Add the kafka-basics module

README.md

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+# spring-messaging-demo
+
+Companion code for the messaging series on [ankurm.com](https://ankurm.com). Each directory is a
+self-contained Maven project for one article, with its own `pom.xml`, its own numbered
+documentation chapters, and its own captured output under `docs/output/` — regenerated by that
+module's `scripts/run-all.sh`, never typed by hand.
+
+| Module | Article | What it demonstrates |
+|---|---|---|
+| [`kafka-basics/`](kafka-basics/README.md) | [Spring Boot 4.1 and Apache Kafka: Producer, Consumer and Serialisation from Scratch](https://ankurm.com/spring-boot-4-1-kafka-producer-consumer-serialisation/) | The on-ramp: what the starter gives you, the two Jackson serializer families, where a key lands and why, and which defaults are Kafka's rather than Spring's |
+
+They are meant to be read in order. `kafka-basics` establishes that the default acknowledgement
+mode is `BATCH` and therefore that delivery is at-least-once; everything the error-handling
+module does exists because of that one sentence.
+
+## Common ground
+
+All modules target the same verified stack: **JDK 25** (Temurin 25.0.4.1+1), **Spring Boot
+4.1.1**, **Spring Framework 7.0.9**. Versions were read from `maven-metadata.xml` on Maven
+Central and from Boot's own `spring-boot-dependencies` POM, rather than from release
+announcements.
+
+Every module runs its broker without Docker, so the transcripts can be regenerated on any
+machine with a JDK: Kafka via the in-process KRaft broker in `spring-kafka-test`, RabbitMQ via a
+real broker started by the module's own scripts. Each module also ships a Testcontainers
+configuration for the cases where the deployed image is what you need to test against.
+
+## Licence
+
+MIT — see [LICENSE](LICENSE).