diff --git a/plugins/inputs/zookeeper/dev/docker-compose.yml b/plugins/inputs/zookeeper/dev/docker-compose.yml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7a4f9bf80
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plugins/inputs/zookeeper/dev/docker-compose.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+version: '3'
+services:
+  zoo:
+    image: zookeeper
+
+  telegraf:
+    image: glinton/scratch
+    volumes:
+      - ./telegraf.conf:/telegraf.conf
+      - ../../../../telegraf:/telegraf
+    depends_on:
+      - zoo
+    entrypoint:
+      - /telegraf
+      - --config
+      - /telegraf.conf
+    network_mode: service:zoo
diff --git a/plugins/inputs/zookeeper/dev/telegraf.conf b/plugins/inputs/zookeeper/dev/telegraf.conf
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ac76b2a7f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plugins/inputs/zookeeper/dev/telegraf.conf
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+[agent]
+  interval="1s"
+  flush_interval="1s"
+
+[[inputs.zookeeper]]
+  servers = [":2181"]
+
+[[outputs.file]]
+  files = ["stdout"]
diff --git a/plugins/inputs/zookeeper/zookeeper.go b/plugins/inputs/zookeeper/zookeeper.go
index 20e7aee01..ad990f28c 100644
--- a/plugins/inputs/zookeeper/zookeeper.go
+++ b/plugins/inputs/zookeeper/zookeeper.go
@@ -158,8 +158,14 @@ func (z *Zookeeper) gatherServer(ctx context.Context, address string, acc telegr
 			}
 		}
 	}
+
+	srv := "localhost"
+	if service[0] != "" {
+		srv = service[0]
+	}
+
 	tags := map[string]string{
-		"server": service[0],
+		"server": srv,
 		"port":   service[1],
 		"state":  zookeeper_state,
 	}