Redis Cheatsheet

Getting Started

# Connect to a local Redis instance
redis-cli

# Connect to a remote Redis instance
redis-cli -h 192.168.1.100 -p 6379 -a mypassword

# Connect with a specific database (0-15)
redis-cli -n 2

# Run a single command
redis-cli PING

# Pipe commands from stdin
echo -e "SET key value\nGET key" | redis-cli

# Run commands from a file
redis-cli --pipe < commands.txt

# Enable raw output (no formatting)
redis-cli --raw GET key

# Monitor all commands in real time
redis-cli MONITOR

# Latency doctor — analyze slow operations
redis-cli --latency-doctor

Server Management

# Ping the server
PING                          # PONG

# Get server information
INFO
INFO server
INFO memory
INFO replication
INFO persistence
INFO clients

# Get the number of keys
DBSIZE

# Flush all keys from the current database
FLUSHDB

# Flush all keys from all databases
FLUSHALL

# Get the Unix timestamp of the last DB save
LASTSAVE

# Change database at runtime
SELECT 1

# Debugging — inspect a key's internal encoding
DEBUG OBJECT mykey

# Slow log — find expensive commands
SLOWLOG GET 10                # Last 10 slow entries
SLOWLOG LEN                   # Total entries in slow log
SLOWLOG RESET                 # Clear the slow log

# Client management
CLIENT LIST                   # List all connected clients
CLIENT KILL <ip>:<port>       # Kill a specific client
CLIENT SETNAME myapp          # Name the current connection
CLIENT GETNAME                # Get the current connection name
CLIENT PAUSE 10000            # Pause all clients for 10s (ms)

Data Types

Strings

Strings are the most basic Redis type. A single key can hold a string value up to 512 MB. Binary-safe.

# Basic CRUD
SET user:1:name "Alice"
GET user:1:name               # "Alice"
DEL user:1:name

# Set with expiration (seconds)
SET session:abc123 "user_data" EX 3600

# Set with expiration (milliseconds)
SET lock:resource "locked" PX 5000

# Set only if key does not exist (NX) or does exist (XX)
SET user:2:name "Bob" NX      # Only set if not already present
SET cache:home "html..." XX   # Only update if already present

# Get and delete atomically
GETDEL temp:token

# Get and set a new value atomically
GETSET counter:visits 0       # Returns old value, sets new

# Append to a string
APPEND log:entries "line1\n"
APPEND log:entries "line2\n"

# Get substring
GETRANGE log:entries 0 10     # Characters 0 through 10

# Overwrite a substring
SETRANGE greeting 6 "World"   # "Hello World" (if greeting was "Hello ")

# Get string length
STRLEN user:1:name

# Increment / decrement
SET page:views 10
INCR page:views               # 11
INCRBY page:views 5           # 16
DECR page:views               # 15
DECRBY page:views 3           # 12
INCRBYFLOAT balance 0.50      # Floating point increment

# Multi-key operations
MSET user:3:name "Carol" user:3:email "carol@example.com"
MGET user:1:name user:2:name user:3:name
MGETNX key1 key2 key3 val1 val2 val3  # Set multiple only if none exist

Lists

Lists are linked lists of strings. Insertion and deletion at the head or tail are O(1).

# Push elements
LPUSH queue:tasks "task1" "task2" "task3"   # Push to head (left)
RPUSH queue:tasks "task4"                    # Push to tail (right)

# Pop elements
LPOP queue:tasks                    # Pop from head — "task3"
RPOP queue:tasks                    # Pop from tail — "task4"

# Pop and push (move between lists)
RPOPLPUSH source:queue dest:queue   # Atomically move last element
LMOVE source:queue dest:queue LEFT RIGHT  # Same with direction control (Redis 6.2+)

# Blocking pop (wait if list is empty)
BLPOP queue:tasks 5                 # Block up to 5 seconds
BRPOP queue:tasks 30                # Block up to 30 seconds
BLMOVE source:queue dest:queue LEFT RIGHT 30

# Get elements by index (0-based)
LINDEX queue:tasks 0                # First element
LINDEX queue:tasks -1               # Last element

# Get a range of elements
LRANGE queue:tasks 0 -1             # All elements
LRANGE queue:tasks 0 4              # First 5 elements

# Get list length
LLEN queue:tasks

# Trim list to a range
LTRIM recent:logs 0 99              # Keep only the newest 100 entries

# Set element at index
LSET queue:tasks 0 "new_task"

# Insert before or after a pivot element
LINSERT mylist BEFORE "pivot" "new_element"
LINSERT mylist AFTER "pivot" "new_element"

# Remove elements by value
LREM mylist -2 "value"              # Remove last 2 occurrences
LREM mylist 2 "value"               # Remove first 2 occurrences
LREM mylist 0 "value"               # Remove all occurrences

Sets

Sets are collections of unique, unsorted strings. O(1) add/remove/membership test.

