diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9ad228d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,91 @@
+# Created by https://www.toptal.com/developers/gitignore/api/intellij+iml
+# Edit at https://www.toptal.com/developers/gitignore?templates=intellij+iml
+
+### Intellij+iml ###
+# Covers JetBrains IDEs: IntelliJ, RubyMine, PhpStorm, AppCode, PyCharm, CLion, Android Studio, WebStorm and Rider
+# Reference: https://intellij-support.jetbrains.com/hc/en-us/articles/206544839
+
+# User-specific stuff
+.idea/**/workspace.xml
+.idea/**/tasks.xml
+.idea/**/usage.statistics.xml
+.idea/**/dictionaries
+.idea/**/shelf
+
+# AWS User-specific
+.idea/**/aws.xml
+
+# Generated files
+.idea/**/contentModel.xml
+
+# Sensitive or high-churn files
+.idea/**/dataSources/
+.idea/**/dataSources.ids
+.idea/**/dataSources.local.xml
+.idea/**/sqlDataSources.xml
+.idea/**/dynamic.xml
+.idea/**/uiDesigner.xml
+.idea/**/dbnavigator.xml
+
+# Gradle
+.idea/**/gradle.xml
+.idea/**/libraries
+
+# Gradle and Maven with auto-import
+# When using Gradle or Maven with auto-import, you should exclude module files,
+# since they will be recreated, and may cause churn.  Uncomment if using
+# auto-import.
+# .idea/artifacts
+# .idea/compiler.xml
+# .idea/jarRepositories.xml
+# .idea/modules.xml
+# .idea/*.iml
+# .idea/modules
+# *.iml
+# *.ipr
+
+# CMake
+cmake-build-*/
+
+# Mongo Explorer plugin
+.idea/**/mongoSettings.xml
+
+# File-based project format
+*.iws
+
+# IntelliJ
+out/
+
+# mpeltonen/sbt-idea plugin
+.idea_modules/
+
+# JIRA plugin
+atlassian-ide-plugin.xml
+
+# Cursive Clojure plugin
+.idea/replstate.xml
+
+# SonarLint plugin
+.idea/sonarlint/
+
+# Crashlytics plugin (for Android Studio and IntelliJ)
+com_crashlytics_export_strings.xml
+crashlytics.properties
+crashlytics-build.properties
+fabric.properties
+
+# Editor-based Rest Client
+.idea/httpRequests
+
+# Android studio 3.1+ serialized cache file
+.idea/caches/build_file_checksums.ser
+
+### Intellij+iml Patch ###
+# Reason: https://github.com/joeblau/gitignore.io/issues/186#issuecomment-249601023
+
+*.iml
+modules.xml
+.idea/misc.xml
+*.ipr
+
+# End of https://www.toptal.com/developers/gitignore/api/intellij+iml
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/BUILD b/BUILD
index b169571..9a517b6 100644
--- a/BUILD
+++ b/BUILD
@@ -18,19 +18,26 @@
     ],
     resources = glob(["src/main/resources/**/*"]),
     deps = [
-        "@events-broker//jar",
+        ":events-broker-neverlink",
+        "//lib/httpcomponents:httpclient",
+        "@httpasyncclient//jar",
+        "@httpcore-nio//jar",
         "@kafka-client//jar",
     ],
 )
 
 junit_tests(
     name = "events_kafka_tests",
+    timeout = "long",
     srcs = glob(["src/test/java/**/*.java"]),
+    resources = glob(["src/test/resources/**/*"]),
     tags = ["events-kafka"],
     deps = [
         ":events-kafka__plugin_test_deps",
-        "@events-broker//jar",
+        "//plugins/events-broker",
         "@kafka-client//jar",
+        "@testcontainers-kafka//jar",
+        "@testcontainers//jar",
     ],
 )
 
@@ -50,3 +57,9 @@
         "@jna//jar",
     ],
 )
+
+java_library(
+    name = "events-broker-neverlink",
+    neverlink = 1,
+    exports = ["//plugins/events-broker"],
+)
diff --git a/Jenkinsfile b/Jenkinsfile
index b26b19f..589453c 100644
--- a/Jenkinsfile
+++ b/Jenkinsfile
@@ -1,2 +1,3 @@
 pluginPipeline(formatCheckId: 'gerritforge:plugins-events-kafka-code-style',
-                buildCheckId: 'gerritforge:plugins-events-kafka-build-test')
+                buildCheckId: 'gerritforge:plugins-events-kafka-build-test',
+                extraModules: ['events-broker'])
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index ae1184d..432d7d8 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -29,11 +29,15 @@
 ---------------------
 Kafka plugin can be build as a regular 'in-tree' plugin. That means that is required to
 clone a Gerrit source tree first and then to have the Kafka plugin source directory into
-the /plugins path. Additionally, the plugins/external_plugin_deps.bzl file needs to be
+the /plugins path. The plugin depends on [events-broker](https://gerrit.googlesource.com/modules/events-broker)
+which is linked directly from source with the same 'in-tree' plugin structure.
+
+Additionally, the plugins/external_plugin_deps.bzl file needs to be
 updated to match the Kafka plugin one.
 
     git clone --recursive https://gerrit.googlesource.com/gerrit
     git clone https://gerrit.googlesource.com/plugins/events-kafka gerrit/plugins/events-kafka
+    git clone https://gerrit.googlesource.com/modules/events-broker gerrit/plugins/events-broker
     cd gerrit
     rm plugins/external_plugin_deps.bzl
     ln -s ./events-kafka/external_plugin_deps.bzl plugins/.
@@ -45,6 +49,7 @@
 The output is created in
 
     bazel-genfiles/plugins/events-kafka/events-kafka.jar
+    bazel-genfiles/plugins/events-broker/events-broker.jar
 
 Minimum Configuration
 ---------------------
diff --git a/external_plugin_deps.bzl b/external_plugin_deps.bzl
index 1279a20..1f23015 100644
--- a/external_plugin_deps.bzl
+++ b/external_plugin_deps.bzl
@@ -7,6 +7,18 @@
         sha1 = "a7b72831768ccfd69128385130409ae1a0e52f5f",
     )
 
+    maven_jar(
+        name = "httpcore-nio",
+        artifact = "org.apache.httpcomponents:httpcore-nio:4.4.12",
+        sha1 = "84cd29eca842f31db02987cfedea245af020198b",
+    )
+
+    maven_jar(
+        name = "httpasyncclient",
+        artifact = "org.apache.httpcomponents:httpasyncclient:4.1.4",
+        sha1 = "f3a3240681faae3fa46b573a4c7e50cec9db0d86",
+    )
+
     TESTCONTAINERS_VERSION = "1.15.3"
 
     maven_jar(
@@ -58,9 +70,3 @@
         artifact = "com.fasterxml.jackson.core:jackson-annotations:2.10.3",
         sha1 = "0f63b3b1da563767d04d2e4d3fc1ae0cdeffebe7",
     )
-
-    maven_jar(
-        name = "events-broker",
-        artifact = "com.gerritforge:events-broker:3.7.2",
-        sha1 = "3b387b3bd134bed3e4bbd743a69411b05c86461a",
-    )
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/Manager.java b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/Manager.java
index 4dc394b..9ed5165 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/Manager.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/Manager.java
@@ -15,7 +15,9 @@
 package com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka;
 
 import com.gerritforge.gerrit.eventbroker.BrokerApi;
+import com.gerritforge.gerrit.eventbroker.ExtendedBrokerApi;
 import com.gerritforge.gerrit.eventbroker.TopicSubscriber;
+import com.gerritforge.gerrit.eventbroker.TopicSubscriberWithGroupId;
 import com.google.gerrit.extensions.events.LifecycleListener;
 import com.google.inject.Inject;
 import com.google.inject.Singleton;
@@ -27,13 +29,19 @@
 
   private final KafkaPublisher publisher;
   private final Set<TopicSubscriber> consumers;
-  private final BrokerApi brokerApi;
+  private final Set<TopicSubscriberWithGroupId> consumersWithGroupId;
+  private final ExtendedBrokerApi brokerApi;
 
   @Inject
-  public Manager(KafkaPublisher publisher, Set<TopicSubscriber> consumers, BrokerApi brokerApi) {
+  public Manager(
+      KafkaPublisher publisher,
+      Set<TopicSubscriber> consumers,
+      Set<TopicSubscriberWithGroupId> consumersWithGroupId,
+      BrokerApi brokerApi) {
     this.publisher = publisher;
     this.consumers = consumers;
-    this.brokerApi = brokerApi;
+    this.brokerApi = (ExtendedBrokerApi) brokerApi;
+    this.consumersWithGroupId = consumersWithGroupId;
   }
 
   @Override
@@ -42,6 +50,15 @@
     consumers.forEach(
         topicSubscriber ->
             brokerApi.receiveAsync(topicSubscriber.topic(), topicSubscriber.consumer()));
+
+    consumersWithGroupId.forEach(
+        topicSubscriberWithGroupId -> {
+          TopicSubscriber topicSubscriber = topicSubscriberWithGroupId.topicSubscriber();
+          brokerApi.receiveAsync(
+              topicSubscriber.topic(),
+              topicSubscriberWithGroupId.groupId(),
+              topicSubscriber.consumer());
+        });
   }
 
   @Override
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/Module.java b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/Module.java
index 618fea8..0a1ff35 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/Module.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/Module.java
@@ -17,24 +17,42 @@
 import com.google.gerrit.extensions.events.LifecycleListener;
 import com.google.gerrit.extensions.registration.DynamicSet;
 import com.google.gerrit.server.events.EventListener;
+import com.google.gerrit.server.git.WorkQueue;
 import com.google.inject.AbstractModule;
 import com.google.inject.Inject;
+import com.google.inject.Scopes;
 import com.google.inject.TypeLiteral;
+import com.google.inject.assistedinject.FactoryModuleBuilder;
 import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.api.KafkaApiModule;
+import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.config.KafkaProperties;
+import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.config.KafkaProperties.ClientType;
 import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.config.KafkaPublisherProperties;
 import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.publish.KafkaPublisher;
+import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.publish.KafkaRestProducer;
+import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.rest.FutureExecutor;
+import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.rest.HttpHostProxy;
+import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.rest.HttpHostProxyProvider;
+import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.rest.KafkaRestClient;
 import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.session.KafkaProducerProvider;
-import org.apache.kafka.clients.producer.KafkaProducer;
+import java.util.concurrent.ExecutorService;
+import org.apache.kafka.clients.producer.Producer;
 
 class Module extends AbstractModule {
-
   private final KafkaApiModule kafkaBrokerModule;
+  private final KafkaProperties kafkaConf;
+  private final WorkQueue workQueue;
   private final KafkaPublisherProperties configuration;
 
   @Inject
-  public Module(KafkaApiModule kafkaBrokerModule, KafkaPublisherProperties configuration) {
+  public Module(
+      KafkaApiModule kafkaBrokerModule,
+      KafkaPublisherProperties configuration,
+      KafkaProperties kafkaConf,
+      WorkQueue workQueue) {
     this.kafkaBrokerModule = kafkaBrokerModule;
     this.configuration = configuration;
+    this.kafkaConf = kafkaConf;
+    this.workQueue = workQueue;
   }
 
   @Override
@@ -45,8 +63,25 @@
       DynamicSet.bind(binder(), EventListener.class).to(KafkaPublisher.class);
     }
 
-    bind(new TypeLiteral<KafkaProducer<String, String>>() {})
-        .toProvider(KafkaProducerProvider.class);
+    ClientType clientType = kafkaConf.getClientType();
+    switch (clientType) {
+      case NATIVE:
+        bind(new TypeLiteral<Producer<String, String>>() {})
+            .toProvider(KafkaProducerProvider.class);
+        break;
+      case REST:
+        bind(ExecutorService.class)
+            .annotatedWith(FutureExecutor.class)
+            .toInstance(
+                workQueue.createQueue(
+                    kafkaConf.getRestApiThreads(), "KafkaRestClientThreadPool", true));
+        bind(HttpHostProxy.class).toProvider(HttpHostProxyProvider.class).in(Scopes.SINGLETON);
+        bind(new TypeLiteral<Producer<String, String>>() {}).to(KafkaRestProducer.class);
+        install(new FactoryModuleBuilder().build(KafkaRestClient.Factory.class));
+        break;
+      default:
+        throw new IllegalArgumentException("Unsupported Kafka client type " + clientType);
+    }
 
     install(kafkaBrokerModule);
   }
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/api/KafkaApiModule.java b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/api/KafkaApiModule.java
index a128af8..d3ee3f1 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/api/KafkaApiModule.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/api/KafkaApiModule.java
@@ -15,7 +15,9 @@
 package com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.api;
 
 import com.gerritforge.gerrit.eventbroker.BrokerApi;
+import com.gerritforge.gerrit.eventbroker.ExtendedBrokerApi;
 import com.gerritforge.gerrit.eventbroker.TopicSubscriber;
+import com.gerritforge.gerrit.eventbroker.TopicSubscriberWithGroupId;
 import com.google.common.collect.Sets;
 import com.google.gerrit.extensions.registration.DynamicItem;
 import com.google.gerrit.lifecycle.LifecycleModule;
@@ -25,9 +27,14 @@
 import com.google.inject.Scopes;
 import com.google.inject.Singleton;
 import com.google.inject.TypeLiteral;
+import com.google.inject.assistedinject.FactoryModuleBuilder;
 import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.broker.ConsumerExecutor;
+import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.config.KafkaProperties.ClientType;
 import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.config.KafkaSubscriberProperties;
 import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.subscribe.KafkaEventDeserializer;
+import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.subscribe.KafkaEventNativeSubscriber;
+import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.subscribe.KafkaEventRestSubscriber;
+import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.subscribe.KafkaEventSubscriber;
 import java.util.Set;
 import java.util.concurrent.ExecutorService;
 import org.apache.kafka.common.serialization.ByteArrayDeserializer;
@@ -36,6 +43,7 @@
 @Singleton
 public class KafkaApiModule extends LifecycleModule {
   private Set<TopicSubscriber> activeConsumers = Sets.newHashSet();
+  private Set<TopicSubscriberWithGroupId> activeConsumersWithGroupId = Sets.newHashSet();
   private WorkQueue workQueue;
   private KafkaSubscriberProperties configuration;
 
@@ -48,12 +56,33 @@
   @Inject(optional = true)
   public void setPreviousBrokerApi(DynamicItem<BrokerApi> previousBrokerApi) {
     if (previousBrokerApi != null && previousBrokerApi.get() != null) {
-      this.activeConsumers = previousBrokerApi.get().topicSubscribers();
+      BrokerApi api = previousBrokerApi.get();
+      if (api instanceof ExtendedBrokerApi) {
+        this.activeConsumersWithGroupId = ((ExtendedBrokerApi) api).topicSubscribersWithGroupId();
+      }
+      this.activeConsumers = api.topicSubscribers();
     }
   }
 
   @Override
   protected void configure() {
+    ClientType clientType = configuration.getClientType();
+    switch (clientType) {
+      case NATIVE:
+        install(
+            new FactoryModuleBuilder()
+                .implement(KafkaEventSubscriber.class, KafkaEventNativeSubscriber.class)
+                .build(KafkaEventSubscriber.Factory.class));
+        break;
+      case REST:
+        install(
+            new FactoryModuleBuilder()
+                .implement(KafkaEventSubscriber.class, KafkaEventRestSubscriber.class)
+                .build(KafkaEventSubscriber.Factory.class));
+        break;
+      default:
+        throw new IllegalArgumentException("Unsupported Kafka client type " + clientType);
+    }
 
     bind(ExecutorService.class)
         .annotatedWith(ConsumerExecutor.class)
@@ -63,6 +92,8 @@
     bind(new TypeLiteral<Deserializer<byte[]>>() {}).toInstance(new ByteArrayDeserializer());
     bind(new TypeLiteral<Deserializer<Event>>() {}).to(KafkaEventDeserializer.class);
     bind(new TypeLiteral<Set<TopicSubscriber>>() {}).toInstance(activeConsumers);
+    bind(new TypeLiteral<Set<TopicSubscriberWithGroupId>>() {})
+        .toInstance(activeConsumersWithGroupId);
 
     DynamicItem.bind(binder(), BrokerApi.class).to(KafkaBrokerApi.class).in(Scopes.SINGLETON);
   }
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/api/KafkaBrokerApi.java b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/api/KafkaBrokerApi.java
index 3ec21e0..d1d6961 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/api/KafkaBrokerApi.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/api/KafkaBrokerApi.java
@@ -14,31 +14,32 @@
 
 package com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.api;
 
