// Module included in the following assemblies:
//
// topic-operator.adoc

[id='what-the-topic-operator-does-{context}']
= Overview of the Topic Operator component

The Topic Operator provides a way of managing topics in a Kafka cluster via {ProductPlatformName} resources.

image::topic_operator.png[Topic Operator]

The role of the Topic Operator is to keep a set of `KafkaTopic` {ProductPlatformName} resources describing Kafka topics in-sync with corresponding Kafka topics.

Specifically:

* if a `KafkaTopic` is created, the operator will create the topic it describes
* if a `KafkaTopic` is deleted, the operator will delete the topic it describes
* if a `KafkaTopic` is changed, the operator will update the topic it describes

And also, in the other direction:

* if a topic is created within the Kafka cluster, the operator will create a `KafkaTopic` describing it
* if a topic is deleted from the Kafka cluster, the operator will create the `KafkaTopic` describing it
* if a topic in the Kafka cluster is changed, the operator will update the `KafkaTopic` describing it

This allows you to declare a `KafkaTopic` as part of your application's deployment and the Topic Operator will take care of creating the topic for you.
Your application just needs to deal with producing or consuming from the necessary topics.

If the topic be reconfigured or reassigned to different Kafka nodes, the `KafkaTopic` will always be up to date.

For more details about creating, modifying and deleting topics, see xref:using-the-topic-operator-str[].