# Add / remove members
SADD tags:article:1 "redis" "database" "nosql" "caching"
SREM tags:article:1 "nosql"

# Check membership
SISMEMBER tags:article:1 "redis"     # 1 (true)
SISMEMBER tags:article:1 "mongodb"  # 0 (false)

# Get all members
SMEMBERS tags:article:1

# Get member count
SCARD tags:article:1

# Random member
SRANDMEMBER tags:article:1          # Return a random member (does not remove)
SRANDMEMBER tags:article:1 3        # Return 3 random members

# Pop a random member (removes it)
SPOP tags:article:1

# Move a member between sets
SMOVE source:set dest:set "redis"

# Set operations
SADD set:a 1 2 3 4 5
SADD set:b 4 5 6 7 8
SDIFF set:a set:b                  # Elements in a but not in b → {1, 2, 3}
SINTER set:a set:b                  # Elements in both → {4, 5}
SUNION set:a set:b                  # All elements → {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8}

# Store set operation results
SDIFFSTORE result:set set:a set:b
SINTERSTORE result:set set:a set:b
SUNIONSTORE result:set set:a set:b

# Scan through set members (cursor-based, non-blocking)
SSCAN tags:article:1 0 COUNT 100

Sorted Sets (ZSETs)

Sorted sets map unique string members to floating-point scores. Members are ordered by score.

# Add members with scores
ZADD leaderboard 100 "player1" 200 "player2" 150 "player3"

# Add or update with options
ZADD leaderboard NX 300 "player4"            # Only add if not exists
ZADD leaderboard XX 250 "player2"            # Only update if exists
ZADD leaderboard CH 50 "player1"             # Return number of changed elements
ZADD leaderboard GT 120 "player1"            # Only update if new score > current

# Get score
ZSCORE leaderboard "player1"                # 100

# Get rank (0-based, by ascending score)
ZRANK leaderboard "player3"                 # 1
ZREVRANK leaderboard "player3"              # 1 (by descending score)

# Count members in a score range
ZCOUNT leaderboard 100 200                  # 3

# Get members by score range
ZRANGE leaderboard 0 -1                     # All members (ascending)
ZRANGEBYSCORE leaderboard 100 200           # Members with score 100-200
ZREVRANGE leaderboard 0 -1                  # All members (descending)
ZREVRANGEBYSCORE leaderboard 200 100        # Members with score 200-100 (desc)

# With scores included
ZRANGE leaderboard 0 -1 WITHSCORES
ZRANGEBYSCORE leaderboard 100 200 WITHSCORES

# Remove members
ZREM leaderboard "player1"
ZREMRANGEBYRANK leaderboard 0 2             # Remove bottom 3
ZREMRANGEBYSCORE leaderboard 0 50           # Remove all with score <= 50

# Increment a member's score
ZINCRBY leaderboard 10 "player1"            # player1 score → 110

# Get cardinality
ZCARD leaderboard

# Union and intersection (aggregate scores)
ZADD daily:2026-04-19 100 "user1" 200 "user2"
ZADD daily:2026-04-20 150 "user1" 300 "user3"
ZUNIONSTORE weekly:scores 2 daily:2026-04-19 daily:2026-04-20 WEIGHTS 1 1 AGGREGATE SUM
ZINTERSTORE common:scores 2 daily:2026-04-19 daily:2026-04-20

# Lexicographic range (when all scores are the same)
ZRANGE lex:set [a [z BYLEX

# Scan through sorted set members
ZSCAN leaderboard 0 COUNT 100

Hashes

Hashes map string fields to string values. Perfect for representing objects.