-import com.gerritforge.gerrit.eventbroker.BrokerApi;
+import com.gerritforge.gerrit.eventbroker.ExtendedBrokerApi;
 import com.gerritforge.gerrit.eventbroker.TopicSubscriber;
+import com.gerritforge.gerrit.eventbroker.TopicSubscriberWithGroupId;
 import com.google.common.util.concurrent.ListenableFuture;
 import com.google.gerrit.server.events.Event;
 import com.google.inject.Inject;
-import com.google.inject.Provider;
 import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.publish.KafkaPublisher;
 import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.subscribe.KafkaEventSubscriber;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Optional;
 import java.util.Set;
 import java.util.function.Consumer;
 import java.util.stream.Collectors;
 
-public class KafkaBrokerApi implements BrokerApi {
+public class KafkaBrokerApi implements ExtendedBrokerApi {
 
   private final KafkaPublisher publisher;
-  private final Provider<KafkaEventSubscriber> subscriberProvider;
+  private final KafkaEventSubscriber.Factory kafkaEventSubscriberFactory;
   private List<KafkaEventSubscriber> subscribers;
 
   @Inject
   public KafkaBrokerApi(
-      KafkaPublisher publisher, Provider<KafkaEventSubscriber> subscriberProvider) {
+      KafkaPublisher publisher, KafkaEventSubscriber.Factory kafkaEventSubscriberFactory) {
     this.publisher = publisher;
-    this.subscriberProvider = subscriberProvider;
+    this.kafkaEventSubscriberFactory = kafkaEventSubscriberFactory;
     subscribers = new ArrayList<>();
   }
 
@@ -49,11 +50,12 @@
 
   @Override
   public void receiveAsync(String topic, Consumer<Event> eventConsumer) {
-    KafkaEventSubscriber subscriber = subscriberProvider.get();
-    synchronized (subscribers) {
-      subscribers.add(subscriber);
-    }
-    subscriber.subscribe(topic, eventConsumer);
+    receiveAsync(topic, eventConsumer, Optional.empty());
+  }
+
+  @Override
+  public void receiveAsync(String topic, String groupId, Consumer<Event> eventConsumer) {
+    receiveAsync(topic, eventConsumer, Optional.ofNullable(groupId));
   }
 
   @Override
@@ -67,14 +69,36 @@
   @Override
   public Set<TopicSubscriber> topicSubscribers() {
     return subscribers.stream()
+        .filter(s -> !s.getExternalGroupId().isPresent())
         .map(s -> TopicSubscriber.topicSubscriber(s.getTopic(), s.getMessageProcessor()))
         .collect(Collectors.toSet());
   }
 
   @Override
+  public Set<TopicSubscriberWithGroupId> topicSubscribersWithGroupId() {
+    return subscribers.stream()
+        .filter(s -> s.getExternalGroupId().isPresent())
+        .map(
+            s ->
+                TopicSubscriberWithGroupId.topicSubscriberWithGroupId(
+                    s.getExternalGroupId().get(),
+                    TopicSubscriber.topicSubscriber(s.getTopic(), s.getMessageProcessor())))
+        .collect(Collectors.toSet());
+  }
+
+  @Override
   public void replayAllEvents(String topic) {
     subscribers.stream()
         .filter(subscriber -> topic.equals(subscriber.getTopic()))
         .forEach(subscriber -> subscriber.resetOffset());
   }
+
+  private void receiveAsync(
+      String topic, Consumer<Event> eventConsumer, Optional<String> externalGroupId) {
+    KafkaEventSubscriber subscriber = kafkaEventSubscriberFactory.create(externalGroupId);
+    synchronized (subscribers) {
+      subscribers.add(subscriber);
+    }
+    subscriber.subscribe(topic, eventConsumer);
+  }
 }
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/config/KafkaProperties.java b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/config/KafkaProperties.java
index 0c58c1b..05cda98 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/config/KafkaProperties.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/config/KafkaProperties.java
@@ -17,18 +17,42 @@
 import com.google.common.annotations.VisibleForTesting;
 import com.google.common.base.CaseFormat;
 import com.google.common.base.Strings;
+import com.google.gerrit.common.Nullable;
 import com.google.gerrit.extensions.annotations.PluginName;
+import com.google.gerrit.server.config.ConfigUtil;
 import com.google.gerrit.server.config.PluginConfig;
 import com.google.gerrit.server.config.PluginConfigFactory;
 import com.google.inject.Inject;
 import com.google.inject.Singleton;
+import java.net.URI;
+import java.net.URISyntaxException;
+import java.time.Duration;
 import java.util.UUID;
+import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
 import org.apache.kafka.clients.consumer.ConsumerConfig;
 import org.apache.kafka.clients.producer.ProducerConfig;
 import org.apache.kafka.common.serialization.StringSerializer;
 
 @Singleton
 public class KafkaProperties extends java.util.Properties {
+  public static final String REST_API_URI_ID_PLACEHOLDER = "${kafka_rest_id}";
+
+  private static final String PROPERTY_HTTP_WIRE_LOG = "httpWireLog";
+  private static final boolean DEFAULT_HTTP_WIRE_LOG = false;
+  private static final String PROPERTY_REST_API_URI = "restApiUri";
+  private static final String PROPERTY_REST_API_USERNAME = "restApiUsername";
+  private static final String PROPERTY_REST_API_PASSWORD = "restApiPassword";
+  private static final String PROPERTY_REST_API_TIMEOUT = "restApiTimeout";
+  private static final Duration DEFAULT_REST_API_TIMEOUT = Duration.ofSeconds(60);
+  private static final String PROPERTY_REST_API_THREADS = "restApiThreads";
+  private static final int DEFAULT_REST_API_THREADS = 10;
+  private static final String PROPERTY_CLIENT_TYPE = "clientType";
+  private static final ClientType DEFAULT_CLIENT_TYPE = ClientType.NATIVE;
+  private static final String PROPERTY_SEND_ASYNC = "sendAsync";
+  private static final boolean DEFAULT_SEND_ASYNC = true;
+  private static final String PROPERTY_STREAM_EVENTS_TOPIC_NAME = "topic";
+  private static final String DEFAULT_STREAM_EVENTS_TOPIC_NAME = "gerrit";
+
   private static final long serialVersionUID = 0L;
   public static final String SEND_STREAM_EVENTS_FIELD = "sendStreamEvents";
   public static final String STREAM_EVENTS_TOPIC_FIELD = "topic";
@@ -40,31 +64,93 @@
 
   public static final String KAFKA_STRING_SERIALIZER = StringSerializer.class.getName();
 
+  public enum ClientType {
+    NATIVE,
+    REST;
+  }
+
   private final String topic;
   private final boolean sendAsync;
   private final boolean sendStreamEvents;
+  private final ClientType clientType;
+  private final String restApiUriString;
+  private final String restApiUsername;
+  private final String restApiPassword;
+  private final boolean httpWireLog;
+  private final Duration restApiTimeout;
+  private final int restApiThreads;
 
   @Inject
   public KafkaProperties(PluginConfigFactory configFactory, @PluginName String pluginName) {
     super();
     setDefaults();
     PluginConfig fromGerritConfig = configFactory.getFromGerritConfig(pluginName);
-    topic = fromGerritConfig.getString(STREAM_EVENTS_TOPIC_FIELD, STREAM_EVENTS_TOPIC_DEFAULT);
-    sendAsync = fromGerritConfig.getBoolean(SEND_ASYNC_FIELD, SEND_ASYNC_DEFAULT);
     sendStreamEvents =
         fromGerritConfig.getBoolean(SEND_STREAM_EVENTS_FIELD, SEND_STREAM_EVENTS_DEFAULT);
+    topic =
+        fromGerritConfig.getString(
+            PROPERTY_STREAM_EVENTS_TOPIC_NAME, DEFAULT_STREAM_EVENTS_TOPIC_NAME);
+    sendAsync = fromGerritConfig.getBoolean(PROPERTY_SEND_ASYNC, DEFAULT_SEND_ASYNC);
+    clientType = fromGerritConfig.getEnum(PROPERTY_CLIENT_TYPE, DEFAULT_CLIENT_TYPE);
+
+    switch (clientType) {
+      case REST:
+        restApiUriString = fromGerritConfig.getString(PROPERTY_REST_API_URI);
+        if (Strings.isNullOrEmpty(restApiUriString)) {
+          throw new IllegalArgumentException("Missing REST API URI in Kafka properties");
+        }
+
+        restApiUsername = fromGerritConfig.getString(PROPERTY_REST_API_USERNAME);
+        restApiPassword = fromGerritConfig.getString(PROPERTY_REST_API_PASSWORD);
+        if (!Strings.isNullOrEmpty(restApiUsername) && Strings.isNullOrEmpty(restApiPassword)) {
+          throw new IllegalArgumentException("Missing REST API password in kafka properties");
+        }
+
+        httpWireLog = fromGerritConfig.getBoolean(PROPERTY_HTTP_WIRE_LOG, DEFAULT_HTTP_WIRE_LOG);
+        restApiTimeout =
+            Duration.ofMillis(
+                ConfigUtil.getTimeUnit(
+                    fromGerritConfig.getString(PROPERTY_REST_API_TIMEOUT),
+                    DEFAULT_REST_API_TIMEOUT.toMillis(),
+                    TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS));
+        restApiThreads =
+            fromGerritConfig.getInt(PROPERTY_REST_API_THREADS, DEFAULT_REST_API_THREADS);
+        break;
+      case NATIVE:
+      default:
+        restApiUriString = null;
+        restApiUsername = null;
+        restApiPassword = null;
+        httpWireLog = false;
+        restApiTimeout = null;
+        restApiThreads = 0;
+        break;
+    }
+
     applyConfig(fromGerritConfig);
     initDockerizedKafkaServer();
   }
 
   @VisibleForTesting
-  public KafkaProperties(boolean sendAsync) {
+  public KafkaProperties(
+      boolean sendAsync,
+      ClientType clientType,
+      @Nullable String restApiUriString,
+      @Nullable String restApiUsername,
+      @Nullable String restApiPassword) {
     super();
     setDefaults();
-    topic = "gerrit";
+    topic = DEFAULT_STREAM_EVENTS_TOPIC_NAME;
     this.sendAsync = sendAsync;
     this.sendStreamEvents = true;
+    this.clientType = clientType;
+    this.restApiUriString = restApiUriString;
     initDockerizedKafkaServer();
+    this.httpWireLog = false;
+    restApiTimeout = DEFAULT_REST_API_TIMEOUT;
+    restApiThreads = DEFAULT_REST_API_THREADS;
+    this.restApiUsername = restApiUsername;
+    this.restApiPassword = restApiPassword;
   }
 
   private void setDefaults() {
@@ -114,4 +200,36 @@
   public boolean isSendStreamEvents() {
     return sendStreamEvents;
   }
+
+  public ClientType getClientType() {
+    return clientType;
+  }
+
+  public URI getRestApiUri() throws URISyntaxException {
+    return getRestApiUri("");
+  }
+
+  public String getRestApiUsername() {
+    return restApiUsername;
+  }
+
+  public String getRestApiPassword() {
+    return restApiPassword;
+  }
+
+  public URI getRestApiUri(String kafkaRestId) throws URISyntaxException {
+    return new URI(restApiUriString.replace(REST_API_URI_ID_PLACEHOLDER, kafkaRestId));
+  }
+
+  public boolean isHttpWireLog() {
+    return httpWireLog;
+  }
+
+  public Duration getRestApiTimeout() {
+    return restApiTimeout;
+  }
+
+  public int getRestApiThreads() {
+    return restApiThreads;
+  }
 }
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/config/KafkaSubscriberProperties.java b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/config/KafkaSubscriberProperties.java
index 94e8e62..f9100ef 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/config/KafkaSubscriberProperties.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/config/KafkaSubscriberProperties.java
@@ -43,8 +43,21 @@
   }
 
