Kafka is the backbone of modern data streaming architectures, but understanding what’s happening inside your clients has long been a challenge. KIP-714 changes the game by introducing a standardized and extensible way to expose client metrics, making observability accessible to everyone—not just Kafka experts. In this talk, we’ll explore why KIP-714 is a must-have for non-trivial systems, how it seamlessly integrates with popular observability stacks like OpenTelemetry, and what it means for debugging, performance tuning, and SLA monitoring. With real-world examples and a live demo, you’ll see how easy it is to connect Kafka clients to your telemetry and logging pipelines, unlocking deep insights with minimal effort. Whether you’re an engineer, SRE, or architect, you’ll walk away with practical knowledge on leveraging KIP-714 to make your Kafka-powered systems more transparent, resilient, and debuggable. No prior Kafka internals knowledge required—just a desire to see your data streams with clarity!