Kaoto Documentation Revamp: Your Complete Guide to Visual Integration Design

A Fresh Start for Kaoto Documentation

We’re excited to announce a complete overhaul of the Kaoto documentation! Whether you’re new to visual integration design or an experienced Apache Camel developer, our refreshed documentation provides everything you need to build powerful integrations with confidence.

The new documentation structure is designed to guide you from installation through advanced features, with clear explanations, practical examples, and visual aids at every step.

What’s New?

The documentation is now organized into logical sections that match your learning journey:

Installation - Get Kaoto up and running in your environment
Quickstart - Build your first AI-powered integration in minutes
Designer - Master the visual designer interface and features
DataMapper - Transform and map data between different formats
REST - Work with REST APIs in your integrations

Each section builds on the previous one, creating a natural progression from beginner to advanced topics.

Comprehensive Designer Guide

The Designer section has been completely restructured into focused, task-oriented guides:

Managing Integrations

Learn the fundamentals of working with Kaoto integrations:

Understanding Resource Types - Deep dive into Camel Routes, Kamelets, and Pipes, with clear guidance on when to use each type
Best Practices - Why single integration per file is recommended and when to deviate from this pattern
Creating Integrations - Step-by-step instructions for creating new integrations
The Flows List - Your central control panel for managing integrations, with renaming, visibility control, and deletion
Advanced Entities - RouteConfiguration, Intercept patterns, ErrorHandler, and OnException for sophisticated integration patterns

Working with Nodes

Master the essential operations for building your routes:

Adding, replacing, and deleting steps
Configuring components through intuitive forms
Enabling and disabling components during development
Generating documentation for your integrations
Understanding the component catalog

Reordering Nodes

Efficiently reorganize your integration flows:

Drag-and-drop operations (now production-ready!)
Copy/paste functionality
Move-before/after actions
Working with complex nested structures

Runtime Selector

Choose and configure the right Apache Camel runtime:

Working with different Camel versions (Main, Quarkus, Spring Boot)
Configuring custom catalog libraries

Enhanced Quickstart Tutorial

The Quickstart guide now features a complete, real-world example that demonstrates Kaoto’s capabilities:

Build a Local Text Summarization Route - Create a Camel route that:

Monitors a folder for new text files
Sends content to Ollama (running the Granite AI model)
Outputs concise summaries

This hands-on tutorial introduces you to:

Creating and configuring integrations
Working with file components
Integrating AI capabilities with OpenAI components
Running and testing routes in VS Code

The tutorial includes detailed screenshots for every step, making it easy to follow along even if you’re completely new to Kaoto.

Expanded DataMapper Documentation

The DataMapper section now provides comprehensive coverage of this powerful feature:

Visual Data Mapping - Drag-and-drop functionality for creating transformations
Schema Support - Working with XML Schema (XSD) and JSON Schema files
Multiple Schema Files - Handling complex schemas split across multiple files with xs:import and xs:include
JSON Support - Complete guide to JSON source bodies and JSON target transformations
Conditional Mappings - Creating if, choose-when-otherwise, and for-each mappings
XPath Expression Editor - Advanced expression editing with function support
Collection Handling - Merging multiple source collections into target fields

Each feature is explained with clear examples and visual demonstrations, including video tutorials for complex operations.

REST API Integration Guide

The REST section covers both API-first and code-first approaches:

API-First Development - Import OpenAPI specifications and generate Camel REST DSL definitions
Code-First Development - Build REST APIs directly in Kaoto
REST Editor - Visual configuration of REST endpoints, operations, and bindings

This section bridges the gap between API design and integration development, showing you how to leverage existing OpenAPI specifications in your Camel routes.

Documentation Highlights

Visual Learning

Every guide includes:

Screenshots showing exactly what you’ll see in the interface
Step-by-step instructions with visual markers
Video tutorials for complex operations
Before/after examples to clarify the impact of each action

Practical Tips and Best Practices

Throughout the documentation, you’ll find:

💡 Tips - Helpful hints and shortcuts
⚠️ Warnings - Important considerations and common pitfalls
📝 Notes - Additional context and technical details
Best Practice Recommendations - Guidance on the recommended approach for common scenarios

Each documentation page includes:

Table of contents for quick navigation within the page
Next steps section linking to related topics
Breadcrumb navigation showing your location in the documentation hierarchy
Cross-references to related features and concepts

We Want Your Feedback

The documentation is a living resource that grows with the community. If you:

Find something unclear or confusing
Discover a missing topic or example
Have suggestions for improvement
Want to contribute documentation

Please join us in the GitHub discussions or create an issue.

Explore the New Documentation

Ready to dive in? Visit the Kaoto Documentation and start building powerful Apache Camel integrations with confidence.

Whether you’re creating simple file processors or complex AI-powered workflows, the new documentation provides the guidance you need at every step of your journey.

Give Kaoto a Try

Happy integrating! 🐫✨

Kaoto Documentation Guide

Authors

Paloma

Team

She is a full-stack software engineer with a background in scientific research and experience across both industry and research. She brings a thoughtful, research-driven approach to problem solving and enjoys collaborating on open-source software as part of the Kaoto team.