   @VisibleForTesting
-  public KafkaSubscriberProperties(int pollingInterval, String groupId, int numberOfSubscribers) {
-    super(true);
+  public KafkaSubscriberProperties(
+      int pollingInterval, String groupId, int numberOfSubscribers, ClientType clientType) {
+    this(pollingInterval, groupId, numberOfSubscribers, clientType, null, null, null);
+  }
+
+  @VisibleForTesting
+  public KafkaSubscriberProperties(
+      int pollingInterval,
+      String groupId,
+      int numberOfSubscribers,
+      ClientType clientType,
+      String restApiUriString,
+      String restApiUsername,
+      String restApiPassword) {
+    super(true, clientType, restApiUriString, restApiUsername, restApiPassword);
     this.pollingInterval = pollingInterval;
     this.groupId = groupId;
     this.numberOfSubscribers = numberOfSubscribers;
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/publish/KafkaRestProducer.java b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/publish/KafkaRestProducer.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8799cef
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/publish/KafkaRestProducer.java
@@ -0,0 +1,137 @@
+// Copyright (C) 2021 The Android Open Source Project
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+// http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.publish;
+
+import com.google.common.flogger.FluentLogger;
+import com.google.common.util.concurrent.Futures;
+import com.google.inject.Inject;
+import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.config.KafkaProperties;
+import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.rest.KafkaRestClient;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.concurrent.Future;
+import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
+import org.apache.http.HttpStatus;
+import org.apache.http.client.methods.HttpPost;
+import org.apache.http.entity.ContentType;
+import org.apache.http.entity.StringEntity;
+import org.apache.kafka.clients.consumer.OffsetAndMetadata;
+import org.apache.kafka.clients.producer.Callback;
+import org.apache.kafka.clients.producer.Producer;
+import org.apache.kafka.clients.producer.ProducerRecord;
+import org.apache.kafka.clients.producer.RecordMetadata;
+import org.apache.kafka.common.Metric;
+import org.apache.kafka.common.MetricName;
+import org.apache.kafka.common.PartitionInfo;
+import org.apache.kafka.common.TopicPartition;
+import org.apache.kafka.common.errors.ProducerFencedException;
+
+public class KafkaRestProducer implements Producer<String, String> {
+  private static final RecordMetadata ZEROS_RECORD_METADATA =
+      new RecordMetadata(null, 0, 0, 0, null, 0, 0);
+  private static final FluentLogger logger = FluentLogger.forEnclosingClass();
+  private static final String KAFKA_V2_JSON = "application/vnd.kafka.json.v2+json";
+  private final KafkaRestClient restClient;
+
+  @Inject
+  public KafkaRestProducer(KafkaProperties kafkaConf, KafkaRestClient.Factory restClientFactory) {
+    restClient = restClientFactory.create(kafkaConf);
+  }
+
+  @Override
+  public void initTransactions() {
+    unsupported();
+  }
+
+  @Override
+  public void beginTransaction() throws ProducerFencedException {
+    unsupported();
+  }
+
+  @Override
+  public void sendOffsetsToTransaction(
+      Map<TopicPartition, OffsetAndMetadata> offsets, String consumerGroupId)
+      throws ProducerFencedException {
+    unsupported();
+  }
+
+  @Override
+  public void commitTransaction() throws ProducerFencedException {
+    unsupported();
+  }
+
+  @Override
+  public void abortTransaction() throws ProducerFencedException {
+    unsupported();
+  }
+
+  @Override
+  public Future<RecordMetadata> send(ProducerRecord<String, String> record) {
+    return send(record, null);
+  }
+
+  @Override
+  public Future<RecordMetadata> send(ProducerRecord<String, String> record, Callback callback) {
+    HttpPost post =
+        restClient.createPostToTopic(
+            record.topic(),
+            new StringEntity(
+                getRecordAsJson(record),
+                ContentType.create(KAFKA_V2_JSON, StandardCharsets.UTF_8)));
+    return restClient.mapAsync(
+        restClient.execute(post, HttpStatus.SC_OK),
+        (res) -> Futures.immediateFuture(ZEROS_RECORD_METADATA));
+  }
+
+  @Override
+  public void flush() {
+    unsupported();
+  }
+
+  @Override
+  public List<PartitionInfo> partitionsFor(String topic) {
+    return unsupported();
+  }
+
+  @Override
+  public Map<MetricName, ? extends Metric> metrics() {
+    return unsupported();
+  }
+
+  @Override
+  public void close() {
+    try {
+      restClient.close();
+    } catch (IOException e) {
+      logger.atWarning().withCause(e).log("Unable to close httpclient");
+    }
+  }
+
+  @Override
+  public void close(long timeout, TimeUnit unit) {
+    close();
+  }
+
+  private String getRecordAsJson(ProducerRecord<String, String> record) {
+    return String.format(
+        "{\"records\":[{\"key\":\"%s\",\"value\":%s}]}", record.key(), record.value());
+  }
+
+  private <T> T unsupported() {
+    throw new IllegalArgumentException("Unsupported method");
+  }
+}
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/rest/FutureExecutor.java b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/rest/FutureExecutor.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2ff0840
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/rest/FutureExecutor.java
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+// Copyright (C) 2021 The Android Open Source Project
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+// http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.rest;
+
+import com.google.inject.BindingAnnotation;
+import java.lang.annotation.Retention;
+import java.lang.annotation.RetentionPolicy;
+
+@Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
+@BindingAnnotation
+public @interface FutureExecutor {}
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/rest/HttpAsyncClientBuilderFactory.java b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/rest/HttpAsyncClientBuilderFactory.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ec50bf6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/rest/HttpAsyncClientBuilderFactory.java
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+// Copyright (C) 2011 The Android Open Source Project
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+// http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.rest;
+
+import com.google.common.base.Strings;
+import com.google.inject.Inject;
+import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.config.KafkaProperties;
+import java.net.URISyntaxException;
+import org.apache.http.auth.AuthScope;
+import org.apache.http.auth.UsernamePasswordCredentials;
+import org.apache.http.client.CredentialsProvider;
+import org.apache.http.impl.client.BasicCredentialsProvider;
+import org.apache.http.impl.nio.client.HttpAsyncClientBuilder;
+import org.apache.http.impl.nio.client.HttpAsyncClients;
+
+/** Looks up a remote's password in secure.config. */
+public class HttpAsyncClientBuilderFactory {
+  private final KafkaProperties config;
+
+  @Inject
+  public HttpAsyncClientBuilderFactory(KafkaProperties config) {
+    this.config = config;
+  }
+
+  public HttpAsyncClientBuilder create() throws URISyntaxException {
+    String user = config.getRestApiUsername();
+    String pass = config.getRestApiPassword();
+    HttpAsyncClientBuilder httpAsyncClientBuilder = HttpAsyncClients.custom();
+    if (!Strings.isNullOrEmpty(user) && !Strings.isNullOrEmpty(pass)) {
+      CredentialsProvider credsProvider = new BasicCredentialsProvider();
+      credsProvider.setCredentials(
+          new AuthScope(config.getRestApiUri().getHost(), config.getRestApiUri().getPort()),
+          new UsernamePasswordCredentials(user, pass));
+      httpAsyncClientBuilder.setDefaultCredentialsProvider(credsProvider);
+    }
+    return httpAsyncClientBuilder;
+  }
+}
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/rest/HttpHostProxy.java b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/rest/HttpHostProxy.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..595b95a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/rest/HttpHostProxy.java
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+// Copyright (C) 2021 The Android Open Source Project
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+// http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.rest;
+
+import com.google.gerrit.common.Nullable;
+import java.net.URL;
+import org.apache.http.HttpHost;
+import org.apache.http.auth.AuthScope;
+import org.apache.http.auth.UsernamePasswordCredentials;
+import org.apache.http.client.CredentialsProvider;
+import org.apache.http.client.config.RequestConfig.Builder;
+import org.apache.http.impl.client.BasicCredentialsProvider;
+import org.apache.http.impl.nio.client.HttpAsyncClientBuilder;
+
+public class HttpHostProxy {
+  private final URL proxyUrl;
+  private final String username;
+  private final String password;
+
+  public HttpHostProxy(URL proxyUrl, @Nullable String username, @Nullable String password) {
+    this.proxyUrl = proxyUrl;
+    this.username = username;
+    this.password = password;
+  }
+
+  public Builder apply(Builder clientBuilder) {
+    if (proxyUrl != null) {
+      clientBuilder.setProxy(
+          new HttpHost(proxyUrl.getHost(), proxyUrl.getPort(), proxyUrl.getProtocol()));
+    }
+    return clientBuilder;
+  }
+
+  public HttpAsyncClientBuilder apply(HttpAsyncClientBuilder custom) {
+    if (proxyUrl != null && username != null && password != null) {
+      CredentialsProvider credsProvider = new BasicCredentialsProvider();
+      credsProvider.setCredentials(
+          new AuthScope(proxyUrl.getHost(), proxyUrl.getPort()),
+          new UsernamePasswordCredentials(username, password));
+      custom.setDefaultCredentialsProvider(credsProvider);
+    }
+    return custom;
+  }
+}
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/rest/HttpHostProxyProvider.java b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/rest/HttpHostProxyProvider.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7c82ecd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/rest/HttpHostProxyProvider.java
@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
+// Copyright (C) 2021 The Android Open Source Project
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+// http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.rest;
+
+import com.google.common.base.Strings;
+import com.google.gerrit.server.config.GerritServerConfig;
+import com.google.inject.Inject;
+import com.google.inject.Provider;
+import java.net.MalformedURLException;
+import java.net.URL;
+import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.Config;
+
+public class HttpHostProxyProvider implements Provider<HttpHostProxy> {
+  private URL proxyUrl;
+  private String proxyUser;
+  private String proxyPassword;
+
+  @Inject
+  HttpHostProxyProvider(@GerritServerConfig Config config) throws MalformedURLException {
+    String proxyUrlStr = config.getString("http", null, "proxy");
+    if (!Strings.isNullOrEmpty(proxyUrlStr)) {
+      proxyUrl = new URL(proxyUrlStr);
+      proxyUser = config.getString("http", null, "proxyUsername");
+      proxyPassword = config.getString("http", null, "proxyPassword");
+      String userInfo = proxyUrl.getUserInfo();
+      if (userInfo != null) {
+        int c = userInfo.indexOf(':');
+        if (0 < c) {
+          proxyUser = userInfo.substring(0, c);
+          proxyPassword = userInfo.substring(c + 1);
+        } else {
+          proxyUser = userInfo;
+        }
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
+  @Override
+  public HttpHostProxy get() {
+    return new HttpHostProxy(proxyUrl, proxyUser, proxyPassword);
+  }
+}
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/rest/KafkaRestClient.java b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/rest/KafkaRestClient.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..047a96e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/rest/KafkaRestClient.java
@@ -0,0 +1,301 @@
+// Copyright (C) 2021 The Android Open Source Project
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+// http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.rest;
+
+import static java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets.UTF_8;
+
+import com.google.common.base.Function;
+import com.google.common.flogger.FluentLogger;
+import com.google.common.net.MediaType;
+import com.google.common.util.concurrent.AsyncFunction;
+import com.google.common.util.concurrent.Futures;
+import com.google.common.util.concurrent.JdkFutureAdapters;
+import com.google.common.util.concurrent.ListenableFuture;
+import com.google.gerrit.common.Nullable;
+import com.google.inject.Inject;
+import com.google.inject.assistedinject.Assisted;
+import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.config.KafkaProperties;
+import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.net.URI;
+import java.net.URISyntaxException;
+import java.net.URLEncoder;
+import java.util.Enumeration;
+import java.util.Set;
+import java.util.concurrent.ExecutorService;
+import java.util.concurrent.Future;
+import java.util.stream.Collectors;
+import org.apache.http.HttpEntity;
+import org.apache.http.HttpHeaders;
+import org.apache.http.HttpResponse;
+import org.apache.http.HttpStatus;
+import org.apache.http.client.config.RequestConfig;
+import org.apache.http.client.config.RequestConfig.Builder;
+import org.apache.http.client.methods.HttpDelete;
+import org.apache.http.client.methods.HttpGet;
+import org.apache.http.client.methods.HttpPost;
+import org.apache.http.client.methods.HttpRequestBase;
+import org.apache.http.entity.ContentType;
+import org.apache.http.entity.StringEntity;
+import org.apache.http.impl.nio.client.CloseableHttpAsyncClient;
+import org.apache.log4j.Appender;
+import org.apache.log4j.AppenderSkeleton;
+import org.apache.log4j.Level;
+import org.apache.log4j.LogManager;
+import org.apache.log4j.Logger;
+
+public class KafkaRestClient {
+  private static final FluentLogger logger = FluentLogger.forEnclosingClass();
+  private static final String KAFKA_V2_JSON = "application/vnd.kafka.json.v2+json";
+  private static final String KAFKA_V2 = "application/vnd.kafka.v2+json";
+
+  private final HttpHostProxy proxy;
+  private final CloseableHttpAsyncClient httpclient;
+  private final ExecutorService futureExecutor;
+  private final int kafkaRestApiTimeoutMsec;
+  private final KafkaProperties configuration;
+
+  private static boolean logConfigured;
+
+  public interface Factory {
+    KafkaRestClient create(KafkaProperties configuration);
+  }
+
+  @Inject
+  public KafkaRestClient(
+      HttpHostProxy httpHostProxy,
+      @FutureExecutor ExecutorService executor,
+      HttpAsyncClientBuilderFactory credentialsFactory,
+      @Assisted KafkaProperties configuration)
+      throws URISyntaxException {
+    proxy = httpHostProxy;
+    httpclient = proxy.apply(credentialsFactory.create()).build();
+    httpclient.start();
+    this.configuration = configuration;
+    kafkaRestApiTimeoutMsec = (int) configuration.getRestApiTimeout().toMillis();
+    if (configuration.isHttpWireLog()) {
+      enableHttpWireLog();
+    }
+    this.futureExecutor = executor;
+  }
+
+  public static void enableHttpWireLog() {
+    if (!logConfigured) {
+      Logger httpWireLoggger = Logger.getLogger("org.apache.http.wire");
+      httpWireLoggger.setLevel(Level.DEBUG);
+
+      @SuppressWarnings("rawtypes")
+      Enumeration rootLoggerAppenders = LogManager.getRootLogger().getAllAppenders();
+      while (rootLoggerAppenders.hasMoreElements()) {
+        Appender logAppender = (Appender) rootLoggerAppenders.nextElement();
+        if (logAppender instanceof AppenderSkeleton) {
+          ((AppenderSkeleton) logAppender).setThreshold(Level.DEBUG);
+        }
+        httpWireLoggger.addAppender(logAppender);
+      }
+
+      logConfigured = true;
+    }
+  }
+
+  public ListenableFuture<HttpResponse> execute(HttpRequestBase request, int... expectedStatuses) {
+    return Futures.transformAsync(
+        listenableFutureOf(httpclient.execute(request, null)),
+        (res) -> {
+          IOException exc =
+              getResponseException(
+                  String.format("HTTP %s %s FAILED", request.getMethod(), request.getURI()),
+                  res,
+                  expectedStatuses);
+          if (exc == null) {
+            return Futures.immediateFuture(res);
+          }
+          return Futures.immediateFailedFuture(exc);
+        },
+        futureExecutor);
+  }
+
+  public <I, O> ListenableFuture<O> mapAsync(
+      ListenableFuture<I> inputFuture, AsyncFunction<? super I, ? extends O> mapFunction) {
+    return Futures.transformAsync(inputFuture, mapFunction, futureExecutor);
+  }
+
+  public <I, O> ListenableFuture<O> map(
+      ListenableFuture<I> inputFuture, Function<? super I, ? extends O> mapFunction) {
+    return Futures.transform(inputFuture, mapFunction, futureExecutor);
+  }
+
+  public HttpGet createGetTopic(String topic) {
+    HttpGet get = new HttpGet(resolveKafkaRestApiUri("/topics/" + topic));
+    get.addHeader(HttpHeaders.ACCEPT, KAFKA_V2);
+    get.setConfig(createRequestConfig());
+    return get;
+  }
+
+  public HttpGet createGetRecords(URI consumerUri) {
+    HttpGet get = new HttpGet(consumerUri.resolve(consumerUri.getPath() + "/records"));
+    get.addHeader(HttpHeaders.ACCEPT, KAFKA_V2_JSON);
+    get.setConfig(createRequestConfig());
+    return get;
+  }
+
+  public HttpPost createPostToConsumer(String consumerGroup) {
+    HttpPost post =
+        new HttpPost(
+            resolveKafkaRestApiUri("/consumers/" + URLEncoder.encode(consumerGroup, UTF_8)));
+    post.addHeader(HttpHeaders.ACCEPT, MediaType.ANY_TYPE.toString());
+    post.setConfig(createRequestConfig());
+    post.setEntity(
+        new StringEntity(
+            "{\"format\": \"json\",\"auto.offset.reset\": \"earliest\", \"auto.commit.enable\":\"true\", \"consumer.request.timeout.ms\": \"1000\"}",
+            ContentType.create(KAFKA_V2, UTF_8)));
+    return post;
+  }
+
+  public HttpDelete createDeleteToConsumer(URI consumerUri) {
+    HttpDelete delete = new HttpDelete(consumerUri);
+    delete.addHeader(HttpHeaders.ACCEPT, "*/*");
+    delete.setConfig(createRequestConfig());
+    return delete;
+  }
+
+  public HttpDelete createDeleteToConsumerSubscriptions(URI consumerUri) {
+    URI subscriptionUri = consumerUri.resolve("subscription");
+    HttpDelete delete = new HttpDelete(subscriptionUri);
+    delete.addHeader(HttpHeaders.ACCEPT, "*/*");
+    delete.setConfig(createRequestConfig());
+    return delete;
+  }
+
+  public HttpPost createPostToSubscribe(URI consumerUri, String topic) {
+    HttpPost post = new HttpPost(consumerUri.resolve(consumerUri.getPath() + "/subscription"));
+    post.addHeader(HttpHeaders.ACCEPT, "*/*");
+    post.setConfig(createRequestConfig());
+    post.setEntity(
+        new StringEntity(
+            String.format("{\"topics\":[\"%s\"]}", topic), ContentType.create(KAFKA_V2, UTF_8)));
+    return post;
+  }
+
+  public HttpPost createPostToTopic(String topic, HttpEntity postBodyEntity) {
+    HttpPost post =
+        new HttpPost(resolveKafkaRestApiUri("/topics/" + URLEncoder.encode(topic, UTF_8)));
+    post.addHeader(HttpHeaders.ACCEPT, "*/*");
+    post.setConfig(createRequestConfig());
+    post.setEntity(postBodyEntity);
+    return post;
+  }
+
+  public HttpPost createPostSeekTopicFromBeginning(
+      URI consumerUri, String topic, Set<Integer> partitions) {
+    HttpPost post =
+        new HttpPost(consumerUri.resolve(consumerUri.getPath() + "/positions/beginning"));
+    post.addHeader(HttpHeaders.ACCEPT, "*/*");
+    post.setConfig(createRequestConfig());
+    post.setEntity(
+        new StringEntity(
+            String.format(
+                "{\"partitions\":[%s]}",
+                partitions.stream()
+                    .map(
+                        partition ->
+                            String.format("{\"topic\":\"%s\",\"partition\":%d}", topic, partition))
+                    .collect(Collectors.joining(","))),
+            ContentType.create(KAFKA_V2, UTF_8)));
+    return post;
+  }
+
+  @Nullable
+  public IOException getResponseException(
+      String errorMessage, HttpResponse response, int... okHttpStatuses) {
+    int responseHttpStatus = response.getStatusLine().getStatusCode();
+    if (okHttpStatuses.length == 0) {
+      okHttpStatuses =
+          new int[] {HttpStatus.SC_OK, HttpStatus.SC_CREATED, HttpStatus.SC_NO_CONTENT};
+    }
+    for (int httpStatus : okHttpStatuses) {
+      if (responseHttpStatus == httpStatus) {
+        return null;
+      }
+    }
+
+    String responseBody = "";
+    try {
+      responseBody = getStringEntity(response);
+    } catch (IOException e) {
+      logger.atWarning().withCause(e).log(
+          "Unable to extrace the string entity for response %d (%s)",
+          response.getStatusLine().getStatusCode(), response.getStatusLine().getReasonPhrase());
+    }
+
+    return new IOException(
+        String.format(
+            "%s\nHTTP status %d (%s)\n%s",
+            errorMessage,
+            response.getStatusLine().getStatusCode(),
+            response.getStatusLine().getReasonPhrase(),
+            responseBody));
+  }
+
+  protected String getStringEntity(HttpResponse response) throws IOException {
+    HttpEntity entity = response.getEntity();
+    if (entity != null) {
+      try (ByteArrayOutputStream outStream = new ByteArrayOutputStream()) {
+        entity.writeTo(outStream);
+        outStream.close();
+        return outStream.toString(UTF_8);
+      }
+    }
+    return "";
+  }
+
+  private <V> ListenableFuture<V> listenableFutureOf(Future<V> future) {
+    return JdkFutureAdapters.listenInPoolThread(future, futureExecutor);
+  }
+
+  private RequestConfig createRequestConfig() {
+    Builder configBuilder =
+        RequestConfig.custom()
+            .setConnectionRequestTimeout(kafkaRestApiTimeoutMsec)
+            .setConnectTimeout(kafkaRestApiTimeoutMsec)
+            .setSocketTimeout(kafkaRestApiTimeoutMsec);
+    configBuilder = proxy.apply(configBuilder);
+    RequestConfig config = configBuilder.build();
+    return config;
+  }
+
+  public void close() throws IOException {
+    httpclient.close();
+  }
+
+  public URI resolveKafkaRestApiUri(String path) {
+    try {
+      URI restApiUri = configuration.getRestApiUri();
+      return restApiUri.resolve(path);
+    } catch (URISyntaxException e) {
+      throw new IllegalArgumentException("Invalid Kafka REST API URI", e);
+    }
+  }
+
+  public URI resolveKafkaRestApiUri(String kafkaRestId, String path) {
+    URI restApiUri;
+    try {
+      restApiUri = configuration.getRestApiUri(kafkaRestId);
+      return restApiUri.resolve(restApiUri.getPath() + path);
+    } catch (URISyntaxException e) {
+      throw new IllegalArgumentException("Invalid Kafka REST API URI", e);
+    }
+  }
+}
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/session/KafkaProducerProvider.java b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/session/KafkaProducerProvider.java
index b1f11f7..4fb98b2 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/session/KafkaProducerProvider.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/session/KafkaProducerProvider.java
@@ -18,8 +18,9 @@
 import com.google.inject.Provider;
 import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.config.KafkaProperties;
 import org.apache.kafka.clients.producer.KafkaProducer;
+import org.apache.kafka.clients.producer.Producer;
 
