What is spring.kafka.listener.missing-topics-fatal?

spring.kafka.listener.missing-topics-fatal=true (default in some versions) causes the application to fail to start if a topic declared in @KafkaListener doesn't exist. Setting it to false allows the application to start and wait for the topic to be created later. In production, you typically want topics pre-created (false is safer for startup ordering in orchestrated environments like Kubernetes). Use auto topic creation (KafkaAdmin with NewTopic beans) to create topics at application startup before listeners connect.

Expected key concepts: missing-topics-fatal, application start, topic doesn't exist, false, Kubernetes, startup ordering, KafkaAdmin, NewTopic, auto topic creation, pre-created