# Set a single field
HSET user:1001 name "Alice"
HSET user:1001 email "alice@example.com"
HSET user:1001 age 30

# Set multiple fields at once
HMSET user:1001 name "Alice" email "alice@example.com" age 30

# Set only if field does not exist
HSETNX user:1001 role "admin"             # Only sets if "role" doesn't exist

# Get a single field
HGET user:1001 name                       # "Alice"

# Get multiple fields
HMGET user:1001 name email age

# Get all fields and values
HGETALL user:1001

# Delete fields
HDEL user:1001 age

# Check if a field exists
HEXISTS user:1001 email                   # 1 (true)

# Get number of fields
HLEN user:1001

# Get all field names
HKEYS user:1001

# Get all values
HVALS user:1001

# Increment a numeric field
HINCRBY user:1001 login_count 1
HINCRBYFLOAT user:1001 balance 10.50

# Scan through hash fields
HSCAN user:1001 0 COUNT 100

Streams

Streams are a log data structure with consumer groups. Ideal for event sourcing and messaging.

# Add an entry to a stream
XADD events:user:1001 * name "login" ip "10.0.0.1" timestamp 1745145600000

# Add with a specific ID or auto-generate with *
XADD mystream 0-1 field1 value1 field2 value2

# Cap stream to a maximum number of entries
XADD mystream MAXLEN ~ 10000 * field value   # ~ means approximate trimming

# Read entries from a stream
XREAD COUNT 10 STREAMS mystream 0-0           # All entries
XREAD COUNT 10 STREAMS mystream $              # Only new entries (block)

# Block until new entries arrive
XREAD BLOCK 5000 STREAMS mystream $            # Wait up to 5 seconds
XREAD BLOCK 0 STREAMS mystream $               # Block indefinitely

# Read a range of entries by ID
XRANGE mystream - +                            # All entries
XRANGE mystream 1672531200000-0 1672617600000-0

# Read in reverse
XREVRANGE mystream + -

# Get stream info and length
XINFO STREAM mystream
XLEN mystream

# Trim a stream
XTRIM mystream MAXLEN ~ 1000

# Remove entries
XDEL mystream 1672531200000-0

# Consumer groups
XGROUP CREATE mystream mygroup $ MKSTREAM      # Create group, start from new entries
XGROUP CREATE mystream mygroup 0-0 MKSTREAM   # Create group, read from the beginning
XGROUP DESTROY mystream mygroup                # Delete the group

# Read as a consumer in a group
XREADGROUP GROUP mygroup consumer1 COUNT 5 STREAMS mystream >

# Acknowledge messages
XACK mystream mygroup 1672531200000-0 1672531200000-1

# Claim pending messages (for crashed consumers)
XCLAIM mystream mygroup consumer2 3600000 1672531200000-0 1672531200000-1

# View pending entries
XPENDING mystream mygroup
XPENDING mystream mygroup - + 10              # Detailed pending info

# List consumer groups on a stream
XINFO GROUPS mystream

# List consumers in a group
XINFO CONSUMERS mystream mygroup

# Autoclaim — claim and return pending messages
XAUTOCLAIM mystream mygroup consumer2 3600000 0-0 COUNT 10

Bitmaps

Bitmaps are string-based bit arrays. Perfect for flags, presence sets, and analytics.

# Set a bit (offset is 0-based)
SETBIT user:1001:logins 0 1                  # Day 0: logged in
SETBIT user:1001:logins 1 1                  # Day 1: logged in
SETBIT user:1001:logins 2 0                  # Day 2: did not log in

# Get a bit
GETBIT user:1001:logins 0                    # 1

# Count set bits
BITCOUNT user:1001:logins                    # Total days logged in
BITCOUNT user:1001:logins 0 1                # Count bits in byte range 0-1

# Bitwise operations (store result in destkey)
SETBIT flags:a 0 1
SETBIT flags:a 3 1
SETBIT flags:b 1 1
SETBIT flags:b 3 1
BITOP AND result:flags flags:a flags:b       # {0,1,0,1} AND {0,1,0,1} → {0,1,0,1}
BITOP OR result:flags flags:a flags:b
BITOP XOR result:flags flags:a flags:b
BITOP NOT result:flags flags:a

# Find first bit set
BITPOS user:1001:logins 1                    # First day with login
BITPOS user:1001:logins 0                    # First day without login

# Real-world: tracking daily active users for a given date
SETBIT active:2026-04-20 <user_id> 1
BITCOUNT active:2026-04-20                   # Total active users that day

HyperLogLog

HyperLogLog provides probabilistic cardinality estimation with ~0.81% standard error using minimal memory (12 KB per key).