-public class KafkaProducerProvider implements Provider<KafkaProducer<String, String>> {
+public class KafkaProducerProvider implements Provider<Producer<String, String>> {
   private final KafkaProperties properties;
 
   @Inject
@@ -28,7 +29,7 @@
   }
 
   @Override
-  public KafkaProducer<String, String> get() {
+  public Producer<String, String> get() {
     return new KafkaProducer<>(properties);
   }
 }
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/session/KafkaSession.java b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/session/KafkaSession.java
index 0dc29e1..a0df313 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/session/KafkaSession.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/session/KafkaSession.java
@@ -23,9 +23,10 @@
 import com.google.inject.Provider;
 import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.config.KafkaProperties;
 import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.publish.KafkaEventsPublisherMetrics;
+import java.net.URI;
+import java.net.URISyntaxException;
 import java.util.Objects;
 import java.util.concurrent.Future;
-import org.apache.kafka.clients.producer.KafkaProducer;
 import org.apache.kafka.clients.producer.Producer;
 import org.apache.kafka.clients.producer.ProducerRecord;
 import org.apache.kafka.clients.producer.RecordMetadata;
@@ -36,13 +37,13 @@
 
   private static final Logger LOGGER = LoggerFactory.getLogger(KafkaSession.class);
   private final KafkaProperties properties;
-  private final Provider<KafkaProducer<String, String>> producerProvider;
+  private final Provider<Producer<String, String>> producerProvider;
   private final KafkaEventsPublisherMetrics publisherMetrics;
   private volatile Producer<String, String> producer;
 
   @Inject
   public KafkaSession(
-      Provider<KafkaProducer<String, String>> producerProvider,
+      Provider<Producer<String, String>> producerProvider,
       KafkaProperties properties,
       KafkaEventsPublisherMetrics publisherMetrics) {
     this.producerProvider = producerProvider;
@@ -63,12 +64,43 @@
       return;
     }
 
-    LOGGER.info("Connect to {}...", properties.getProperty("bootstrap.servers"));
-    /* Need to make sure that the thread of the running connection uses
-     * the correct class loader otherwize you can endup with hard to debug
-     * ClassNotFoundExceptions
-     */
-    setConnectionClassLoader();
+    switch (properties.getClientType()) {
+      case NATIVE:
+        String bootstrapServers = properties.getProperty("bootstrap.servers");
+        if (bootstrapServers == null) {
+          LOGGER.warn("No Kafka bootstrap.servers property defined: session not started.");
+          return;
+        }
+
+        LOGGER.info("Connect to {}...", bootstrapServers);
+        /* Need to make sure that the thread of the running connection uses
+         * the correct class loader otherwise you can end up with hard to debug
+         * ClassNotFoundExceptions
+         */
+        setConnectionClassLoader();
+        break;
+
+      case REST:
+        URI kafkaProxyUri;
+        try {
+          kafkaProxyUri = properties.getRestApiUri();
+        } catch (URISyntaxException e) {
+          LOGGER.error("Invalid Kafka Proxy URI: session not started", e);
+          return;
+        }
+        if (kafkaProxyUri == null) {
+          LOGGER.warn("No Kafka Proxy URL property defined: session not started.");
+          return;
+        }
+
+        LOGGER.info("Connect to {}...", kafkaProxyUri);
+        break;
+
+      default:
+        LOGGER.error("Unsupported Kafka Client Type %s", properties.getClientType());
+        return;
+    }
+
     producer = producerProvider.get();
     LOGGER.info("Connection established.");
   }
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/subscribe/KafkaConsumerFactory.java b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/subscribe/KafkaConsumerFactory.java
index 9ec109d..43bdc73 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/subscribe/KafkaConsumerFactory.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/subscribe/KafkaConsumerFactory.java
@@ -32,6 +32,11 @@
   }
 
