---
title: "Kafka share groups: queue semantics with KIP-932"
description: "Two consumers in one Kafka share group read the same partition and acquire different offsets, draining six jobs like a queue with no partition assignment."
url: https://monedula.dev/kafka-simulator/scenarios/share-group-queue/
---

# Kafka share groups: queue semantics with KIP-932

Scenario 11.0.1 · Share group queue. Share groups · Intermediate · about 2 min · Apache Kafka 4.3.

Two consumers share ONE partition - each acquires different offsets (KIP-932 queue semantics).

Run it: https://monedula.dev/kafka-simulator/playground/?scenario=11.0.1

## What you start with

Share groups (KIP-932) bring queue semantics to Kafka. In a classic consumer group a partition is owned by exactly one consumer; a share group instead lets MANY members read the SAME partition cooperatively, each acquiring a DISJOINT set of offsets. Here two workers (w1, w2) poll one partition holding six jobs.

## Step by step

1. **Cluster ready · idle** (t+0.000s): One partition, one share group with two consumers (w1, w2). Press ▶. [Open at this step](https://monedula.dev/kafka-simulator/playground/?scenario=11.0.1&t=0)
2. **First acquire** (t+0.900s): w1 and w2 each acquire a DIFFERENT offset on the SAME partition - no partition assignment. [Open at this step](https://monedula.dev/kafka-simulator/playground/?scenario=11.0.1&t=1)
3. **Draining** (t+1.500s): Prior acquisitions auto-accept (acked); the next two offsets are acquired. [Open at this step](https://monedula.dev/kafka-simulator/playground/?scenario=11.0.1&t=2)
4. **Queue drained** (t+3.200s): All six records acked - the queue was shared across both consumers. [Open at this step](https://monedula.dev/kafka-simulator/playground/?scenario=11.0.1&t=3)

## The takeaway

A share group decouples consumer parallelism from partition count: several members drain a single partition as a shared work queue, each handling different records.

## Further reading

- [KIP-932 on the Apache Kafka wiki](https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/KAFKA/KIP-932%3A+Queues+for+Kafka)