# Add elements
PFADD unique:visitors:page:home "user1" "user2" "user3" "user1"

# Get estimated cardinality
PFCOUNT unique:visitors:page:home            # 3 (estimated)

# Merge multiple HLLs
PFADD unique:visitors:day1 "user1" "user2"
PFADD unique:visitors:day2 "user2" "user3"
PFMERGE unique:visitors:combined unique:visitors:day1 unique:visitors:day2
PFCOUNT unique:visitors:combined             # ~3

# Real-world: monthly unique page views
PFADD uv:2026-04-20 "user1" "user2" "user3"
PFADD uv:2026-04-21 "user2" "user4" "user5"
PFMERGE uv:2026-04 uv:2026-04-20 uv:2026-04-21
PFCOUNT uv:2026-04                           # ~5 unique users

Key Management

Expiration and TTL

# Set expiration (seconds)
EXPIRE session:abc 3600                      # Expire in 1 hour
EXPIREAT session:abc 1745232000              # Expire at Unix timestamp

# Set expiration (milliseconds)
PEXPIRE session:abc 3600000
PEXPIREAT session:abc 1745232000000

# Get remaining time to live
TTL session:abc                              # Seconds remaining (-1 = no expiry, -2 = key gone)
PTTL session:abc                             # Milliseconds remaining

# Persist a key (remove expiration)
PERSIST session:abc

# Set with built-in expiration
SET cache:product:42 "data" EX 300           # Expire in 5 minutes
SET lock:order:99 "held" PX 10000            # Expire in 10 seconds

Key Scanning and Pattern Matching

# KEYS pattern (WARNING: blocks the server, use in dev only)
KEYS user:*                                  # All keys starting with "user:"
KEYS session:???:*                           # 3-char ID after "session:"

# SCAN — cursor-based, non-blocking alternative
SCAN 0 MATCH user:* COUNT 100                # First batch
SCAN 34 MATCH user:* COUNT 100               # Next batch (cursor = 34)
SCAN 0 MATCH session:* COUNT 100 COUNT 1000  # Larger batches

# Type inspection
TYPE mykey                                   # string, list, set, zset, hash, stream, etc.

# Check existence
EXISTS mykey                                 # 1 if exists, 0 if not
EXISTS key1 key2 key3                        # Count of existing keys

# Rename
RENAME oldkey newkey                         # Overwrites newkey if it exists
RENAMENX oldkey newkey                       # Only rename if newkey doesn't exist

# Copy a key (Redis 6.2+)
COPY sourcekey destkey

# Dump and restore (binary serialization)
DUMP mykey
RESTORE newkey 0 "<serialized-data>"

# Serialize key to see encoding
DEBUG OBJECT mykey

# Sort keys (works on lists, sets, sorted sets)
SORT mylist ALPHA
SORT mylist BY weight:* DESC LIMIT 0 10
SORT mylist BY weight:* DESC GET object:*->name

Transactions

Redis transactions group multiple commands into a single atomic operation. All commands are queued and executed sequentially.

# Basic transaction
MULTI
SET user:1:balance 1000
DECRBY user:1:balance 200
INCRBY user:2:balance 200
EXEC

# Discard a transaction
MULTI
SET key1 value1
DISCARD                                     # Cancels the transaction

# Optimistic locking with WATCH
WATCH account:1001                          # Watch key for changes
balance = GET account:1001                  # Read current balance
MULTI
SET account:1001 <new_balance>
EXEC                                         # Succeeds only if account:1001 wasn't changed

# UNWATCH — cancel all watched keys
UNWATCH

Transaction Gotchas

# Errors inside a transaction: syntax errors cause EXEC to fail entirely,
# but type errors (e.g., INCR on a string) are skipped silently.

MULTI
SET foo bar
INCR foo                                    # Type error: foo is a string
SET baz qux
EXEC                                         # foo="bar", INCR is skipped, baz="qux"

# Redis does NOT support rollback — handle errors in your application.

Pub/Sub

Redis publish/subscribe enables real-time messaging between clients.

