the read-only guarantee).

Steps

1. Snapshot the cluster

monedula-sim-link connect --brokers localhost:9092 --topics orders,payments

The command prints one line, the link. Leave out --topics to include every topic that is not internal.

2. Open the link

Paste the link into a browser. The playground opens in free play with your cluster’s shape and replays its state as actions, so the result is an ordinary sandbox: share it, kill its brokers, or tune its producers.

Check it worked

The playground shows your brokers and topics. To see how each real name was mapped before you open the link, add --dry-run; Preview a link before you share it explains the output.

See your cluster in the simulator starts a local Kafka in Docker and turns it into a link, step by step.
The playground URL format is the grammar the tool generates.