When a consumer stops consuming messages due to an exception, check the last committed consumer offset and reset it if needed.
How offset commits work
A consumer offset tracks the position of the next message to be read from a partition. The broker does not update this position automatically. It records only the offset that the consumer explicitly commits.
The commit method depends on the client SDK. Most SDKs support two methods:
| Method | Description |
|---|---|
| Auto-commit | The SDK periodically commits the offset of the latest consumed message plus 1. |
| Manual commit | Your application calls commit(offsets) to explicitly commit the offset of the latest consumed message plus 1. |
When a consumer restarts, it resumes from the last committed offset. Knowing which commit method your application uses helps you diagnose why a consumer is re-reading or skipping messages.
View the current consumer offset
To check the last committed offset for a consumer:
Open the Topic Details page for the target topic.
On the Subscriptions tab, find the target topic and click Consumer Details in the Actions column.
In the panel that appears, review the committed consumer offset. The consumer resumes from this offset.
For detailed steps, see View consumer details.
Reset the consumer offset
Stop all consumers in the consumer group before you reset the offset. If any consumer is still running, it may commit a new offset that overwrites the reset value.
To reset a consumer offset:
Open the Group Details page for the target consumer group.
In the upper-right corner, click Reset Consumer Offset.
In the Reset Consumer Offset panel, select a reset method and configure the target offset.
For the full list of reset methods and detailed instructions, see Reset consumer offsets.