# Community Edition and Kafka Connect governance

## Get started with Community Edition

We've made some changes to our Community Edition. Community Edition provides a streamlined Kafka management experience at no cost: connect clusters, browse topics, consume messages, and explore schemas.

If you're currently using the free license, changes apply when you upgrade to Console v1.43.0. [Learn about Community Edition →](https://docs.conduktor.io/guide/conduktor-in-production/manage-licenses/community-edition)

## Manage Kafka Connect resource policies in the UI

Kafka Connect connector resource policies can now be created and managed directly in the Console UI. Define naming conventions, configuration standards, and governance rules for your connectors without leaving the browser.

## Kafka Connect now enforces RBAC

The Kafka Connect UI now respects RBAC permissions. Actions a user isn't permitted to perform are hidden from the interface. This ensures connector management follows the same access controls as the rest of your Kafka platform.

## Deprecation notice: Self-service topic policies

Self-service topic policies will be deprecated in Console v1.46.0. Convert your existing topic policies to resource policies as soon as possible. Resource policies have full feature parity with the legacy topic policies.

Use the Console UI to migrate: go to **Settings** > **Policies migration**.

## Quality of life improvements

- **New format types**: Produce and consume topic messages with Boolean, Short, Int, and UUID format types
- **Improved error handling**: Topic consume page returns more explicit errors and includes a retry option
- **Audit log tracking**: New `Kafka.ConsumerGroup.Create` event type tracks consumer group creation in the audit log
- **Kafka Connect auto-restart API**: Public API endpoint to manage connector auto-restart settings
- **Navigation cleanup**: MCP navigation moved to the Settings page to reduce main menu clutter

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For a full list of changes, read the [complete release notes](https://docs.conduktor.io/guide/release-notes).