Quick Start

Get going quickly with Lenses VS Code Extension for Kafka.

0. Don't have Lenses yet? (free)

Click Install Community Edition (Docker) on the extension welcome screen (or run Lenses: Install Community Edition (Docker) from the Command Palette). Lenses Community Edition is free — no payment or credit card details are required. The extension downloads and runs Lenses locally via Docker Compose, then connects automatically. You only need Docker installed.

1. Connect to your Lenses instance

Click the Lenses.io icon in the Activity Bar, then click Connect to Lenses.

Lenses Community Edition (local Docker) — free, no payment or credit card required:

Field	Value
URL	http://localhost:9991
Username	admin
Password	admin

When connecting, choose Community Edition defaults (admin / admin) or Username and password (credentials are pre-filled for localhost:9991). The /api suffix is added automatically — do not append it yourself.

Enterprise / remote Lenses — enter your HQ URL (e.g. https://lenses.your-company.com) and your Lenses username and password.

OAuth sign-in (Lenses 6.2+)

For OAuth instead of username/password:

1. Run Lenses: Sign in with OAuth (browser) from the Command Palette or welcome screen.
2. On the Lenses server — enable OAuth 2.0 / Authorization Server metadata (OAuth 2.1 docs). Ensure GET /.well-known/oauth-authorization-server is reachable.
3. Dynamic client registration (recommended) — if your server exposes registration_endpoint, the extension registers automatically; no VS Code settings needed.
4. Without DCR — register an OAuth client on your Lenses server and set in VS Code Settings (Cmd+,):

   • lenses.oauthClientId — your client ID
   • lenses.oauthClientSecret — optional, for confidential clients
   • Redirect URI to register: vscode://lensesio.lenses-vscode/sso/callback

Community Edition local installs typically use admin / admin rather than OAuth.

2. Explore the tree view

Once connected, you'll see your Kafka infrastructure organized in a tree:

• Environments — See all your connected Kafka environments with their health status at a glance
• All Topics — Browse topics across every environment in one place
• IAM — Manage users, groups, roles, and service accounts from a single tree