diff --git a/backend/command-service/src/main/java/lt/satsyuk/distributed/audit/command/config/KafkaProducerConfig.java b/backend/command-service/src/main/java/lt/satsyuk/distributed/audit/command/config/KafkaProducerConfig.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f909bda
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/command-service/src/main/java/lt/satsyuk/distributed/audit/command/config/KafkaProducerConfig.java
@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+package lt.satsyuk.distributed.audit.command.config;
+
+import lt.satsyuk.distributed.audit.event.AuditEvent;
+import org.springframework.boot.context.properties.bind.Bindable;
+import org.springframework.boot.context.properties.bind.Binder;
+import org.apache.kafka.clients.producer.ProducerConfig;
+import org.springframework.core.env.ConfigurableEnvironment;
+import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Value;
+import org.springframework.context.annotation.Bean;
+import org.springframework.context.annotation.Configuration;
+import org.springframework.context.annotation.Primary;
+import org.springframework.kafka.core.DefaultKafkaProducerFactory;
+import org.springframework.kafka.core.KafkaTemplate;
+import org.springframework.kafka.core.ProducerFactory;
+import org.apache.kafka.common.serialization.StringSerializer;
+import org.springframework.kafka.support.serializer.JsonSerializer;
+
+import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.HashMap;
+
+/**
+ * Explicit producer bean for {@code KafkaTemplate<String, AuditEvent>}.
+ *
+ * <p>Spring Boot 4 may otherwise expose only a raw {@code KafkaTemplate<?, ?>}
+ * bean, which does not satisfy the strongly-typed constructor dependency.
+ */
+@Configuration
+public class KafkaProducerConfig {
+
+    private static final String JSON_ADD_TYPE_HEADERS_CONFIG = "spring.json.add.type.headers";
+
+    @Bean
+    @Primary
+    public ProducerFactory<String, AuditEvent> auditEventProducerFactory(
+            @Value("${spring.kafka.bootstrap-servers}") String bootstrapServers,
+            ConfigurableEnvironment environment
+    ) {
+        Map<String, Object> props = new HashMap<>();
+        mergeKafkaOverrides(props, environment);
+        props.putIfAbsent(ProducerConfig.BOOTSTRAP_SERVERS_CONFIG, bootstrapServers);
+        props.putIfAbsent(ProducerConfig.KEY_SERIALIZER_CLASS_CONFIG, StringSerializer.class);
+        props.putIfAbsent(ProducerConfig.VALUE_SERIALIZER_CLASS_CONFIG, JsonSerializer.class);
+        props.putIfAbsent(JSON_ADD_TYPE_HEADERS_CONFIG, false);
+        return new DefaultKafkaProducerFactory<>(props);
+    }
+
+    @Bean
+    @Primary
+    public KafkaTemplate<String, AuditEvent> auditEventKafkaTemplate(
+            ProducerFactory<String, AuditEvent> auditEventProducerFactory
+    ) {
+        return new KafkaTemplate<>(auditEventProducerFactory);
+    }
+
+    private static void mergeKafkaOverrides(Map<String, Object> props,
+                                            ConfigurableEnvironment environment) {
+        Binder binder = Binder.get(environment);
+
+        binder.bind("spring.kafka.properties", Bindable.mapOf(String.class, String.class))
+                .ifBound(props::putAll);
+
+        binder.bind("spring.kafka.producer", Bindable.mapOf(String.class, String.class))
+                .ifBound(m -> m.forEach((key, value) -> {
+                    if (key.startsWith("properties.")) {
+                        props.put(key.substring("properties.".length()), value);
+                    } else {
+                        props.put(key.replace('-', '.'), value);
+                    }
+                }));
+    }
+}
+
diff --git a/backend/command-service/src/test/java/lt/satsyuk/distributed/audit/command/config/KafkaProducerConfigIntegrationTest.java b/backend/command-service/src/test/java/lt/satsyuk/distributed/audit/command/config/KafkaProducerConfigIntegrationTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3dae6f6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/command-service/src/test/java/lt/satsyuk/distributed/audit/command/config/KafkaProducerConfigIntegrationTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,88 @@
+package lt.satsyuk.distributed.audit.command.config;
+
+import lt.satsyuk.distributed.audit.command.CommandServiceIntegrationTest;
+import lt.satsyuk.distributed.audit.command.service.AuditCommandPublisher;
+import lt.satsyuk.distributed.audit.event.AuditEvent;
+import org.apache.kafka.clients.producer.ProducerConfig;
+import org.apache.kafka.common.serialization.StringSerializer;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
+import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Value;
+import org.springframework.kafka.core.DefaultKafkaProducerFactory;
+import org.springframework.kafka.core.KafkaTemplate;
+import org.springframework.kafka.core.ProducerFactory;
+import org.springframework.test.context.TestPropertySource;
+
+import java.util.Map;
+
+import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThat;
+
+/**
+ * Verifies that {@link KafkaProducerConfig} correctly registers a strongly-typed
+ * {@code KafkaTemplate<String, AuditEvent>} bean and that {@link AuditCommandPublisher}
+ * is wired successfully from the real application context.