   public Consumer<byte[], byte[]> create(Deserializer<byte[]> keyDeserializer) {
+    return create(config, keyDeserializer);
+  }
+
+  public Consumer<byte[], byte[]> create(
+      KafkaSubscriberProperties config, Deserializer<byte[]> keyDeserializer) {
     return new KafkaConsumer<>(config, keyDeserializer, new ByteArrayDeserializer());
   }
 }
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/subscribe/KafkaEventNativeSubscriber.java b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/subscribe/KafkaEventNativeSubscriber.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f8809a6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/subscribe/KafkaEventNativeSubscriber.java
@@ -0,0 +1,218 @@
+// Copyright (C) 2019 The Android Open Source Project
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+// http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+package com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.subscribe;
+
+import static java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets.UTF_8;
+
+import com.google.common.flogger.FluentLogger;
+import com.google.gerrit.server.events.Event;
+import com.google.gerrit.server.util.ManualRequestContext;
+import com.google.gerrit.server.util.OneOffRequestContext;
+import com.google.inject.Inject;
+import com.google.inject.assistedinject.Assisted;
+import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.broker.ConsumerExecutor;
+import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.config.KafkaSubscriberProperties;
+import java.time.Duration;
+import java.util.Collections;
+import java.util.Optional;
+import java.util.Random;
+import java.util.concurrent.ExecutorService;
+import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicBoolean;
+import org.apache.kafka.clients.consumer.Consumer;
+import org.apache.kafka.clients.consumer.ConsumerRecords;
+import org.apache.kafka.common.errors.WakeupException;
+import org.apache.kafka.common.serialization.Deserializer;
+
+public class KafkaEventNativeSubscriber implements KafkaEventSubscriber {
+  private static final FluentLogger logger = FluentLogger.forEnclosingClass();
+  private static final int DELAY_RECONNECT_AFTER_FAILURE_MSEC = 1000;
+
+  private final OneOffRequestContext oneOffCtx;
+  private final AtomicBoolean closed = new AtomicBoolean(false);
+
+  private final Deserializer<Event> valueDeserializer;
+  private final KafkaSubscriberProperties configuration;
+  private final ExecutorService executor;
+  private final KafkaEventSubscriberMetrics subscriberMetrics;
+  private final KafkaConsumerFactory consumerFactory;
+  private final Deserializer<byte[]> keyDeserializer;
+
+  private java.util.function.Consumer<Event> messageProcessor;
+  private String topic;
+  private AtomicBoolean resetOffset = new AtomicBoolean(false);
+
+  private volatile ReceiverJob receiver;
+  private final Optional<String> externalGroupId;
+
+  @Inject
+  public KafkaEventNativeSubscriber(
+      KafkaSubscriberProperties configuration,
+      KafkaConsumerFactory consumerFactory,
+      Deserializer<byte[]> keyDeserializer,
+      Deserializer<Event> valueDeserializer,
+      OneOffRequestContext oneOffCtx,
+      @ConsumerExecutor ExecutorService executor,
+      KafkaEventSubscriberMetrics subscriberMetrics,
+      @Assisted Optional<String> externalGroupId) {
+
+    this.oneOffCtx = oneOffCtx;
+    this.executor = executor;
+    this.subscriberMetrics = subscriberMetrics;
+    this.consumerFactory = consumerFactory;
+    this.keyDeserializer = keyDeserializer;
+    this.valueDeserializer = valueDeserializer;
+    this.externalGroupId = externalGroupId;
+    this.configuration = (KafkaSubscriberProperties) configuration.clone();
+    externalGroupId.ifPresent(gid -> this.configuration.setProperty("group.id", gid));
+  }
+
+  /* (non-Javadoc)
+   * @see com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.subscribe.KafkaEventSubscriber#subscribe(java.lang.String, java.util.function.Consumer)
+   */
+  @Override
+  public void subscribe(String topic, java.util.function.Consumer<Event> messageProcessor) {
+    this.topic = topic;
+    this.messageProcessor = messageProcessor;
+    logger.atInfo().log(
+        "Kafka consumer subscribing to topic alias [%s] for event topic [%s] with groupId [%s]",
+        topic, topic, configuration.getGroupId());
+    runReceiver(consumerFactory.create(configuration, keyDeserializer));
+  }
+
+  private void runReceiver(Consumer<byte[], byte[]> consumer) {
+    final ClassLoader previousClassLoader = Thread.currentThread().getContextClassLoader();
+    try {
+      Thread.currentThread()
+          .setContextClassLoader(KafkaEventNativeSubscriber.class.getClassLoader());
+      consumer.subscribe(Collections.singleton(topic));
+      receiver = new ReceiverJob(consumer);
+      executor.execute(receiver);
+    } finally {
+      Thread.currentThread().setContextClassLoader(previousClassLoader);
+    }
+  }
+
+  /* (non-Javadoc)
+   * @see com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.subscribe.KafkaEventSubscriber#shutdown()
+   */
+  @Override
+  public void shutdown() {
+    closed.set(true);
+    receiver.wakeup();
+  }
+
+  /* (non-Javadoc)
+   * @see com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.subscribe.KafkaEventSubscriber#getMessageProcessor()
+   */
+  @Override
+  public java.util.function.Consumer<Event> getMessageProcessor() {
+    return messageProcessor;
+  }
+
+  /* (non-Javadoc)
+   * @see com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.subscribe.KafkaEventSubscriber#getTopic()
+   */
+  @Override
+  public String getTopic() {
+    return topic;
+  }
+
+  /* (non-Javadoc)
+   * @see com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.subscribe.KafkaEventSubscriber#resetOffset()
+   */
+  @Override
+  public void resetOffset() {
+    resetOffset.set(true);
+  }
+
+  @Override
+  public Optional<String> getExternalGroupId() {
+    return externalGroupId;
+  }
+
+  private class ReceiverJob implements Runnable {
+    private final Consumer<byte[], byte[]> consumer;
+
+    public ReceiverJob(Consumer<byte[], byte[]> consumer) {
+      this.consumer = consumer;
+    }
+
+    public void wakeup() {
+      consumer.wakeup();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void run() {
+      try {
+        consume();
+      } catch (Exception e) {
+        logger.atSevere().withCause(e).log("Consumer loop of topic %s ended", topic);
+      }
+    }
+
+    private void consume() throws InterruptedException {
+      try {
+        while (!closed.get()) {
+          if (resetOffset.getAndSet(false)) {
+            // Make sure there is an assignment for this consumer
+            while (consumer.assignment().isEmpty() && !closed.get()) {
+              logger.atInfo().log(
+                  "Resetting offset: no partitions assigned to the consumer, request assignment.");
+              consumer.poll(Duration.ofMillis(configuration.getPollingInterval()));
+            }
+            consumer.seekToBeginning(consumer.assignment());
+          }
+          ConsumerRecords<byte[], byte[]> consumerRecords =
+              consumer.poll(Duration.ofMillis(configuration.getPollingInterval()));
+          consumerRecords.forEach(
+              consumerRecord -> {
+                try (ManualRequestContext ctx = oneOffCtx.open()) {
+                  Event event =
+                      valueDeserializer.deserialize(consumerRecord.topic(), consumerRecord.value());
+                  messageProcessor.accept(event);
+                } catch (Exception e) {
+                  logger.atSevere().withCause(e).log(
+                      "Malformed event '%s': [Exception: %s]",
+                      new String(consumerRecord.value(), UTF_8), e.toString());
+                  subscriberMetrics.incrementSubscriberFailedToConsumeMessage();
+                }
+              });
+        }
+      } catch (WakeupException e) {
+        // Ignore exception if closing
+        if (!closed.get()) {
+          logger.atSevere().withCause(e).log("Consumer loop of topic %s interrupted", topic);
+          reconnectAfterFailure();
+        }
+      } catch (Exception e) {
+        subscriberMetrics.incrementSubscriberFailedToPollMessages();
+        logger.atSevere().withCause(e).log(
+            "Existing consumer loop of topic %s because of a non-recoverable exception", topic);
+        reconnectAfterFailure();
+      } finally {
+        consumer.close();
+      }
+    }
+
+    private void reconnectAfterFailure() throws InterruptedException {
+      // Random delay with average of DELAY_RECONNECT_AFTER_FAILURE_MSEC
+      // for avoiding hammering exactly at the same interval in case of failure
+      long reconnectDelay =
+          DELAY_RECONNECT_AFTER_FAILURE_MSEC / 2
+              + new Random().nextInt(DELAY_RECONNECT_AFTER_FAILURE_MSEC);
+      Thread.sleep(reconnectDelay);
+      runReceiver(consumerFactory.create(configuration, keyDeserializer));
+    }
+  }
+}
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/subscribe/KafkaEventRestSubscriber.java b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/subscribe/KafkaEventRestSubscriber.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..476be1e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/subscribe/KafkaEventRestSubscriber.java
@@ -0,0 +1,375 @@
+// Copyright (C) 2021 The Android Open Source Project
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+// http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+package com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.subscribe;
+
+import static java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets.UTF_8;
+
+import com.google.common.flogger.FluentLogger;
+import com.google.common.util.concurrent.Futures;
+import com.google.common.util.concurrent.ListenableFuture;
+import com.google.gerrit.server.events.Event;
+import com.google.gerrit.server.util.ManualRequestContext;
+import com.google.gerrit.server.util.OneOffRequestContext;
+import com.google.gson.Gson;
+import com.google.gson.JsonArray;
+import com.google.gson.JsonElement;
+import com.google.gson.JsonObject;
+import com.google.inject.Inject;
+import com.google.inject.assistedinject.Assisted;
+import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.broker.ConsumerExecutor;
+import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.config.KafkaSubscriberProperties;
+import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.rest.KafkaRestClient;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.InputStreamReader;
+import java.io.Reader;
+import java.net.URI;
+import java.net.URISyntaxException;
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
+import java.util.Collections;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.Optional;
+import java.util.Random;
+import java.util.Set;
+import java.util.concurrent.ExecutionException;
+import java.util.concurrent.ExecutorService;
+import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
+import java.util.concurrent.TimeoutException;
+import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicBoolean;
+import java.util.stream.Collectors;
+import java.util.stream.Stream;
+import java.util.stream.StreamSupport;
+import org.apache.http.HttpResponse;
+import org.apache.http.HttpStatus;
+import org.apache.http.client.methods.HttpDelete;
+import org.apache.http.client.methods.HttpGet;
+import org.apache.http.client.methods.HttpPost;
+import org.apache.kafka.clients.consumer.ConsumerRecord;
+import org.apache.kafka.clients.consumer.ConsumerRecords;
+import org.apache.kafka.common.TopicPartition;
+import org.apache.kafka.common.serialization.Deserializer;
+
+public class KafkaEventRestSubscriber implements KafkaEventSubscriber {
+  private static final FluentLogger logger = FluentLogger.forEnclosingClass();
+  private static final int DELAY_RECONNECT_AFTER_FAILURE_MSEC = 1000;
+  // Prefix is a length of 'rest-consumer-' string
+  private static final int INSTANCE_ID_PREFIX_LEN = 14;
+  /**
+   * Suffix is a length of a unique identifier for example: '-9836fe85-d838-4722-97c9-4a7b-34e834d'
+   */
+  private static final int INSTANCE_ID_SUFFIX_LEN = 37;
+
+  private final OneOffRequestContext oneOffCtx;
+  private final AtomicBoolean closed = new AtomicBoolean(false);
+
+  private final Deserializer<Event> valueDeserializer;
+  private final KafkaSubscriberProperties configuration;
+  private final ExecutorService executor;
+  private final KafkaEventSubscriberMetrics subscriberMetrics;
+  private final Gson gson;
+
+  private java.util.function.Consumer<Event> messageProcessor;
+  private String topic;
+  private final KafkaRestClient restClient;
+  private final AtomicBoolean resetOffset;
+  private final long restClientTimeoutMs;
+  private volatile ReceiverJob receiver;
+  private final Optional<String> externalGroupId;
+
+  @Inject
+  public KafkaEventRestSubscriber(
+      KafkaSubscriberProperties configuration,
+      Deserializer<Event> valueDeserializer,
+      OneOffRequestContext oneOffCtx,
+      @ConsumerExecutor ExecutorService executor,
+      KafkaEventSubscriberMetrics subscriberMetrics,
+      KafkaRestClient.Factory restClientFactory,
+      @Assisted Optional<String> externalGroupId) {
+
+    this.oneOffCtx = oneOffCtx;
+    this.executor = executor;
+    this.subscriberMetrics = subscriberMetrics;
+    this.valueDeserializer = valueDeserializer;
+    this.externalGroupId = externalGroupId;
+    this.configuration = (KafkaSubscriberProperties) configuration.clone();
+    externalGroupId.ifPresent(gid -> this.configuration.setProperty("group.id", gid));
+
+    gson = new Gson();
+    restClient = restClientFactory.create(configuration);
+    resetOffset = new AtomicBoolean(false);
+    restClientTimeoutMs = configuration.getRestApiTimeout().toMillis();
+  }
+
+  /* (non-Javadoc)
+   * @see com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.subscribe.KafkaEventSubscriber#subscribe(java.lang.String, java.util.function.Consumer)
+   */
+  @Override
+  public void subscribe(String topic, java.util.function.Consumer<Event> messageProcessor) {
+    this.topic = topic;
+    this.messageProcessor = messageProcessor;
+    logger.atInfo().log(
+        "Kafka consumer subscribing to topic alias [%s] for event topic [%s] with groupId [%s]",
+        topic, topic, configuration.getGroupId());
+    try {
+      runReceiver();
+    } catch (InterruptedException | ExecutionException | TimeoutException e) {
+      throw new IllegalStateException(e);
+    }
+  }
+
+  private void runReceiver() throws InterruptedException, ExecutionException, TimeoutException {
+    receiver = new ReceiverJob(configuration.getGroupId());
+    executor.execute(receiver);
+  }
+
+  /* (non-Javadoc)
+   * @see com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.subscribe.KafkaEventSubscriber#shutdown()
+   */
+  @Override
+  public void shutdown() {
+    try {
+      closed.set(true);
+      receiver.close();
+    } catch (InterruptedException | ExecutionException | IOException | TimeoutException e) {
+      logger.atWarning().withCause(e).log("Unable to close receiver for topic=%s", topic);
+    }
+  }
+
+  /* (non-Javadoc)
+   * @see com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.subscribe.KafkaEventSubscriber#getMessageProcessor()
+   */
+  @Override
+  public java.util.function.Consumer<Event> getMessageProcessor() {
+    return messageProcessor;
+  }
+
+  /* (non-Javadoc)
+   * @see com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.subscribe.KafkaEventSubscriber#getTopic()
+   */
+  @Override
+  public String getTopic() {
+    return topic;
+  }
+
+  /* (non-Javadoc)
+   * @see com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.subscribe.KafkaEventSubscriber#resetOffset()
+   */
+  @Override
+  public void resetOffset() {
+    resetOffset.set(true);
+  }
+
+  @Override
+  public Optional<String> getExternalGroupId() {
+    return externalGroupId;
+  }
+
+  private class ReceiverJob implements Runnable {
+    private final ListenableFuture<URI> kafkaRestConsumerUri;
+    private final ListenableFuture<?> kafkaSubscriber;
+
+    public ReceiverJob(String consumerGroup)
+        throws InterruptedException, ExecutionException, TimeoutException {
+      kafkaRestConsumerUri = createConsumer(consumerGroup);
+      kafkaSubscriber = restClient.mapAsync(kafkaRestConsumerUri, this::subscribeToTopic);
+      kafkaSubscriber.get(restClientTimeoutMs, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS);
+    }
+
+    public void close()
+        throws InterruptedException, ExecutionException, IOException, TimeoutException {
+      restClient
+          .mapAsync(kafkaRestConsumerUri, this::deleteConsumer)
+          .get(restClientTimeoutMs, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS);
+      restClient.close();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void run() {
+      try {
+        consume();
+      } catch (Exception e) {
+        logger.atSevere().withCause(e).log("Consumer loop of topic %s ended", topic);
+      }
+    }
+
+    private void consume() throws InterruptedException, ExecutionException, TimeoutException {
+      try {
+        while (!closed.get()) {
+          if (resetOffset.getAndSet(false)) {
+            restClient
+                .mapAsync(getTopicPartitions(), this::seekToBeginning)
+                .get(restClientTimeoutMs, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS);
+          }
+
+          ConsumerRecords<byte[], byte[]> records =
+              restClient
+                  .mapAsync(kafkaRestConsumerUri, this::getRecords)
+                  .get(restClientTimeoutMs, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS);
+          records.forEach(
+              consumerRecord -> {
+                try (ManualRequestContext ctx = oneOffCtx.open()) {
+                  Event event =
+                      valueDeserializer.deserialize(consumerRecord.topic(), consumerRecord.value());
+                  messageProcessor.accept(event);
+                } catch (Exception e) {
+                  logger.atSevere().withCause(e).log(
+                      "Malformed event '%s'", new String(consumerRecord.value(), UTF_8));
+                  subscriberMetrics.incrementSubscriberFailedToConsumeMessage();
+                }
+              });
+        }
+      } catch (Exception e) {
+        subscriberMetrics.incrementSubscriberFailedToPollMessages();
+        logger.atSevere().withCause(e).log(
+            "Existing consumer loop of topic %s because of a non-recoverable exception", topic);
+        reconnectAfterFailure();
+      } finally {
+        restClient
+            .mapAsync(kafkaRestConsumerUri, this::deleteSubscription)
+            .get(restClientTimeoutMs, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS);
+      }
+    }
+
+    private ListenableFuture<HttpResponse> seekToBeginning(Set<Integer> partitions) {
+      ListenableFuture<HttpPost> post =
+          restClient.map(
+              kafkaRestConsumerUri,
+              uri -> restClient.createPostSeekTopicFromBeginning(uri, topic, partitions));
+      return restClient.mapAsync(post, p -> restClient.execute(p, HttpStatus.SC_NO_CONTENT));
+    }
+
+    private ListenableFuture<Set<Integer>> getTopicPartitions() {
+      HttpGet getTopic = restClient.createGetTopic(topic);
+      return restClient.mapAsync(
+          restClient.execute(getTopic, HttpStatus.SC_OK), this::getPartitions);
+    }
+
+    private ListenableFuture<ConsumerRecords<byte[], byte[]>> getRecords(URI consumerUri) {
+      HttpGet getRecords = restClient.createGetRecords(consumerUri);
+      return restClient.mapAsync(
+          restClient.execute(getRecords, HttpStatus.SC_OK), this::convertRecords);
+    }
+
+    private ListenableFuture<HttpResponse> subscribeToTopic(URI consumerUri) {
+      HttpPost post = restClient.createPostToSubscribe(consumerUri, topic);
+      return restClient.execute(post);
+    }
+
+    private ListenableFuture<?> deleteConsumer(URI consumerUri) {
+      HttpDelete delete = restClient.createDeleteToConsumer(consumerUri);
+      return restClient.execute(delete);
+    }
+
+    private ListenableFuture<?> deleteSubscription(URI consumerUri) {
+      HttpDelete delete = restClient.createDeleteToConsumerSubscriptions(consumerUri);
+      return restClient.execute(delete);
+    }
+
+    private ListenableFuture<URI> createConsumer(String consumerGroup) {
+      HttpPost post = restClient.createPostToConsumer(consumerGroup + "-" + topic);
+      return restClient.mapAsync(restClient.execute(post, HttpStatus.SC_OK), this::getConsumerUri);
+    }
+
+    private ListenableFuture<Set<Integer>> getPartitions(HttpResponse response) {
+      try (Reader bodyReader =
+          new InputStreamReader(response.getEntity().getContent(), StandardCharsets.UTF_8)) {
+        JsonObject responseJson = gson.fromJson(bodyReader, JsonObject.class);
+        Set<Integer> partitions = extractPartitions(responseJson);
+        return Futures.immediateFuture(partitions);
+      } catch (IOException e) {
+        return Futures.immediateFailedFuture(e);
+      }
+    }
+
+    private ListenableFuture<URI> getConsumerUri(HttpResponse response) {
+      try (Reader bodyReader =
+          new InputStreamReader(response.getEntity().getContent(), StandardCharsets.UTF_8)) {
+        JsonObject responseJson = gson.fromJson(bodyReader, JsonObject.class);
+        URI consumerUri = new URI(responseJson.get("base_uri").getAsString());
+        String instanceId = responseJson.get("instance_id").getAsString();
+
+        String restProxyId = getRestProxyId(instanceId);
+        return Futures.immediateFuture(
+            restClient.resolveKafkaRestApiUri(restProxyId, consumerUri.getPath()));
+      } catch (UnsupportedOperationException | IOException | URISyntaxException e) {
+        return Futures.immediateFailedFuture(e);
+      }
+    }
+
+    private String getRestProxyId(String instanceId) {
+      int instanceIdLen = instanceId.length();
+      if (instanceIdLen <= INSTANCE_ID_SUFFIX_LEN + INSTANCE_ID_PREFIX_LEN) {
+        // Kafka Rest Proxy instance id is not mandatory
+        return "";
+      }
+
+      return instanceId.substring(
+          INSTANCE_ID_PREFIX_LEN, instanceId.length() - INSTANCE_ID_SUFFIX_LEN);
+    }
+
+    private ListenableFuture<ConsumerRecords<byte[], byte[]>> convertRecords(
+        HttpResponse response) {
+      try (Reader bodyReader = new InputStreamReader(response.getEntity().getContent())) {
+        JsonArray jsonRecords = gson.fromJson(bodyReader, JsonArray.class);
+        if (jsonRecords.size() == 0) {
+          return Futures.immediateFuture(new ConsumerRecords<>(Collections.emptyMap()));
+        }
+
+        Stream<ConsumerRecord<byte[], byte[]>> jsonObjects =
+            StreamSupport.stream(jsonRecords.spliterator(), false)
+                .map(JsonElement::getAsJsonObject)
+                .map(this::jsonToConsumerRecords);
+
+        Map<TopicPartition, List<ConsumerRecord<byte[], byte[]>>> records =
+            jsonObjects.collect(Collectors.groupingBy(this::jsonRecordPartition));
+        return Futures.immediateFuture(new ConsumerRecords<>(records));
+      } catch (IOException e) {
+        subscriberMetrics.incrementSubscriberFailedToConsumeMessage();
+        return Futures.immediateFailedFuture(e);
+      }
+    }
+
+    private ConsumerRecord<byte[], byte[]> jsonToConsumerRecords(JsonObject jsonRecord) {
+      return new ConsumerRecord<>(
+          jsonRecord.get("topic").getAsString(),
+          jsonRecord.get("partition").getAsInt(),
+          jsonRecord.get("offset").getAsLong(),
+          jsonRecord.get("key").toString().getBytes(),
+          jsonRecord.get("value").toString().getBytes());
+    }
+
+    private Set<Integer> extractPartitions(JsonObject jsonRecord) {
+      return StreamSupport.stream(
+              jsonRecord.get("partitions").getAsJsonArray().spliterator(), false)
+          .map(jsonElem -> jsonElem.getAsJsonObject().get("partition"))
+          .map(JsonElement::getAsInt)
+          .collect(Collectors.toSet());
+    }
+
+    private TopicPartition jsonRecordPartition(ConsumerRecord<byte[], byte[]> consumerRecord) {
+      return new TopicPartition(topic, consumerRecord.partition());
+    }
+
+    private void reconnectAfterFailure()
+        throws InterruptedException, ExecutionException, TimeoutException {
+      // Random delay with average of DELAY_RECONNECT_AFTER_FAILURE_MSEC
+      // for avoiding hammering exactly at the same interval in case of failure
+      long reconnectDelay =
+          DELAY_RECONNECT_AFTER_FAILURE_MSEC / 2
+              + new Random().nextInt(DELAY_RECONNECT_AFTER_FAILURE_MSEC);
+      Thread.sleep(reconnectDelay);
+      runReceiver();
+    }
+  }
+}
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/subscribe/KafkaEventSubscriber.java b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/subscribe/KafkaEventSubscriber.java
index 1f0b0aa..1530be7 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/subscribe/KafkaEventSubscriber.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/subscribe/KafkaEventSubscriber.java
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-// Copyright (C) 2019 The Android Open Source Project
+// Copyright (C) 2021 The Android Open Source Project
 //
 // Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 // you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -11,175 +11,52 @@
 // WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
 // See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 // limitations under the License.
+
 package com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.subscribe;
 
-import static java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets.UTF_8;
-
-import com.google.common.flogger.FluentLogger;
 import com.google.gerrit.server.events.Event;
-import com.google.gerrit.server.util.ManualRequestContext;
-import com.google.gerrit.server.util.OneOffRequestContext;
-import com.google.inject.Inject;
-import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.broker.ConsumerExecutor;
-import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.config.KafkaSubscriberProperties;
-import java.time.Duration;
-import java.util.Collections;
-import java.util.Random;
-import java.util.concurrent.ExecutorService;
-import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicBoolean;
-import org.apache.kafka.clients.consumer.Consumer;
-import org.apache.kafka.clients.consumer.ConsumerRecords;
-import org.apache.kafka.common.errors.WakeupException;
-import org.apache.kafka.common.serialization.Deserializer;
+import java.util.Optional;
 
-public class KafkaEventSubscriber {
-  private static final FluentLogger logger = FluentLogger.forEnclosingClass();
-  private static final int DELAY_RECONNECT_AFTER_FAILURE_MSEC = 1000;
+/** Generic interface to a Kafka topic subscriber. */
+public interface KafkaEventSubscriber {
 
-  private final OneOffRequestContext oneOffCtx;
-  private final AtomicBoolean closed = new AtomicBoolean(false);
-
-  private final Deserializer<Event> valueDeserializer;
-  private final KafkaSubscriberProperties configuration;
-  private final ExecutorService executor;
-  private final KafkaEventSubscriberMetrics subscriberMetrics;
-  private final KafkaConsumerFactory consumerFactory;
-  private final Deserializer<byte[]> keyDeserializer;
-
-  private java.util.function.Consumer<Event> messageProcessor;
-  private String topic;
-  private AtomicBoolean resetOffset = new AtomicBoolean(false);
-
-  private volatile ReceiverJob receiver;
-
-  @Inject
-  public KafkaEventSubscriber(
-      KafkaSubscriberProperties configuration,
-      KafkaConsumerFactory consumerFactory,
-      Deserializer<byte[]> keyDeserializer,
-      Deserializer<Event> valueDeserializer,
-      OneOffRequestContext oneOffCtx,
-      @ConsumerExecutor ExecutorService executor,
-      KafkaEventSubscriberMetrics subscriberMetrics) {
-
-    this.configuration = configuration;
-    this.oneOffCtx = oneOffCtx;
-    this.executor = executor;
-    this.subscriberMetrics = subscriberMetrics;
-    this.consumerFactory = consumerFactory;
-    this.keyDeserializer = keyDeserializer;
-    this.valueDeserializer = valueDeserializer;
+  public interface Factory {
+    KafkaEventSubscriber create(Optional<String> externalGroupId);
   }
 
-  public void subscribe(String topic, java.util.function.Consumer<Event> messageProcessor) {
-    this.topic = topic;
-    this.messageProcessor = messageProcessor;
-    logger.atInfo().log(
-        "Kafka consumer subscribing to topic alias [%s] for event topic [%s]", topic, topic);
-    runReceiver();
-  }
+  /**
+   * Subscribe to a topic and receive messages asynchronously.
+   *
+   * @param topic Kafka topic name
+   * @param messageProcessor consumer function for processing incoming messages
+   */
+  void subscribe(String topic, java.util.function.Consumer<Event> messageProcessor);
 
-  private void runReceiver() {
-    final ClassLoader previousClassLoader = Thread.currentThread().getContextClassLoader();
-    try {
-      Thread.currentThread().setContextClassLoader(KafkaEventSubscriber.class.getClassLoader());
-      Consumer<byte[], byte[]> consumer = consumerFactory.create(keyDeserializer);
-      consumer.subscribe(Collections.singleton(topic));
-      receiver = new ReceiverJob(consumer);
-      executor.execute(receiver);
-    } finally {
-      Thread.currentThread().setContextClassLoader(previousClassLoader);
-    }
-  }
+  /** Shutdown Kafka consumer. */
+  void shutdown();
 