# Subscribe to channels
SUBSCRIBE channel:notifications
SUBSCRIBE channel:notifications channel:alerts channel:logs

# Subscribe to a pattern
PSUBSCRIBE channel:user:*                   # Matches channel:user:1001, etc.

# Publish a message
PUBLISH channel:notifications "Order #1234 has been shipped"

# Unsubscribe
UNSUBSCRIBE channel:notifications
PUNSUBSCRIBE channel:user:*

# List active channels
PUBSUB CHANNELS                             # All active channels
PUBSUB CHANNELS channel:user:*              # Channels matching pattern
PUBSUB NUMSUB channel:notifications         # Subscriber count
PUBSUB NUMPAT                               # Number of pattern subscriptions

Pub/Sub Limitations

Messages are fire-and-forget: if no subscriber is listening, the message is lost.
Pub/Sub does not persist messages — use Streams for durable messaging.
Subscribers only receive messages published after they subscribe.

Lua Scripting

Lua scripts execute atomically on the server, ensuring no other commands run during execution.

# EVAL — run a Lua script
EVAL "return redis.call('SET', KEYS[1], ARGV[1])" 1 mykey myvalue

# EVALSHA — run by SHA1 digest (cached on server)
SCRIPT LOAD "return redis.call('SET', KEYS[1], ARGV[1])"
# Returns: sha1_digest
EVALSHA sha1_digest 1 mykey myvalue

# Script management
SCRIPT EXISTS <sha1> <sha2>                 # Check if scripts are cached
SCRIPT FLUSH                                # Remove all cached scripts
SCRIPT KILL                                 # Kill a currently running script

# Example: atomic rate limiter
EVAL "
local current = redis.call('GET', KEYS[1])
if current and tonumber(current) >= tonumber(ARGV[1]) then
    return 0
end
redis.call('INCR', KEYS[1])
redis.call('EXPIRE', KEYS[1], ARGV[2])
return 1
" 1 rate:user:1001 10 60

Lua Scripting Rules

All Redis commands executed inside a script are atomic.
Lua scripts should be fast — they block the server while running.
Use redis.call() for commands and redis.pcall() for non-throwing calls.
Scripts are read-only by default on replicas; use redis.replicate_commands() for write scripts.
Use SCRIPT LOAD + EVALSHA in production to avoid transmitting the script body on every call.

Persistence

RDB (Redis Database) Snapshots

Point-in-time snapshots of the dataset stored as binary .rdb files.

# redis.conf — RDB settings
save 900 1            # Save after 900 seconds if at least 1 key changed
save 300 10           # Save after 300 seconds if at least 10 keys changed
save 60 10000         # Save after 60 seconds if at least 10000 keys changed

save ""               # Disable RDB saves entirely

rdbcompression yes    # Compress RDB files with LZF
rdbchecksum yes       # Append CRC64 checksum
dbfilename dump.rdb   # RDB filename
dir /var/lib/redis    # RDB directory

# Manual save
redis-cli BGSAVE      # Fork a child process to save (non-blocking)
redis-cli SAVE        # Block until save completes (avoid in production)

AOF (Append Only File)

Logs every write operation sequentially. More durable than RDB but larger files.

# redis.conf — AOF settings
appendonly yes                    # Enable AOF
appendfilename "appendonly.aof"   # AOF filename
appendfsync everysec              # Sync once per second (recommended)
# appendfsync always               # Sync every write (safest, slowest)
# appendfsync no                   # Let OS decide (fastest, least safe)

auto-aof-rewrite-percentage 100   # Rewrite when AOF is 100% larger than last rewrite
auto-aof-rewrite-min-size 64mb    # Minimum size to trigger rewrite

no-appendfsync-on-rewrite no      # Continue fsync during rewrite

# Manual rewrite
redis-cli BGREWRITEAOF

RDB vs AOF Comparison

Feature	RDB	AOF
Durability	Point-in-time snapshots	Every write logged
File size	Compact binary	Larger, text-based
Recovery speed	Fast	Slower
Write performance	Lower impact on writes	Can impact write latency
Data loss window	Minutes (based on save rules)	~1 second (everysec)
Best for	Backups, disaster recovery	Production durability

Mixed Persistence (Redis 4.0+)

# Use both RDB and AOF together
# RDB for base file + AOF incremental changes
aof-use-rdb-preamble yes

Replication

Redis replication creates one or more read replicas of a master node.

