Docs for Native Images

Author: garyrussell

spring-kafka-docs/src/main/asciidoc/appendix.adoc

@@ -59,6 +59,16 @@ include::../docs/generated/spans.adoc[]
 
 include::../docs/generated/conventions.adoc[]
 
+[appendix]
+[[native-images]]
+== Native Images
+
+https://docs.spring.io/spring-framework/docs/current/reference/html/core.html#aot[Spring AOT] native hints are provided to assist in developing native images for Spring applications that use Spring for Apache Kafka, including hints for AVRO generated classes used in `@KafkaListener` s.
+
+IMPORTANT: `spring-kafka-test` (and, specifically, its `EmbeddedKafkaBroker`) is not supported in native images.
+
+Some examples can be seen in the https://github.com/spring-projects/spring-aot-smoke-tests/tree/main/integration[`spring-aot-smoke-tests` GitHub repository].
+
 [appendix]
 [[history]]
 == Change History

spring-kafka-docs/src/main/asciidoc/whats-new.adoc

@@ -23,6 +23,12 @@ See <<exactly-once>> and https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/KAFKA/KIP-4
 Enabling observation for timers and tracing using Micrometer is now supported.
 See <<observation>> for more information.
 
+[[x30-Native]]
+==== Native Images
+
+Support for creating native images is provided.
+See <<native-images>> for more information.
+
 [[x30-global-embedded-kafka]]
 ==== Global Single Embedded Kafka