-  public void shutdown() {
-    closed.set(true);
-    receiver.wakeup();
-  }
+  /**
+   * Returns the current consumer function for the subscribed topic.
+   *
+   * @return the default topic consumer function.
+   */
+  java.util.function.Consumer<Event> getMessageProcessor();
 
-  public java.util.function.Consumer<Event> getMessageProcessor() {
-    return messageProcessor;
-  }
+  /**
+   * Returns the current subscribed topic name.
+   *
+   * @return Kafka topic name.
+   */
+  String getTopic();
 
-  public String getTopic() {
-    return topic;
-  }
+  /** Reset the offset for reading incoming Kafka messages of the topic. */
+  void resetOffset();
 
-  public void resetOffset() {
-    resetOffset.set(true);
-  }
-
-  private class ReceiverJob implements Runnable {
-    private final Consumer<byte[], byte[]> consumer;
-
-    public ReceiverJob(Consumer<byte[], byte[]> consumer) {
-      this.consumer = consumer;
-    }
-
-    public void wakeup() {
-      consumer.wakeup();
-    }
-
-    @Override
-    public void run() {
-      try {
-        consume();
-      } catch (Exception e) {
-        logger.atSevere().withCause(e).log("Consumer loop of topic %s ended", topic);
-      }
-    }
-
-    private void consume() throws InterruptedException {
-      try {
-        while (!closed.get()) {
-          if (resetOffset.getAndSet(false)) {
-            // Make sure there is an assignment for this consumer
-            while (consumer.assignment().isEmpty() && !closed.get()) {
-              logger.atInfo().log(
-                  "Resetting offset: no partitions assigned to the consumer, request assignment.");
-              consumer.poll(Duration.ofMillis(configuration.getPollingInterval()));
-            }
-            consumer.seekToBeginning(consumer.assignment());
-          }
-          ConsumerRecords<byte[], byte[]> consumerRecords =
-              consumer.poll(Duration.ofMillis(configuration.getPollingInterval()));
-          consumerRecords.forEach(
-              consumerRecord -> {
-                try (ManualRequestContext ctx = oneOffCtx.open()) {
-                  Event event =
-                      valueDeserializer.deserialize(consumerRecord.topic(), consumerRecord.value());
-                  messageProcessor.accept(event);
-                } catch (Exception e) {
-                  logger.atSevere().withCause(e).log(
-                      "Malformed event '%s'", new String(consumerRecord.value(), UTF_8));
-                  subscriberMetrics.incrementSubscriberFailedToConsumeMessage();
-                }
-              });
-        }
-      } catch (WakeupException e) {
-        // Ignore exception if closing
-        if (!closed.get()) {
-          logger.atSevere().withCause(e).log("Consumer loop of topic %s interrupted", topic);
-          reconnectAfterFailure();
-        }
-      } catch (Exception e) {
-        subscriberMetrics.incrementSubscriberFailedToPollMessages();
-        logger.atSevere().withCause(e).log(
-            "Existing consumer loop of topic %s because of a non-recoverable exception", topic);
-        reconnectAfterFailure();
-      } finally {
-        consumer.close();
-      }
-    }
-
-    private void reconnectAfterFailure() throws InterruptedException {
-      // Random delay with average of DELAY_RECONNECT_AFTER_FAILURE_MSEC
-      // for avoiding hammering exactly at the same interval in case of failure
-      long reconnectDelay =
-          DELAY_RECONNECT_AFTER_FAILURE_MSEC / 2
-              + new Random().nextInt(DELAY_RECONNECT_AFTER_FAILURE_MSEC);
-      Thread.sleep(reconnectDelay);
-      runReceiver();
-    }
-  }
+  /**
+   * Returns the external consumer's group id when it is defined.
+   *
+   * @return Optional instance with external consumer's group id otherwise an empty Optional
+   *     instance
+   */
+  Optional<String> getExternalGroupId();
 }
diff --git a/src/main/resources/Documentation/config.md b/src/main/resources/Documentation/config.md
index a10004f..621d769 100644
--- a/src/main/resources/Documentation/config.md
+++ b/src/main/resources/Documentation/config.md
@@ -36,10 +36,24 @@
 Additional properties
 ---------------------
 
+`plugin.@PLUGIN@.clientType`
+:	Client stack for connecting to Kafka broker:
+    - `NATIVE` for using the Kafka client to connect to the broker directory
+    - `REST` for using a simple HTTP client to connect to
+      [Confluent REST-API Proxy](https://docs.confluent.io/platform/current/kafka-rest/index.html).
+      **NOTE**: `plugin.@PLUGIN@.restApiUri` is mandatory when using a `REST` client type.
+	Default: `NATIVE`
+
 `plugin.@PLUGIN@.groupId`
 :	Kafka consumer group for receiving messages.
 	Default: Gerrit instance-id
 
+`plugin.@PLUGIN@.httpWireLog`
+:	Enable the HTTP wire protocol logging in error_log for all the communication with
+	the [Confluent REST-API Proxy](https://docs.confluent.io/platform/current/kafka-rest/index.html).
+	**NOTE**: when `plugin.@PLUGIN@.restApiUri` is unset or set to `NATIVE`, this setting is ignored.
+	Default: false
+
 `plugin.@PLUGIN@.pollingIntervalMs`
 :	Polling interval in msec for receiving messages from Kafka topic subscription.
 	Default: 1000
@@ -52,6 +66,37 @@
     `streamEventTopic`, `gerritTopic`, `projectListEventTopic`,
     `cacheEventTopic`, `indexEventTopic`
 
