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In order to allow Kafka Connect to keep track of the set of topics that a specific connector has used during its lifetime the following public-facing changes are proposed. It's worth noting that the required changes do not include any changes to the public interfaces or classes of the Kafka Connect framework and rebuilding existing connector code is not required in order to use this feature. 

Storing and returning names of topics that are actively used by connectors

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The information stored in the value of the Kafka record is selected to include the topic name, the connector name and , the task ID of the task that last reported the topic is used by the connector and a timestamp relative to when this topic was detected as active. While the record value is not essential to decide whether a topic is used by a connector and it is partially redundant compared to what is stored in the key, it makes these entries easier to read and follow as well as more useful during runtime or when troubleshooting the topics used by a connector. Whereas the Kafka record key includes to the topic name and the connector name, the Kafka record value stores additionally the ID of the task that succeeded to store a topic status record last and a timestamp to mark when this topic was detected as active. In the future the record value can be easily extended to include additional information. 

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