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Pulsar admin interfaces - Tools

You can manage Pulsar entities through the Pulsar admin layer via one of the following tools:

  • Pulsar admin APIs

    • Java admin API: It’s a programmable interface written in Java.

    • Go admin API (coming soon)

    • REST API: HTTP calls, which are made against the admin APIs provided by brokers. In addition, both the Java admin API and pulsar-admin CLI use the REST API.

  • pulsar-admin CLI: It’s a command-line tool and is available in the bin folder of your Pulsar installation.

Tools of Pulsar admin layer

Here are the explanations and comparisons of these tools.

CategoryToolsWhen to useConsiderations
Pulsar admin APIsJava admin API- If you want to implement your own admin interface client using Java and manage clusters.

- If you want to manage resources programmatically rather than relying on external tools inside of unit tests.

- If you want to use admin APIs in Java applications.


- This method is only available in Java.

- It needs more development work if you want to use it to build applications.
Pulsar admin APIsREST API- If you want to implement your own admin interface client using other languages and manage clusters using scripts.- This method is the most complicated.

- It needs more development work if you want to use it to build applications.
Pulsar admin CLIpulsar-admin CLI- If you want to get started with Pulsar admin APIs with minimal effort (e.g., no need to prepare an extra environment).

- If you want to perform common administrative tasks.
- This method is the most easy-to-use.

- It’s challenging to use this method to build applications.

- It takes a little more time because JVM starts slowly.