+`plugin.@PLUGIN@.restApiUri`
+:	URL of the
+	[Confluent REST-API Proxy](https://docs.confluent.io/platform/current/kafka-rest/index.html)
+	for sending/receiving messages through REST-API instead of using the native Kafka client.
+	The value can use the `${kafka_rest_id}` placeholder which will be replaced at runtime using
+	the `KAFKA_REST_ID` associated with the Kafka REST-API Proxy that is answering the call,
+	typically needed when having multiple proxies behind a workload balancer and sticky session
+	allocation isn't an option.
+	**NOTE**: when `plugin.@PLUGIN@.restApiUri` is unset or set to `NATIVE`, this setting is ignored.
+	Default: unset
+
+`plugin.@PLUGIN@.restApiThreads`
+:	Maximum number of concurrent client calls to the
+	[Confluent REST-API Proxy](https://docs.confluent.io/platform/current/kafka-rest/index.html)
+	for sending/receiving messages.
+	**NOTE**: when `plugin.@PLUGIN@.restApiUri` is unset or set to `NATIVE`, this setting is ignored.
+	Default: 10
+
+`plugin.@PLUGIN@.restApiTimeout`
+:	Maximum time to wait for a client call to
+	[Confluent REST-API Proxy](https://docs.confluent.io/platform/current/kafka-rest/index.html)
+	to complete. This setting is also applied as TCP socket connection and read/write timeout
+	for the outgoing HTTP calls.
+	The value is expressed using the `N unit` format of all other Gerrit time expressions, using
+	one of the following units:
+	- s, sec, second, seconds
+	- m, min, minute, minutes
+	- h, hr, hour, hours
+	**NOTE**: when `plugin.@PLUGIN@.restApiUri` is unset or set to `NATIVE`, this setting is ignored.
+	Default: 60 sec
+
 `plugin.@PLUGIN@.sendAsync`
 :	Send messages to Kafka asynchronously, detaching the calling process from the
 	acknowledge of the message being sent.
@@ -82,3 +127,19 @@
 Number of subscribers          [6]: 6
 Consumer group                 [my_group_id]: my_group_id
 ```
+
+secure.config
+--------------------
+
+`plugin.@PLUGIN@.restApiUsername`
+:	Username used for the authentication to the
+	[Confluent REST-API Proxy](https://docs.confluent.io/platform/current/kafka-rest/index.html)
+	for sending/receiving messages through REST-API instead of using the native Kafka client.
+	**NOTE**: when `plugin.@PLUGIN@.restApiUri` is unset or set to `NATIVE`, this setting is ignored.
+	Default: unset
+
+`plugin.@PLUGIN@.restApiPassword`
+:	Password used for the authentication to the
+	[Confluent REST-API Proxy](https://docs.confluent.io/platform/current/kafka-rest/index.html)
+	**NOTE**: when `plugin.@PLUGIN@.restApiUri` is unset or set to `NATIVE`, this setting is ignored.
+	Default: unset
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/EventConsumerIT.java b/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/EventConsumerIT.java
index 6e654bf..028d589 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/EventConsumerIT.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/EventConsumerIT.java
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 import static org.junit.Assert.fail;
 
 import com.gerritforge.gerrit.eventbroker.BrokerApi;
+import com.gerritforge.gerrit.eventbroker.ExtendedBrokerApi;
 import com.google.common.base.Stopwatch;
 import com.google.common.collect.Iterables;
 import com.google.gerrit.acceptance.LightweightPluginDaemonTest;
@@ -51,14 +52,15 @@
 @NoHttpd
 @TestPlugin(name = "events-kafka", sysModule = "com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.Module")
 public class EventConsumerIT extends LightweightPluginDaemonTest {
-  static final long KAFKA_POLL_TIMEOUT = 10000L;
-
+  static final Duration KAFKA_POLL_TIMEOUT = Duration.ofSeconds(10);
+  private static final Duration WAIT_FOR_POLL_TIMEOUT = Duration.ofSeconds(30);
   private KafkaContainer kafka;
+  private final Gson gson = new EventGsonProvider().get();
 
   @Override
   public void setUpTestPlugin() throws Exception {
     try {
-      kafka = new KafkaContainer();
+      kafka = KafkaContainerProvider.get();
       kafka.start();
 
       System.setProperty(ProducerConfig.BOOTSTRAP_SERVERS_CONFIG, kafka.getBootstrapServers());
@@ -101,7 +103,6 @@
     assertThat(events).hasSize(6);
     String commentAddedEventJson = Iterables.getLast(events);
 
-    Gson gson = new EventGsonProvider().get();
     Event event = gson.fromJson(commentAddedEventJson, Event.class);
     assertThat(event).isInstanceOf(CommentAddedEvent.class);
 
@@ -135,13 +136,36 @@
       name = "plugin.events-kafka.valueDeserializer",
       value = "org.apache.kafka.common.serialization.StringDeserializer")
   @GerritConfig(name = "plugin.events-kafka.pollingIntervalMs", value = "500")
+  public void consumeEventsWithExternalGroupId() throws Exception {
+    String topic = "a_topic";
+    String consumerGroup1 = "consumer-group-1";
+    Event eventMessage = new ProjectCreatedEvent();
+    eventMessage.instanceId = "test-instance-id-1";
+    List<Event> receivedEventsWithGroupId1 = new ArrayList<>();
+
+    ExtendedBrokerApi kafkaBrokerApi = ((ExtendedBrokerApi) kafkaBrokerApi());
+    kafkaBrokerApi.send(topic, eventMessage);
+    kafkaBrokerApi.receiveAsync(topic, consumerGroup1, receivedEventsWithGroupId1::add);
+
+    waitUntil(() -> receivedEventsWithGroupId1.size() == 1, WAIT_FOR_POLL_TIMEOUT);
+    assertThat(gson.toJson(receivedEventsWithGroupId1.get(0))).isEqualTo(gson.toJson(eventMessage));
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  @UseLocalDisk
+  @GerritConfig(name = "plugin.events-kafka.groupId", value = "test-consumer-group")
+  @GerritConfig(
+      name = "plugin.events-kafka.keyDeserializer",
+      value = "org.apache.kafka.common.serialization.StringDeserializer")
+  @GerritConfig(
+      name = "plugin.events-kafka.valueDeserializer",
+      value = "org.apache.kafka.common.serialization.StringDeserializer")
+  @GerritConfig(name = "plugin.events-kafka.pollingIntervalMs", value = "500")
   public void shouldReplayAllEvents() throws InterruptedException {
     String topic = "a_topic";
     Event eventMessage = new ProjectCreatedEvent();
     eventMessage.instanceId = "test-instance-id";
 
-    Duration WAIT_FOR_POLL_TIMEOUT = Duration.ofMillis(1000);
-
     List<Event> receivedEvents = new ArrayList<>();
 
     BrokerApi kafkaBrokerApi = kafkaBrokerApi();
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/KafkaContainerProvider.java b/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/KafkaContainerProvider.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..859d7ee
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/KafkaContainerProvider.java
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+// Copyright (C) 2021 The Android Open Source Project
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+// http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka;
+
+import java.util.Map;
+import org.junit.Ignore;
+import org.testcontainers.containers.KafkaContainer;
+import org.testcontainers.containers.Network;
+import org.testcontainers.utility.DockerImageName;
+
+@Ignore
+public class KafkaContainerProvider {
+  public static int KAFKA_PORT_INTERNAL = KafkaContainer.KAFKA_PORT + 1;
+  private static final String KAFKA_IMAGE_NAME = "confluentinc/cp-kafka";
+  private static final String KAFKA_IMAGE_TAG = "5.4.3";
+
+  public static KafkaContainer get() {
+    KafkaContainer kafkaContainer =
+        new KafkaContainer(DockerImageName.parse(KAFKA_IMAGE_NAME).withTag(KAFKA_IMAGE_TAG)) {
+
+          @Override
+          public String getBootstrapServers() {
+            return String.format(
+                    "INTERNAL://%s:%s,", getNetworkAliases().get(0), KAFKA_PORT_INTERNAL)
+                + super.getBootstrapServers();
+          }
+        };
+
+    Map<String, String> kafkaEnv = kafkaContainer.getEnvMap();
+    String kafkaListeners = kafkaEnv.get("KAFKA_LISTENERS");
+    String kafkaProtocolMap = kafkaEnv.get("KAFKA_LISTENER_SECURITY_PROTOCOL_MAP");
+
+    return kafkaContainer
+        .withNetwork(Network.newNetwork())
+        .withEnv("KAFKA_LISTENER_SECURITY_PROTOCOL_MAP", kafkaProtocolMap + ",INTERNAL:PLAINTEXT")
+        .withEnv("KAFKA_LISTENERS", kafkaListeners + ",INTERNAL://0.0.0.0:" + KAFKA_PORT_INTERNAL);
+  }
+}
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/KafkaRestContainer.java b/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/KafkaRestContainer.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5cbf585
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/KafkaRestContainer.java
@@ -0,0 +1,92 @@
+// Copyright (C) 2021 The Android Open Source Project
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+// http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka;
+
+import com.github.dockerjava.api.model.ContainerNetwork;
+import com.google.common.base.Strings;
+import java.net.URI;
+import java.net.URISyntaxException;
+import java.util.Map;
+import org.junit.Ignore;
+import org.testcontainers.containers.BindMode;
+import org.testcontainers.containers.GenericContainer;
+import org.testcontainers.containers.KafkaContainer;
+import org.testcontainers.utility.DockerImageName;
+
+@Ignore
+public class KafkaRestContainer extends GenericContainer<KafkaRestContainer> {
+
+  public static final String KAFKA_REST_PROXY_HOSTNAME = "restproxy";
+  public static final int KAFKA_REST_PORT = 8082;
+  private final String kafkaRestHostname;
+
+  public KafkaRestContainer(KafkaContainer kafkaContainer, Boolean enableAuthentication) {
+    this(kafkaContainer, null, enableAuthentication);
+  }
+
+  public KafkaRestContainer(
+      KafkaContainer kafkaContainer, String kafkaRestId, Boolean enableAuthentication) {
+    super(restProxyImageFor(kafkaContainer));
+
+    kafkaRestHostname = KAFKA_REST_PROXY_HOSTNAME + Strings.nullToEmpty(kafkaRestId);
+
+    withNetwork(kafkaContainer.getNetwork());
+
+    withExposedPorts(KAFKA_REST_PORT);
+    String bootstrapServers =
+        String.format(
+            "PLAINTEXT://%s:%s",
+            kafkaContainer.getNetworkAliases().get(0), KafkaContainerProvider.KAFKA_PORT_INTERNAL);
+    withEnv("KAFKA_REST_BOOTSTRAP_SERVERS", bootstrapServers);
+    withEnv("KAFKA_REST_LISTENERS", "http://0.0.0.0:" + KAFKA_REST_PORT);
+    withEnv("KAFKA_REST_CLIENT_SECURITY_PROTOCOL", "PLAINTEXT");
+    withEnv("KAFKA_REST_HOST_NAME", kafkaRestHostname);
+    if (kafkaRestId != null) {
+      withEnv("KAFKA_REST_ID", kafkaRestId);
+    }
+    if (enableAuthentication) {
+      withEnv("KAFKA_REST_AUTHENTICATION_METHOD", "BASIC");
+      withEnv("KAFKA_REST_AUTHENTICATION_REALM", "KafkaRest");
+      withEnv("KAFKA_REST_AUTHENTICATION_ROLES", "GerritRole");
+      withEnv(
+          "KAFKAREST_OPTS",
+          "-Djava.security.auth.login.config=/etc/kafka-rest/rest-jaas.properties");
+      withClasspathResourceMapping(
+          "rest-jaas.properties", "/etc/kafka-rest/rest-jaas.properties", BindMode.READ_ONLY);
+      withClasspathResourceMapping(
+          "password.properties", "/etc/kafka-rest/password.properties", BindMode.READ_ONLY);
+    }
+    withCreateContainerCmdModifier(cmd -> cmd.withHostName(kafkaRestHostname));
+  }
+
+  private static DockerImageName restProxyImageFor(KafkaContainer kafkaContainer) {
+    String[] kafkaImageNameParts = kafkaContainer.getDockerImageName().split(":");
+    return DockerImageName.parse(kafkaImageNameParts[0] + "-rest").withTag(kafkaImageNameParts[1]);
+  }
+
+  public URI getApiURI() {
+    try {
+      return new URI(
+          String.format("http://%s:%d", getContainerIpAddress(), getMappedPort(KAFKA_REST_PORT)));
+    } catch (URISyntaxException e) {
+      throw new IllegalArgumentException("Invalid Kafka API URI", e);
+    }
+  }
+
+  public String getKafkaRestContainerIP() {
+    Map<String, ContainerNetwork> networks = getContainerInfo().getNetworkSettings().getNetworks();
+    return networks.values().iterator().next().getIpAddress();
+  }
+}
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/api/KafkaBrokerApiTest.java b/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/api/KafkaBrokerApiTest.java
index 9bf2ec1..fcd6dc8 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/api/KafkaBrokerApiTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/api/KafkaBrokerApiTest.java
@@ -14,9 +14,12 @@
 
 package com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.api;
 
+import static com.gerritforge.gerrit.eventbroker.TopicSubscriber.topicSubscriber;
+import static com.gerritforge.gerrit.eventbroker.TopicSubscriberWithGroupId.topicSubscriberWithGroupId;
 import static com.google.common.truth.Truth.assertThat;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.mock;
 
+import com.google.common.base.Strings;
 import com.google.gerrit.extensions.registration.DynamicMap;
 import com.google.gerrit.metrics.MetricMaker;
 import com.google.gerrit.server.events.Event;
@@ -36,7 +39,10 @@
 import com.google.inject.Scopes;
 import com.google.inject.Singleton;
 import com.google.inject.TypeLiteral;
+import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.KafkaContainerProvider;
+import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.KafkaRestContainer;
 import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.config.KafkaProperties;
+import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.config.KafkaProperties.ClientType;
 import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.config.KafkaSubscriberProperties;
 import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.session.KafkaProducerProvider;
 import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.session.KafkaSession;
@@ -45,32 +51,47 @@
 import java.util.concurrent.CountDownLatch;
 import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
 import java.util.function.Consumer;
-import org.apache.kafka.clients.producer.KafkaProducer;
+import org.apache.kafka.clients.producer.Producer;
 import org.apache.kafka.clients.producer.ProducerConfig;
 import org.junit.After;
 import org.junit.AfterClass;
+import org.junit.Before;
 import org.junit.BeforeClass;
+import org.junit.Rule;
 import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.rules.TestName;
 import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
 import org.mockito.Answers;
 import org.mockito.junit.MockitoJUnitRunner;
+import org.testcontainers.containers.GenericContainer;
 import org.testcontainers.containers.KafkaContainer;
 
 @RunWith(MockitoJUnitRunner.class)
 public class KafkaBrokerApiTest {
-  private static KafkaContainer kafka;
 
-  private static final int TEST_NUM_SUBSCRIBERS = 1;
-  private static final String TEST_GROUP_ID = KafkaBrokerApiTest.class.getName();
-  private static final int TEST_POLLING_INTERVAL_MSEC = 100;
+  static KafkaContainer kafka;
+  static KafkaRestContainer kafkaRest;
+  static KafkaRestContainer kafkaRestWithId;
+  static GenericContainer<?> nginx;
+  static String restApiUsername;
+  static String restApiPassword;
+
+  static final int TEST_NUM_SUBSCRIBERS = 1;
+  static final String TEST_GROUP_ID = KafkaBrokerApiTest.class.getName();
+  static final int TEST_POLLING_INTERVAL_MSEC = 100;
+  static final String KAFKA_REST_ID = "kafka-rest-instance-0";
   private static final int TEST_THREAD_POOL_SIZE = 10;
   private static final String TEST_INSTANCE_ID = "test-instance-id";
-  private static final TimeUnit TEST_TIMOUT_UNIT = TimeUnit.SECONDS;
+  private static final TimeUnit TEST_TIMEOUT_UNIT = TimeUnit.SECONDS;
   private static final int TEST_TIMEOUT = 30;
+  private static final int TEST_WAIT_FOR_MORE_MESSAGES_TIMEOUT = 5;
 
   private Injector injector;
   private KafkaSession session;
   private Gson gson;
+  protected ClientType clientType;
+
+  @Rule public TestName name = new TestName();
 
   public static class TestWorkQueue extends WorkQueue {
 
@@ -104,34 +125,55 @@
 
       bind(KafkaProperties.class).toInstance(kafkaProperties);
       bind(KafkaSession.class).in(Scopes.SINGLETON);
-      KafkaSubscriberProperties kafkaSubscriberProperties =
-          new KafkaSubscriberProperties(
-              TEST_POLLING_INTERVAL_MSEC, TEST_GROUP_ID, TEST_NUM_SUBSCRIBERS);
-      bind(KafkaSubscriberProperties.class).toInstance(kafkaSubscriberProperties);
-      bind(new TypeLiteral<KafkaProducer<String, String>>() {})
-          .toProvider(KafkaProducerProvider.class);
+
+      bindKafkaClientImpl();
 
       bind(WorkQueue.class).to(TestWorkQueue.class);
     }
+
+    protected void bindKafkaClientImpl() {
+      bind(new TypeLiteral<Producer<String, String>>() {}).toProvider(KafkaProducerProvider.class);
+      KafkaSubscriberProperties kafkaSubscriberProperties =
+          new KafkaSubscriberProperties(
+              TEST_POLLING_INTERVAL_MSEC, TEST_GROUP_ID, TEST_NUM_SUBSCRIBERS, ClientType.NATIVE);
+      bind(KafkaSubscriberProperties.class).toInstance(kafkaSubscriberProperties);
+    }
   }
 
   public static class TestConsumer implements Consumer<Event> {
     public final List<Event> messages = new ArrayList<>();
-    private final CountDownLatch lock;
+    private CountDownLatch[] locks;
 
     public TestConsumer(int numMessagesExpected) {
-      lock = new CountDownLatch(numMessagesExpected);
+      resetExpectedMessages(numMessagesExpected);
+    }
+
+    public void resetExpectedMessages(int numMessagesExpected) {
+      locks = new CountDownLatch[numMessagesExpected];
+      for (int i = 0; i < numMessagesExpected; i++) {
+        locks[i] = new CountDownLatch(i + 1);
+      }
     }
 
     @Override
     public void accept(Event message) {
       messages.add(message);
-      lock.countDown();
+      for (CountDownLatch countDownLatch : locks) {
+        countDownLatch.countDown();
+      }
     }
 
     public boolean await() {
+      return await(locks.length);
+    }
+
+    public boolean await(int numItems) {
+      return await(numItems, TEST_TIMEOUT, TEST_TIMEOUT_UNIT);
+    }
+
+    public boolean await(int numItems, long timeout, TimeUnit unit) {
       try {
-        return lock.await(TEST_TIMEOUT, TEST_TIMOUT_UNIT);
+        return locks[numItems - 1].await(timeout, unit);
       } catch (InterruptedException e) {
         return false;
       }
@@ -140,20 +182,45 @@
 
   @BeforeClass
   public static void beforeClass() throws Exception {
-    kafka = new KafkaContainer();
+    kafka = KafkaContainerProvider.get();
     kafka.start();
+    kafkaRestWithId = new KafkaRestContainer(kafka, KAFKA_REST_ID, isAuthenticationProvided());
+    kafkaRestWithId.start();
+    kafkaRest = new KafkaRestContainer(kafka, isAuthenticationProvided());
+    kafkaRest.start();
+
     System.setProperty(ProducerConfig.BOOTSTRAP_SERVERS_CONFIG, kafka.getBootstrapServers());
   }
 
+  @Before
+  public void setup() {
+    clientType = ClientType.NATIVE;
+  }
+
   @AfterClass
   public static void afterClass() {
-    if (kafka != null) {
-      kafka.stop();
+    stopContainer(kafka);
+    stopContainer(kafkaRest);
+    stopContainer(kafkaRestWithId);
+    stopContainer(nginx);
+  }
+
+  private static void stopContainer(GenericContainer<?> container) {
+    if (container != null) {
+      container.stop();
     }
   }
 
+  private static boolean isAuthenticationProvided() {
+    return !Strings.isNullOrEmpty(restApiUsername) && !Strings.isNullOrEmpty(restApiPassword);
+  }
+
+  protected TestModule newTestModule(KafkaProperties kafkaProperties) {
+    return new TestModule(kafkaProperties);
+  }
+
   public void connectToKafka(KafkaProperties kafkaProperties) {
-    Injector baseInjector = Guice.createInjector(new TestModule(kafkaProperties));
+    Injector baseInjector = Guice.createInjector(newTestModule(kafkaProperties));
     WorkQueue testWorkQueue = baseInjector.getInstance(WorkQueue.class);
     KafkaSubscriberProperties kafkaSubscriberProperties =
         baseInjector.getInstance(KafkaSubscriberProperties.class);
@@ -175,9 +242,11 @@
 
   @Test
   public void shouldSendSyncAndReceiveToTopic() {
-    connectToKafka(new KafkaProperties(false));
+    connectToKafka(
+        new KafkaProperties(
+            false, clientType, getKafkaRestApiUriString(), restApiUsername, restApiPassword));
     KafkaBrokerApi kafkaBrokerApi = injector.getInstance(KafkaBrokerApi.class);
-    String testTopic = "test_topic_sync";
+    String testTopic = testTopic();
     TestConsumer testConsumer = new TestConsumer(1);
     Event testEventMessage = new ProjectCreatedEvent();
     testEventMessage.instanceId = TEST_INSTANCE_ID;
@@ -188,13 +257,21 @@
     assertThat(testConsumer.await()).isTrue();
     assertThat(testConsumer.messages).hasSize(1);
     assertThat(gson.toJson(testConsumer.messages.get(0))).isEqualTo(gson.toJson(testEventMessage));
+
+    assertNoMoreExpectedMessages(testConsumer);
+  }
+
+  private String testTopic() {
+    return "test_topic_" + name.getMethodName();
   }
 
   @Test
   public void shouldSendAsyncAndReceiveToTopic() {
-    connectToKafka(new KafkaProperties(true));
+    connectToKafka(
+        new KafkaProperties(
+            true, clientType, getKafkaRestApiUriString(), restApiUsername, restApiPassword));
     KafkaBrokerApi kafkaBrokerApi = injector.getInstance(KafkaBrokerApi.class);
-    String testTopic = "test_topic_async";
+    String testTopic = testTopic();
     TestConsumer testConsumer = new TestConsumer(1);
     Event testEventMessage = new ProjectCreatedEvent();
     testEventMessage.instanceId = TEST_INSTANCE_ID;
@@ -205,5 +282,162 @@
     assertThat(testConsumer.await()).isTrue();
     assertThat(testConsumer.messages).hasSize(1);
     assertThat(gson.toJson(testConsumer.messages.get(0))).isEqualTo(gson.toJson(testEventMessage));
+
+    assertNoMoreExpectedMessages(testConsumer);
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void shouldSendToTopicAndResetOffset() {
+    connectToKafka(
+        new KafkaProperties(
+            false, clientType, getKafkaRestApiUriString(), restApiUsername, restApiPassword));
+    KafkaBrokerApi kafkaBrokerApi = injector.getInstance(KafkaBrokerApi.class);
+    String testTopic = testTopic();
+    Event testEventMessage = new ProjectCreatedEvent();
+
+    TestConsumer testConsumer = new TestConsumer(2);
+    kafkaBrokerApi.receiveAsync(testTopic, testConsumer);
+
+    kafkaBrokerApi.send(testTopic, testEventMessage);
+    assertThat(testConsumer.await(1)).isTrue();
