// This assembly is included in the following assemblies:
//
// deploying/assembly-deploy-kafka-connect.adoc

[id='using-kafka-connect-with-plug-ins-{context}']
= Extending Kafka Connect with connector plugins

The Strimzi container images for Kafka Connect include two built-in file connectors for moving file-based data into and out of your Kafka cluster.

.File connectors
[cols="2*",options="header",stripes="none",separator=¦]
|===

¦File Connector
¦Description

m¦FileStreamSourceConnector
¦Transfers data to your Kafka cluster from a file (the source).

m¦FileStreamSinkConnector
¦Transfers data from your Kafka cluster to a file (the sink).

|===

The procedures in this section show how to add your own connector classes to connector images by:

* xref:creating-new-image-using-kafka-connect-build-{context}[Creating a new container image automatically using Strimzi]

* xref:creating-new-image-from-base-{context}[Creating a container image from the Kafka Connect base image (manually or using continuous integration)]

IMPORTANT: You create the configuration for connectors directly xref:assembly-creating-managing-connectors-{context}[using the Kafka Connect REST API or `KafkaConnector` custom resources].

//Procedure to create a container images using Strimzi and Kafka Connect build
include::modules/proc-deploy-kafka-connect-using-kafka-connect-build.adoc[leveloffset=+1]
//Procedure to create a container images from base image
include::modules/proc-deploy-kafka-connect-new-image-from-base.adoc[leveloffset=+1]
