---
metadata:
  - name: generator
    content: Diplodoc Platform v5.52.0
alternate:
  - https://ydb.tech/docs/en/reference/ydb-cli/topic-consumer-add.md
  - https://ydb.tech/docs/ru/reference/ydb-cli/topic-consumer-add.md
  - href: en/reference/ydb-cli/topic-consumer-add.md
    type: text/markdown
    title: Markdown version
  - href: ../../llms.txt
    type: text/markdown
    title: llms.txt
sourcePath: en/core/reference/ydb-cli/topic-consumer-add.md
---
> **Documentation Index:** Fetch the complete configuration index at https://ydb.tech/docs/en/llms.txt

# Adding a topic consumer

You can use the `topic consumer add` command to add a consumer for a [previously created](https://ydb.tech/docs/en/reference/ydb-cli/topic-create.md) topic.

General format of the command:

```bash
ydb [global options...] topic consumer add [options...] <topic-path>
```

* `global options`: [Global parameters](https://ydb.tech/docs/en/reference/ydb-cli/commands/global-options.md).
* `options`: [Parameters of the subcommand](#options).
* `topic-path`: Topic path.

View the description of the add consumer command:

```bash
ydb topic consumer add --help
```

## Parameters of the subcommand {#options}

| Name                               | Description                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   |
|------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| `--consumer VAL`                   | Name of the consumer to be added.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             |
| `--starting-message-timestamp VAL` | Time in [UNIX timestamp](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_time) format. Consumption starts as soon as the first [message](../../concepts/datamodel/topic.md#message) is received after the specified time. If the time is not specified, consumption will start from the oldest message in the topic.                                                                 |
| `--supported-codecs`               | Supported data compression methods.<br/>The default value is `raw`.<br/>Possible values:<ul><li>`RAW`: No compression.</li><li>`ZSTD`: [zstd](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zstandard) compression.</li><li>`GZIP`: [gzip](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gzip) compression.</li><li>`LZOP`: [lzop](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lzop) compression.</li></ul> |

## Examples {#examples}

<!-- source: en/_includes/ydb-cli-profile.md -->
{% note info %}

The examples use the `quickstart` profile. To learn more, see [Creating a profile to connect to a test database](https://ydb.tech/docs/en/reference/ydb-cli/profile/create.md#quickstart).

{% endnote %}
<!-- endsource: en/_includes/ydb-cli-profile.md -->

Create a consumer with the `my-consumer` name for the [previously created](https://ydb.tech/docs/en/reference/ydb-cli/topic-create.md) `my-topic` topic. Consumption will start as soon as the first message is received after August 15, 2022 13:00:00 GMT:

```bash
ydb -p quickstart topic consumer add \
  --consumer my-consumer \
  --starting-message-timestamp 1660568400 \
  my-topic
```

Make sure the consumer was created:

```bash
ydb -p quickstart scheme describe my-topic
```

Result:

```text
RetentionPeriod: 2h
PartitionsCount: 2
SupportedCodecs: RAW, GZIP

Consumers:
┌──────────────┬─────────────────┬───────────────────────────────┬───────────┐
| ConsumerName | SupportedCodecs | ReadFrom                      | Important |
├──────────────┼─────────────────┼───────────────────────────────┼───────────┤
| my-consumer  | RAW, GZIP       | Mon, 15 Aug 2022 16:00:00 MSK | 0         |
└──────────────┴─────────────────┴───────────────────────────────┴───────────┘
```