BlazeMQ – 52KB Kafka-compatible broker in C++20, zero dependencies
I built a message broker that speaks the Kafka wire protocol, so any Kafka client (librdkafka, kafka-python, kcat, etc.) works without code changes. The entire binary is 52KB. No JVM, no ZooKeeper, no third-party libraries — just C++20 with kqueue/epoll. Starts in <10ms, uses 0% CPU when idle. I built this because running Kafka locally for development is painful — gigabytes of RAM, slow startup, ZooKeeper/KRaft configuration. I just wanted something that accepts produce requests and gets out of the way. Technical details: - Single-threaded event loop (kqueue on macOS, epoll on…
BlazeMQ – 52KB Kafka-compatible broker in C++20, zero dependencies launched on February 10, 2026 with 5 votes, #1,882 of 16,627 launches that month and more than 75% of that year's launches.
What it does
Sub-millisecond, Kafka-compatible message broker written in C++20. Zero dependencies, single binary, drop-in Kafka replacement for local development. - awneesht/Strike-mq
In the maker’s words, at launch
I built a message broker that speaks the Kafka wire protocol, so any Kafka client (librdkafka, kafka-python, kcat, etc.) works without code changes. The entire binary is 52KB. No JVM, no ZooKeeper, no third-party libraries — just C++20 with kqueue/epoll. Starts in <10ms, uses 0% CPU when idle. I built this…
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Source: Show HN post ↗ · launch text quoted in part
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