# On the replica — connect to a master
redis-cli REPLICAOF 192.168.1.100 6379

# On a replica — promote to master
redis-cli REPLICAOF NO ONE

# Check replication status
redis-cli INFO replication

# Configure master password (if required)
masterauth <password>

# Replica read-only (default: yes)
replica-read-only yes

# Delayed replication (for disaster recovery)
replica-serve-stale-data yes
repl-backlog-size 1mb

Replication Architecture

# redis.conf on master
bind 0.0.0.0
protected-mode no
requirepass your_strong_password
masterauth your_strong_password

# redis.conf on replica
replicaof <master_ip> <master_port>
masterauth your_strong_password
replica-read-only yes

# Partial resynchronization (PSYNC)
# Replicas maintain a replication backlog to handle reconnections
repl-backlog-size 10mb
repl-backlog-ttl 3600

Sentinel

Redis Sentinel provides automatic failover, monitoring, and notification for Redis masters.

# sentinel.conf (minimum viable config)
sentinel monitor mymaster 127.0.0.1 6379 2     # Name, host, port, quorum
sentinel down-after-milliseconds mymaster 5000  # Mark master down after 5s
sentinel failover-timeout mymaster 60000        # Failover timeout: 60s
sentinel parallel-syncs mymaster 1              # Replicate 1 replica at a time

# Start Sentinel
redis-sentinel /path/to/sentinel.conf

# Sentinel commands
redis-cli -p 26379 SENTINEL masters                     # List monitored masters
redis-cli -p 26379 SENTINEL get-master-addr-by-name mymaster  # Current master
redis-cli -p 26379 SENTINEL replicas mymaster            # List replicas
redis-cli -p 26379 SENTINEL ckquorum mymaster            # Check quorum
redis-cli -p 26379 SENTINEL failover mymaster            # Force failover

Sentinel Client Connection

# Applications should connect through Sentinel to discover the master
# Sentinel returns the current master's IP and port dynamically
redis-cli -p 26379 SENTINEL get-master-addr-by-name mymaster
# 1) "192.168.1.100"
# 2) "6379"

Clustering

Redis Cluster shards data automatically across multiple nodes (minimum 3 masters + 3 replicas for production).

Cluster Setup

# Create a cluster from nodes
redis-cli --cluster create \
  192.168.1.101:6379 \
  192.168.1.102:6379 \
  192.168.1.103:6379 \
  192.168.1.104:6379 \
  192.168.1.105:6379 \
  192.168.1.106:6379 \
  --cluster-replicas 1

# Add a new node
redis-cli --cluster add-node 192.168.1.107:6379 192.168.1.101:6379

# Add a node as a replica
redis-cli --cluster add-node \
  192.168.1.108:6379 192.168.1.101:6379 \
  --cluster-slave

# Rebalance slots across nodes
redis-cli --cluster rebalance 192.168.1.101:6379

# Remove a node
redis-cli --cluster del-node 192.168.1.107:6379 <node-id>

# Check cluster state
redis-cli --cluster check 192.168.1.101:6379

# Cluster info
redis-cli CLUSTER INFO
redis-cli CLUSTER NODES
redis-cli CLUSTER SLOTS
redis-cli CLUSTER KEYSLOT "mykey"            # Which slot a key hashes to

Cluster Configuration

# redis.conf for cluster mode
cluster-enabled yes
cluster-config-file nodes.conf
cluster-node-timeout 5000
cluster-announce-ip 192.168.1.101
cluster-announce-port 6379

# Hash tags — force related keys to the same slot
# Keys inside {} use only the content inside braces for hashing
SET {user:1001}:name "Alice"
SET {user:1001}:email "alice@example.com"
SET {user:1001}:age 30
# All three keys hash to the same slot → can be used in multi-key operations

Cluster Limitations

No cross-slot multi-key operations (use hash tags {...} to group related keys).
Transactions (MULTI/EXEC) only work on keys in the same slot.
Pub/Sub messages are broadcast to all nodes; subscribers must connect to the correct node.
Lua scripts must declare all keys accessed via redis.call() so Redis can verify they're on the same slot.
Database count is fixed at 16 databases (but cluster mode only supports database 0).

