# Create a Kafka topic

This guide will show you how to create a Kafka topic.

The fully qualified topic name is the name of the `Topic` resource prefixed with your team namespace:

```
<MY-TEAM>.<MY-TOPIC>
```

This name is also set in the `.status.fullyQualifiedName` field on your Topic resource once the Topic is synchronized to Aiven.

## Creating topics

> **.nais/topic.yaml**
> ```yaml
> apiVersion: kafka.nais.io/v1
> kind: Topic
> metadata:
>   name: <MY-TOPIC>
>   namespace: <MY-TEAM>
>   labels:
>     team: <MY-TEAM>
> spec:
>   pool: <MY-POOL>
>   acl:
>     - team: <MY-TEAM>
>       application: <MY-APP>
>       access: readwrite   # read, write, readwrite
> ```

Select a `pool` from one of the [available pools](/persistence/kafka/reference/pools.md).

See the [Kafka topic reference](/persistence/kafka/reference/topic-spec.md) for a complete list of available options.

## Grant access to the topic for other applications (optional)

See [manage access](/persistence/kafka/how-to/manage-acl.md) for how to grant access to your topic.

## Apply the Topic resource

**Automatically**

Add the file to your application repository to deploy with [Nais github action](/build/how-to/build-and-deploy.md).

**Manually**

```bash
kubectl apply -f ./nais/topic.yaml --namespace=<MY-TEAM> --context=<MY-ENV>
```