> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.conduktor.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Conduktor Desktop is now sunset

> Conduktor Desktop has reached end-of-life. The auth backend has been turned off — existing installs can no longer sign in. Move to Conduktor Console for ongoing Kafka management.

<Note>
  **Heads up:** Conduktor Desktop is no longer maintained, and its authentication service has been shut down. Existing Desktop installations can no longer sign in. There is no replacement download — the next step is **Conduktor Console**.
</Note>

## Why Desktop is gone

Desktop served you well for years. It pioneered the Kafka UI patterns — visual topic inspection, schema browsing, consumer-group debugging — that became the foundation of how teams work with Kafka.

Those patterns now live in **Conduktor Console**, alongside everything Desktop couldn't do alone: team RBAC, audit logs, governance policies, multi-cluster control, Kubernetes deployment. Console is what Desktop wanted to become once Kafka stopped being a single-developer concern.

## What to do now

Whether you were running Desktop on your laptop or deploying it to a small team, the path forward is the same: **install Console and connect your clusters**. The full migration takes under 15 minutes.

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Install Console (free)" icon="rocket" href="https://conduktor.io/get-started">
    Docker, Kubernetes, or Helm — pick what fits your stack. Free Community Edition runs as a single container.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Connect your Kafka clusters" icon="plug" href="/guide/conduktor-in-production/admin/configure-clusters">
    Apache Kafka, MSK, Confluent Cloud, Aiven, Redpanda — same broker setup, same SASL/SSL options.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Read the install guide" icon="book" href="/guide/get-started">
    Step-by-step Console setup with your first cluster, topic, and message.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Talk to us" icon="comments" href="https://conduktor.io/contact/demo">
    Coming from Desktop with a team? Book a 30-min walkthrough to map your workflows onto Console.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Frequently asked questions

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Can I still download Conduktor Desktop?">
    No. The Desktop installers and auth callback have been retired. Any existing install will fail to authenticate on launch. Conduktor Console is the supported product going forward.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Will my saved Desktop connections work in Console?">
    Connection details (bootstrap servers, SASL credentials, schema registry URLs) all carry over — Console reads the same Kafka configuration. You re-create them once in Console; after that they're shared with your team, not stuck on one laptop.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Is Console free for individuals?">
    Yes. Console Community Edition is free, runs locally via Docker, and covers the same single-developer workflows Desktop did: topic browsing, producing, consuming, schema management, consumer-group inspection. [Get started here](https://conduktor.io/get-started).
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="What about features Desktop had that I depended on?">
    The most-used Desktop features — data filtering and projection, consumer-group offset management, schema registry browsing, multi-cluster switching — are all in Console, generally improved. Edge cases: [contact us](https://conduktor.io/contact/demo) and we'll help map your workflow.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="I had a Desktop license. What happens?">
    Existing Desktop Enterprise customers were contacted directly with migration plans. If you didn't receive that and were on a paid Desktop plan, reach out at [support.conduktor.io](https://support.conduktor.io/) and we'll sort it out.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Why was Desktop sunset?">
    Kafka stopped being a one-engineer-one-laptop tool. The teams running Kafka in production needed shared access, audit trails, role-based permissions, and a deployment story that fits alongside their other infrastructure — none of which a desktop client can deliver well. Console was built specifically for that reality.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Stay in the loop

If you want context on where Conduktor is heading next — Kafka governance, the Gateway, AI-assisted operations — the [Conduktor blog](https://conduktor.io/blog) and [release notes](/guide/release-notes) are where it lands first.

— The Conduktor team