Apache Curator

aid: apache-curator
name: Apache Curator
description: >-
  Apache Curator is a Java/JVM client library for Apache ZooKeeper, governed by the Apache Software Foundation, that provides a high-level API framework, fluent builders, and pre-built distributed coordination
  recipes including leader election, distributed locks, barriers, caches, counters, and service discovery. It significantly simplifies writing reliable distributed applications.
type: Index
position: Consumer
access: 3rd-Party
image: https://kinlane-productions2.s3.amazonaws.com/apis-json/apis-json-logo.jpg
tags:
- Apache
- Distributed Coordination
- Distributed Systems
- Java
- Maven
- Open Source
- Service Discovery
- ZooKeeper
created: '2026-03-16'
modified: '2026-04-19'
url: >-
  https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/apache-curator/refs/heads/main/apis.yml
specificationVersion: '0.19'
apis:
- aid: apache-curator:apache-curator
  name: Apache Curator
  description: >-
    Curator provides a high-level Java API with fluent builders for ZooKeeper operations, along with pre-built recipes for leader election, distributed locks (shared, reentrant, read-write, semaphore),
    barriers, caches (CuratorCache, PathCache, TreeCache), distributed counters, queues, group membership, and service discovery via curator-x-discovery.
  humanURL: https://curator.apache.org/docs/about
  tags:
  - Barriers
  - Caches
  - Distributed Locks
  - Java
  - Leader Election
  - Maven
  - Queues
  - Service Discovery
  - ZooKeeper
  properties:
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://curator.apache.org/docs/about
  - type: APIReference
    url: https://curator.apache.org/apidocs/
  - type: GettingStarted
    url: https://curator.apache.org/docs/getting-started
  - type: GitHubRepository
    url: https://github.com/apache/curator
  - type: SDK
    url: https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/org.apache.curator/curator-framework
    title: curator-framework (Maven)
  - type: SDK
    url: https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/org.apache.curator/curator-recipes
    title: curator-recipes (Maven)
  - type: SDK
    url: https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/org.apache.curator/curator-x-discovery
    title: curator-x-discovery (Maven)
  - type: SDK
    url: https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/org.apache.curator/curator-async
    title: curator-async (Maven)
  - type: Tools
    url: https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/org.apache.curator/curator-test
    title: curator-test (Testing)
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/apache-curator/refs/heads/main/json-schema/apache-curator-distributed-lock-schema.json
    title: Distributed Lock
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/apache-curator/refs/heads/main/json-schema/apache-curator-leader-latch-state-schema.json
    title: Leader Latch State
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/apache-curator/refs/heads/main/json-schema/apache-curator-node-data-schema.json
    title: Node Data
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/apache-curator/refs/heads/main/json-schema/apache-curator-service-instance-schema.json
    title: Service Instance
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/apache-curator/refs/heads/main/json-structure/apache-curator-distributed-lock-structure.json
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/apache-curator/refs/heads/main/json-structure/apache-curator-leader-latch-state-structure.json
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/apache-curator/refs/heads/main/json-structure/apache-curator-node-data-structure.json
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/apache-curator/refs/heads/main/json-structure/apache-curator-service-instance-structure.json
  - type: JSONLD
    url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/apache-curator/refs/heads/main/json-ld/apache-curator-context.jsonld
  - type: Example
    url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/apache-curator/refs/heads/main/examples/apache-curator-distributed-lock-example.json
  - type: Example
    url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/apache-curator/refs/heads/main/examples/apache-curator-leader-latch-state-example.json
  - type: Example
    url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/apache-curator/refs/heads/main/examples/apache-curator-node-data-example.json
  - type: Example
    url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/apache-curator/refs/heads/main/examples/apache-curator-service-instance-example.json
maintainers:
- FN: Kin Lane
  email: [email protected]
common:
- type: Portal
  url: https://curator.apache.org/
- type: Documentation
  url: https://curator.apache.org/docs/
- type: GettingStarted
  url: https://curator.apache.org/docs/getting-started
- type: GitHubOrganization
  url: https://github.com/apache
- type: GitHubRepository
  url: https://github.com/apache/curator
- type: StackOverflow
  url: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/curator
- type: Features
  data:
  - name: High-Level ZooKeeper Client
    description: Wraps the raw ZooKeeper client with connection management, retry policies, and error handling for reliable distributed coordination.
  - name: Fluent Builder API
    description: Provides a chainable, readable Java DSL for all ZooKeeper CRUD operations including watchers, transactions, and ACLs.
  - name: Distributed Coordination Recipes
    description: 'Pre-built implementations of distributed patterns: leader election, locks, semaphores, barriers, counters, queues, and group membership.'
  - name: Service Discovery
    description: curator-x-discovery provides a ZooKeeper-based service registry and discovery mechanism with instance registration and lookup.
  - name: Asynchronous DSL
    description: curator-async provides a CompletionStage-based async API with O/R modeling and schema migration for ZooKeeper data.
  - name: Node Caching
    description: CuratorCache provides an efficient local replica of ZooKeeper subtrees with near-real-time change notifications.
  - name: Testing Support
    description: curator-test includes TestingServer (embedded ZooKeeper) and TestingCluster for writing reliable unit and integration tests.
  - name: Retry Policies
    description: Configurable retry policies (ExponentialBackoff, BoundedExponentialBackoff, RetryNTimes, etc.) for handling transient failures.
- type: UseCases
  data:
  - name: Distributed Leader Election
    description: Elect a single leader across a cluster for coordinating distributed workloads, using LeaderLatch or LeaderSelector recipes.
  - name: Distributed Locking
    description: Prevent concurrent access to shared resources across JVMs using InterProcessMutex and related lock recipes.
  - name: Service Registry and Discovery
    description: Register microservices with ZooKeeper and discover them by type using curator-x-discovery.
  - name: Distributed Configuration
    description: Store and watch shared configuration data across a cluster with automatic change notifications via NodeCache.
  - name: Cluster Membership Tracking
    description: Track which nodes are alive in a distributed cluster using GroupMember and PersistentNode recipes.
  - name: Distributed Counters and IDs
    description: Generate globally unique sequential IDs or maintain shared atomic counters across a cluster.
- type: Integrations
  data:
  - name: Apache ZooKeeper
    description: Curator is built on top of ZooKeeper and requires a running ZooKeeper ensemble.
  - name: Apache Kafka
    description: Earlier versions of Kafka used ZooKeeper (managed via Curator) for broker coordination and metadata.
  - name: Apache HBase
    description: HBase uses ZooKeeper for master election and region server coordination, often managed via Curator.
  - name: Apache Storm
    description: Storm uses Curator for its ZooKeeper-based cluster state management.
  - name: Spring Framework
    description: Spring Cloud Zookeeper integrates with Apache Curator for service discovery and distributed configuration.
  - name: Maven Central
    description: All Curator modules are published to Maven Central under org.apache.curator group ID.
- type: Vocabulary
  url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/apache-curator/refs/heads/main/vocabulary/apache-curator-vocabulary.yaml