+ */
+@CommandServiceIntegrationTest
+@TestPropertySource(properties = {
+        "spring.kafka.bootstrap-servers=${spring.embedded.kafka.brokers}",
+        "spring.kafka.properties.client.id=command-service-it",
+        "spring.kafka.producer.properties.acks=all"
+})
+class KafkaProducerConfigIntegrationTest {
+
+    private static final String JSON_SERIALIZER_FQCN =
+            "org.springframework.kafka.support.serializer.JsonSerializer";
+
+    @Autowired
+    private KafkaTemplate<String, AuditEvent> auditEventKafkaTemplate;
+
+    @Autowired
+    private ProducerFactory<String, AuditEvent> auditEventProducerFactory;
+
+    @Autowired
+    private AuditCommandPublisher auditCommandPublisher;
+
+    @Value("${spring.embedded.kafka.brokers}")
+    private String embeddedKafkaBrokers;
+
+    @Test
+    void auditEventKafkaTemplateBeanIsCreated() {
+        assertThat(auditEventKafkaTemplate).isNotNull();
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    void auditCommandPublisherBeanIsCreated() {
+        assertThat(auditCommandPublisher).isNotNull();
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    void producerFactoryPicksUpSpringKafkaOverrides() {
+        assertThat(auditEventProducerFactory).isInstanceOf(DefaultKafkaProducerFactory.class);
+
+        @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
+        DefaultKafkaProducerFactory<String, AuditEvent> defaultFactory =
+                (DefaultKafkaProducerFactory<String, AuditEvent>) auditEventProducerFactory;
+
+        Map<String, Object> configurationProperties =
+                defaultFactory.getConfigurationProperties();
+
+        assertThat(configurationProperties)
+                .containsEntry(ProducerConfig.BOOTSTRAP_SERVERS_CONFIG, embeddedKafkaBrokers)
+                .containsEntry("client.id", "command-service-it")
+                .containsEntry("acks", "all");
+
+        assertThat(configurationProperties.get(ProducerConfig.KEY_SERIALIZER_CLASS_CONFIG))
+                .isIn(StringSerializer.class, StringSerializer.class.getName());
+        Object valueSerializer = configurationProperties.get(ProducerConfig.VALUE_SERIALIZER_CLASS_CONFIG);
+        assertThat(valueSerializer).satisfiesAnyOf(
+                serializer -> assertThat(serializer).isEqualTo(JSON_SERIALIZER_FQCN),
+                serializer -> assertThat(serializer)
+                        .isInstanceOf(Class.class)
+                        .extracting(candidate -> ((Class<?>) candidate).getName())
+                        .isEqualTo(JSON_SERIALIZER_FQCN)
+        );
+        assertThat(configurationProperties.get("spring.json.add.type.headers"))
+                .isIn(false, "false");
+    }
+}
+