+    assertThat(testConsumer.messages).hasSize(1);
+    assertThat(gson.toJson(testConsumer.messages.get(0))).isEqualTo(gson.toJson(testEventMessage));
+
+    kafkaBrokerApi.replayAllEvents(testTopic);
+    assertThat(testConsumer.await(2)).isTrue();
+    assertThat(testConsumer.messages).hasSize(2);
+    assertThat(gson.toJson(testConsumer.messages.get(1))).isEqualTo(gson.toJson(testEventMessage));
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void shouldConsumerWithGroupIdConsumeMessage() {
+    connectToKafka(
+        new KafkaProperties(
+            true, clientType, getKafkaRestApiUriString(), restApiUsername, restApiPassword));
+    KafkaBrokerApi kafkaBrokerApi = injector.getInstance(KafkaBrokerApi.class);
+    String testTopic = testTopic();
+    TestConsumer testConsumer = new TestConsumer(1);
+    Event testEventMessage = new ProjectCreatedEvent();
+    testEventMessage.instanceId = TEST_INSTANCE_ID;
+
+    kafkaBrokerApi.send(testTopic, testEventMessage);
+    kafkaBrokerApi.receiveAsync(testTopic, "group-id-1", testConsumer);
+
+    assertThat(testConsumer.await()).isTrue();
+    assertThat(testConsumer.messages).hasSize(1);
+    assertThat(gson.toJson(testConsumer.messages.get(0))).isEqualTo(gson.toJson(testEventMessage));
+
+    assertNoMoreExpectedMessages(testConsumer);
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void shouldRegisterConsumerWithoutExternalGroupId() {
+    connectToKafka(
+        new KafkaProperties(
+            false, clientType, getKafkaRestApiUriString(), restApiUsername, restApiPassword));
+    KafkaBrokerApi kafkaBrokerApi = injector.getInstance(KafkaBrokerApi.class);
+    String testTopic = testTopic();
+    TestConsumer testConsumer = new TestConsumer(1);
+
+    assertThat(kafkaBrokerApi.topicSubscribers()).isEmpty();
+    assertThat(kafkaBrokerApi.topicSubscribersWithGroupId()).isEmpty();
+    kafkaBrokerApi.receiveAsync(testTopic, testConsumer);
+    assertThat(kafkaBrokerApi.topicSubscribers())
+        .containsExactly(topicSubscriber(testTopic, testConsumer));
+    assertThat(kafkaBrokerApi.topicSubscribersWithGroupId()).isEmpty();
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void shouldRegisterConsumerWithExternalGroupId() {
+    connectToKafka(
+        new KafkaProperties(
+            false, clientType, getKafkaRestApiUriString(), restApiUsername, restApiPassword));
+    KafkaBrokerApi kafkaBrokerApi = injector.getInstance(KafkaBrokerApi.class);
+    String testTopic = testTopic();
+    String groupId = "group_id_1";
+    TestConsumer testConsumer = new TestConsumer(1);
+
+    assertThat(kafkaBrokerApi.topicSubscribers()).isEmpty();
+    assertThat(kafkaBrokerApi.topicSubscribersWithGroupId()).isEmpty();
+    kafkaBrokerApi.receiveAsync(testTopic, groupId, testConsumer);
+    assertThat(kafkaBrokerApi.topicSubscribers()).isEmpty();
+    assertThat(kafkaBrokerApi.topicSubscribersWithGroupId())
+        .containsExactly(
+            topicSubscriberWithGroupId(groupId, topicSubscriber(testTopic, testConsumer)));
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void shouldRegisterDifferentConsumersWithTheSameExternalGroupId() {
+    connectToKafka(
+        new KafkaProperties(
+            false, clientType, getKafkaRestApiUriString(), restApiUsername, restApiPassword));
+    KafkaBrokerApi kafkaBrokerApi = injector.getInstance(KafkaBrokerApi.class);
+    String testTopic = testTopic();
+    String groupId = "group_id_1";
+    TestConsumer testConsumer1 = new TestConsumer(1);
+    TestConsumer testConsumer2 = new TestConsumer(1);
+
+    assertThat(kafkaBrokerApi.topicSubscribers()).isEmpty();
+    assertThat(kafkaBrokerApi.topicSubscribersWithGroupId()).isEmpty();
+    kafkaBrokerApi.receiveAsync(testTopic, groupId, testConsumer1);
+    kafkaBrokerApi.receiveAsync(testTopic, groupId, testConsumer2);
+    assertThat(kafkaBrokerApi.topicSubscribers()).isEmpty();
+    assertThat(kafkaBrokerApi.topicSubscribersWithGroupId())
+        .containsExactly(
+            topicSubscriberWithGroupId(groupId, topicSubscriber(testTopic, testConsumer1)),
+            topicSubscriberWithGroupId(groupId, topicSubscriber(testTopic, testConsumer2)));
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void shouldRegisterConsumerWithConfiguredGroupIdAndConsumerWithExternalGroupId() {
+    connectToKafka(
+        new KafkaProperties(
+            false, clientType, getKafkaRestApiUriString(), restApiUsername, restApiPassword));
+    KafkaBrokerApi kafkaBrokerApi = injector.getInstance(KafkaBrokerApi.class);
+    String testTopic = testTopic();
+    String groupId = "group_id_1";
+    TestConsumer testConsumer1 = new TestConsumer(1);
+    TestConsumer testConsumer2 = new TestConsumer(1);
+
+    assertThat(kafkaBrokerApi.topicSubscribers()).isEmpty();
+    assertThat(kafkaBrokerApi.topicSubscribersWithGroupId()).isEmpty();
+    kafkaBrokerApi.receiveAsync(testTopic, testConsumer1);
+    kafkaBrokerApi.receiveAsync(testTopic, groupId, testConsumer2);
+    assertThat(kafkaBrokerApi.topicSubscribers())
+        .containsExactly(topicSubscriber(testTopic, testConsumer1));
+
+    assertThat(kafkaBrokerApi.topicSubscribersWithGroupId())
+        .containsExactly(
+            topicSubscriberWithGroupId(groupId, topicSubscriber(testTopic, testConsumer2)));
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void shouldNotRegisterTheSameConsumerWithExternalGroupIdTwicePerTopic() {
+    connectToKafka(
+        new KafkaProperties(
+            false, clientType, getKafkaRestApiUriString(), restApiUsername, restApiPassword));
+    KafkaBrokerApi kafkaBrokerApi = injector.getInstance(KafkaBrokerApi.class);
+    String testTopic = testTopic();
+    String groupId = "group_id_1";
+    TestConsumer testConsumer = new TestConsumer(1);
+
+    assertThat(kafkaBrokerApi.topicSubscribers()).isEmpty();
+    assertThat(kafkaBrokerApi.topicSubscribersWithGroupId()).isEmpty();
+    kafkaBrokerApi.receiveAsync(testTopic, groupId, testConsumer);
+    kafkaBrokerApi.receiveAsync(testTopic, groupId, testConsumer);
+    assertThat(kafkaBrokerApi.topicSubscribers()).isEmpty();
+    assertThat(kafkaBrokerApi.topicSubscribersWithGroupId())
+        .containsExactly(
+            topicSubscriberWithGroupId(groupId, topicSubscriber(testTopic, testConsumer)));
+  }
+
+  protected String getKafkaRestApiUriString() {
+    return null;
+  }
+
+  private void assertNoMoreExpectedMessages(TestConsumer testConsumer) {
+    testConsumer.resetExpectedMessages(1);
+    assertThat(testConsumer.await(1, TEST_WAIT_FOR_MORE_MESSAGES_TIMEOUT, TEST_TIMEOUT_UNIT))
+        .isFalse();
   }
 }
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/api/KafkaBrokerRestApiTest.java b/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/api/KafkaBrokerRestApiTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5be61ab
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/api/KafkaBrokerRestApiTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,75 @@
+// Copyright (C) 2021 The Android Open Source Project
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+// http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.api;
+
+import com.google.inject.TypeLiteral;
+import com.google.inject.assistedinject.FactoryModuleBuilder;
+import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.config.KafkaProperties;
+import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.config.KafkaProperties.ClientType;
+import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.config.KafkaSubscriberProperties;
+import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.publish.KafkaRestProducer;
+import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.rest.FutureExecutor;
+import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.rest.HttpHostProxy;
+import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.rest.KafkaRestClient;
+import java.util.concurrent.ExecutorService;
+import java.util.concurrent.Executors;
+import org.apache.kafka.clients.producer.Producer;
+import org.junit.Before;
+import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
+import org.mockito.junit.MockitoJUnitRunner;
+
+@RunWith(MockitoJUnitRunner.class)
+public class KafkaBrokerRestApiTest extends KafkaBrokerRestApiTestBase {
+
+  @Override
+  @Before
+  public void setup() {
+    clientType = ClientType.REST;
+  }
+
+  @Override
+  protected TestModule newTestModule(KafkaProperties kafkaProperties) {
+    return new TestModule(kafkaProperties) {
+
+      @Override
+      protected void bindKafkaClientImpl() {
+        bind(new TypeLiteral<Producer<String, String>>() {}).to(KafkaRestProducer.class);
+        bind(ExecutorService.class)
+            .annotatedWith(FutureExecutor.class)
+            .toInstance(Executors.newCachedThreadPool());
+
+        KafkaSubscriberProperties kafkaSubscriberProperties =
+            new KafkaSubscriberProperties(
+                TEST_POLLING_INTERVAL_MSEC,
+                TEST_GROUP_ID,
+                TEST_NUM_SUBSCRIBERS,
+                ClientType.REST,
+                getKafkaRestApiUriString(),
+                restApiUsername,
+                restApiPassword);
+        bind(KafkaSubscriberProperties.class).toInstance(kafkaSubscriberProperties);
+
+        bind(HttpHostProxy.class).toInstance(new HttpHostProxy(null, null, null));
+
+        install(new FactoryModuleBuilder().build(KafkaRestClient.Factory.class));
+      }
+    };
+  }
+
+  @Override
+  protected String getKafkaRestApiUriString() {
+    return kafkaRest.getApiURI().toString();
+  }
+}
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/api/KafkaBrokerRestApiTestBase.java b/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/api/KafkaBrokerRestApiTestBase.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cee073f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/api/KafkaBrokerRestApiTestBase.java
@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+// Copyright (C) 2022 The Android Open Source Project
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+// http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+package com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.api;
+
+import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.KafkaRestContainer;
+import org.junit.BeforeClass;
+import org.junit.Ignore;
+import org.testcontainers.containers.GenericContainer;
+import org.testcontainers.containers.wait.strategy.HttpWaitStrategy;
+import org.testcontainers.images.builder.ImageFromDockerfile;
+
+@Ignore
+public class KafkaBrokerRestApiTestBase extends KafkaBrokerApiTest {
+  private static final String NGINX_IMAGE = "nginx:1.21.5";
+
+  @SuppressWarnings("resource")
+  @BeforeClass
+  public static void beforeClass() throws Exception {
+    KafkaBrokerApiTest.beforeClass();
+    String nginxKafkaConf =
+        String.format(
+            "server {\\n"
+                + "  listen       80  default_server;\\n"
+                + "  listen  [::]:80  default_server;\\n"
+                + "  location     /%s/ {\\n"
+                + "    proxy_pass http://%s:%d/; \\n"
+                + "	   proxy_set_header Authorization \"Basic Z2Vycml0OnNlY3JldA==\";\\n"
+                + "  }\\n"
+                + "  location     / {\\n"
+                + "    proxy_pass http://%s:%d; \\n"
+                + "	   proxy_set_header Authorization \"Basic Z2Vycml0OnNlY3JldA==\";\\n"
+                + "  }\\n"
+                + "}",
+            KAFKA_REST_ID,
+            kafkaRestWithId.getKafkaRestContainerIP(),
+            KafkaRestContainer.KAFKA_REST_PORT,
+            kafkaRestWithId.getKafkaRestContainerIP(),
+            KafkaRestContainer.KAFKA_REST_PORT);
+    nginx =
+        new GenericContainer<>(
+                new ImageFromDockerfile()
+                    .withDockerfileFromBuilder(
+                        builder ->
+                            builder
+                                .from(NGINX_IMAGE)
+                                .run(
+                                    "sh",
+                                    "-c",
+                                    String.format(
+                                        "echo '%s' | tee /etc/nginx/conf.d/default.conf",
+                                        nginxKafkaConf))
+                                .build()))
+            .withExposedPorts(80)
+            .withNetwork(kafkaRestWithId.getNetwork())
+            .waitingFor(new HttpWaitStrategy());
+    nginx.start();
+  }
+}
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/api/KafkaBrokerRestApiWithAuthenticationTest.java b/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/api/KafkaBrokerRestApiWithAuthenticationTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..abd054f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/api/KafkaBrokerRestApiWithAuthenticationTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+// Copyright (C) 2022 The Android Open Source Project
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+// http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.api;
+
+import org.junit.BeforeClass;
+import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
+import org.mockito.junit.MockitoJUnitRunner;
+
+@RunWith(MockitoJUnitRunner.class)
+public class KafkaBrokerRestApiWithAuthenticationTest extends KafkaBrokerRestApiTest {
+
+  @BeforeClass
+  public static void beforeClass() throws Exception {
+    restApiUsername = "gerrit";
+    restApiPassword = "secret";
+    KafkaBrokerRestApiTest.beforeClass();
+  }
+}
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/api/KafkaBrokerRestApiWithIdPrefixTest.java b/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/api/KafkaBrokerRestApiWithIdPrefixTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6ee06e7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/api/KafkaBrokerRestApiWithIdPrefixTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,83 @@
+// Copyright (C) 2022 The Android Open Source Project
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+// http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.api;
+
+import com.google.inject.TypeLiteral;
+import com.google.inject.assistedinject.FactoryModuleBuilder;
+import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.config.KafkaProperties;
+import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.config.KafkaProperties.ClientType;
+import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.config.KafkaSubscriberProperties;
+import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.publish.KafkaRestProducer;
+import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.rest.FutureExecutor;
+import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.rest.HttpHostProxy;
+import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.rest.KafkaRestClient;
+import java.util.concurrent.ExecutorService;
+import java.util.concurrent.Executors;
+import org.apache.kafka.clients.producer.Producer;
+import org.junit.Before;
+import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
+import org.mockito.junit.MockitoJUnitRunner;
+
+@RunWith(MockitoJUnitRunner.class)
+public class KafkaBrokerRestApiWithIdPrefixTest extends KafkaBrokerRestApiTestBase {
+
+  @Override
+  @Before
+  public void setup() {
+    clientType = ClientType.REST;
+  }
+
+  @Override
+  protected TestModule newTestModule(KafkaProperties kafkaProperties) {
+    return new TestModule(kafkaProperties) {
+
+      @Override
+      protected void bindKafkaClientImpl() {
+        bind(new TypeLiteral<Producer<String, String>>() {}).to(KafkaRestProducer.class);
+        bind(ExecutorService.class)
+            .annotatedWith(FutureExecutor.class)
+            .toInstance(Executors.newCachedThreadPool());
+
+        KafkaSubscriberProperties kafkaSubscriberProperties =
+            new KafkaSubscriberProperties(
+                TEST_POLLING_INTERVAL_MSEC,
+                TEST_GROUP_ID,
+                TEST_NUM_SUBSCRIBERS,
+                ClientType.REST,
+                getApiUriString(),
+                null,
+                null);
+        bind(KafkaSubscriberProperties.class).toInstance(kafkaSubscriberProperties);
+
+        bind(HttpHostProxy.class).toInstance(new HttpHostProxy(null, null, null));
+
+        install(new FactoryModuleBuilder().build(KafkaRestClient.Factory.class));
+      }
+    };
+  }
+
+  @Override
+  protected String getKafkaRestApiUriString() {
+    return getApiUriString();
+  }
+
+  private static String getApiUriString() {
+    return String.format(
+        "http://%s:%d/%s",
+        nginx.getHost(),
+        nginx.getLivenessCheckPortNumbers().iterator().next(),
+        KafkaProperties.REST_API_URI_ID_PLACEHOLDER);
+  }
+}
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/publish/KafkaSessionTest.java b/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/publish/KafkaSessionTest.java
index 5aa9ca8..59e7ca2 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/publish/KafkaSessionTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/publish/KafkaSessionTest.java
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 
 package com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.publish;
 
+import static com.google.common.truth.Truth.assertThat;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.any;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.only;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.verify;
@@ -21,10 +22,11 @@
 
 import com.google.common.util.concurrent.Futures;
 import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.config.KafkaProperties;
+import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.config.KafkaProperties.ClientType;
 import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.session.KafkaProducerProvider;
 import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.session.KafkaSession;
 import org.apache.kafka.clients.producer.Callback;
-import org.apache.kafka.clients.producer.KafkaProducer;
+import org.apache.kafka.clients.producer.Producer;
 import org.apache.kafka.clients.producer.RecordMetadata;
 import org.apache.kafka.common.TopicPartition;
 import org.junit.Before;
@@ -38,7 +40,7 @@
 @RunWith(MockitoJUnitRunner.class)
 public class KafkaSessionTest {
   KafkaSession objectUnderTest;
-  @Mock KafkaProducer<String, String> kafkaProducer;
+  @Mock Producer<String, String> kafkaProducer;
   @Mock KafkaProducerProvider producerProvider;
   @Mock KafkaProperties properties;
   @Mock KafkaEventsPublisherMetrics publisherMetrics;
@@ -52,17 +54,19 @@
   public void setUp() {
     when(producerProvider.get()).thenReturn(kafkaProducer);
     when(properties.getTopic()).thenReturn(topic);
+    when(properties.getProperty("bootstrap.servers")).thenReturn("localhost:9092");
+    when(properties.getClientType()).thenReturn(ClientType.NATIVE);
 
     recordMetadata = new RecordMetadata(new TopicPartition(topic, 0), 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0, 0);
 
     objectUnderTest = new KafkaSession(producerProvider, properties, publisherMetrics);
-    objectUnderTest.connect();
   }
 
   @Test
   public void shouldIncrementBrokerMetricCounterWhenMessagePublishedInSyncMode() {
     when(properties.isSendAsync()).thenReturn(false);
     when(kafkaProducer.send(any())).thenReturn(Futures.immediateFuture(recordMetadata));
+    objectUnderTest.connect();
     objectUnderTest.publish(message);
     verify(publisherMetrics, only()).incrementBrokerPublishedMessage();
   }
@@ -71,6 +75,7 @@
   public void shouldIncrementBrokerFailedMetricCounterWhenMessagePublishingFailedInSyncMode() {
     when(properties.isSendAsync()).thenReturn(false);
     when(kafkaProducer.send(any())).thenReturn(Futures.immediateFailedFuture(new Exception()));
+    objectUnderTest.connect();
     objectUnderTest.publish(message);
     verify(publisherMetrics, only()).incrementBrokerFailedToPublishMessage();
   }
@@ -80,6 +85,7 @@
     when(properties.isSendAsync()).thenReturn(false);
     when(kafkaProducer.send(any())).thenThrow(new RuntimeException("Unexpected runtime exception"));
     try {
+      objectUnderTest.connect();
       objectUnderTest.publish(message);
     } catch (RuntimeException e) {
       // expected
@@ -92,6 +98,7 @@
     when(properties.isSendAsync()).thenReturn(true);
     when(kafkaProducer.send(any(), any())).thenReturn(Futures.immediateFuture(recordMetadata));
 
+    objectUnderTest.connect();
     objectUnderTest.publish(message);
 
     verify(kafkaProducer).send(any(), callbackCaptor.capture());
@@ -105,6 +112,7 @@
     when(kafkaProducer.send(any(), any()))
         .thenReturn(Futures.immediateFailedFuture(new Exception()));
 
+    objectUnderTest.connect();
     objectUnderTest.publish(message);
 
     verify(kafkaProducer).send(any(), callbackCaptor.capture());
@@ -118,10 +126,18 @@
     when(kafkaProducer.send(any(), any()))
         .thenThrow(new RuntimeException("Unexpected runtime exception"));
     try {
+      objectUnderTest.connect();
       objectUnderTest.publish(message);
     } catch (RuntimeException e) {
       // expected
     }
     verify(publisherMetrics, only()).incrementBrokerFailedToPublishMessage();
   }
+
+  @Test
+  public void shouldNotConnectKafkaSessionWhenBoostrapServersAreNotSet() {
+    when(properties.getProperty("bootstrap.servers")).thenReturn(null);
+    objectUnderTest.connect();
+    assertThat(objectUnderTest.isOpen()).isFalse();
+  }
 }
diff --git a/src/test/resources/password.properties b/src/test/resources/password.properties
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bcff92d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/resources/password.properties
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+gerrit: secret,GerritRole
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/test/resources/rest-jaas.properties b/src/test/resources/rest-jaas.properties
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..719a030
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/resources/rest-jaas.properties
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+KafkaRest {
+    org.eclipse.jetty.jaas.spi.PropertyFileLoginModule required
+    debug="true"
+    file="/etc/kafka-rest/password.properties";
+};
\ No newline at end of file