What’s new in Spring for Apache Kafka 4? by Tim van Baarsen @ Spring I/O 2026

This session at Spring I/O 2026 focuses on the significant enhancements brought to Spring for Apache Kafka with the release of Spring Boot 4. The speaker, Tim, explores the integration of the Apache Kafka 4.x client and its new KRaft mode, which eliminates the need for ZooKeeper. Attendees will learn about key features such as Kafka Queues with shared consumers for concurrent message processing, an improved consumer rebalance protocol, and observability enhancements for batch listeners. Additionally, Tim provides a practical migration path to address breaking changes and test framework updates, accompanied by live demonstrations to illustrate these advancements in real-world applications.