Memory Management

# Memory info
redis-cli INFO memory

# Max memory policy
maxmemory 2gb
maxmemory-policy allkeys-lru     # Evict least recently used keys
# maxmemory-policy volatile-lru   # Evict LRU among keys with TTL set
# maxmemory-policy allkeys-lfu    # Evict least frequently used keys (Redis 4.0+)
# maxmemory-policy volatile-lfu   # Evict LFU among keys with TTL set
# maxmemory-policy allkeys-random # Evict random keys
# maxmemory-policy volatile-random # Evict random keys with TTL set
# maxmemory-policy volatile-ttl   # Evict keys with shortest TTL first
# maxmemory-policy noeviction     # Return errors when memory limit reached

# Sampled LRU — Redis uses an approximation of LRU for efficiency
# It samples N keys and evicts the least recently used among the sample
maxmemory-samples 5              # Default: 5 (higher = more accurate, slower)

# LFU tuning (Redis 4.0+)
lfu-log-factor 10                # Counter logarithmic factor (higher = slower decay)
lfu-decay-time 1                 # Decay time in minutes

# Inspect memory usage of a key
redis-cli MEMORY USAGE mykey

# Memory allocator stats
redis-cli MEMORY STATS

# Memory doctor — get optimization advice
redis-cli MEMORY DOCTOR

# Purge expired keys (usually automatic)
redis-cli --scan | xargs -L 1000 redis-cli UNLINK

Memory Optimization Tips

# Use hashes to save memory for related fields
# Small hashes (< hash-max-ziplist-entries) are encoded as ziplists
# 100 hashes with 1 field each → ~100 keys (wasteful)
# vs 1 hash with 100 fields → compact ziplist encoding

# Configure encoding thresholds
hash-max-ziplist-entries 512
hash-max-ziplist-value 64
list-max-ziplist-size -2
set-max-intset-entries 512
zset-max-ziplist-entries 128
zset-max-ziplist-value 64

Connection Management

# Connection pool settings (in redis.conf)
maxclients 10000                    # Max simultaneous clients
timeout 300                         # Close idle clients after 300 seconds
tcp-keepalive 60                    # TCP keepalive interval

# TLS (Redis 6.0+)
tls-port 6379
tls-cert-file /path/to/redis.crt
tls-key-file /path/to/redis.key
tls-ca-cert-file /path/to/ca.crt
tls-auth-clients optional
redis-cli --tls --cert ./client.crt --key ./client.key --cacert ./ca.crt

# Unix socket (faster than TCP for local connections)
unixsocket /var/run/redis/redis.sock
unixsocketperm 700
redis-cli -s /var/run/redis/redis.sock

# Authentication
requirepass your_strong_password
redis-cli -a your_strong_password    # Connect with password
CONFIG SET requirepass "newpass"     # Change password at runtime
CONFIG GET requirepass               # Retrieve password (shows as asterisks in logs)

# ACL (Access Control Lists — Redis 6.0+)
ACL SETUSER developer on +@all -@dangerous >dev_password ~*
ACL SETUSER readonly on +@read ~* >readonly_pass
ACL SETUSER appuser on +@all -DEBUG -CONFIG -SHUTDOWN +SET +GET +DEL ~app:*
ACL LIST                             # List all ACL rules
ACL WHOAMI                           # Show current user
ACL CAT                              # List all command categories
ACL GENPASS                          # Generate a random password
ACL DELUSER developer                # Delete a user

Common Patterns

Rate Limiting

# Fixed-window rate limiter using INCR + EXPIRE
# Allow 10 requests per minute per user

# Lua script for atomicity
EVAL "
local key = KEYS[1]
local limit = tonumber(ARGV[1])
local window = tonumber(ARGV[2])
local current = redis.call('INCR', key)
if current == 1 then
    redis.call('EXPIRE', key, window)
end
if current > limit then
    return 0
end
return current
" 1 rate:user:1001 10 60

# Sliding-window rate limiter using sorted sets
# Allow 100 requests per hour per IP
ZADD rate:ip:10.0.0.1 <timestamp_ms> <unique_id>
ZREMRANGEBYSCORE rate:ip:10.0.0.1 -inf <timestamp_ms - 3600000>
ZCARD rate:ip:10.0.0.1
# If ZCARD >= 100 → reject

Caching

# Cache-aside pattern (application-side)
# 1. Try cache first
GET cache:user:1001
# 2. If miss, fetch from database, then:
SET cache:user:1001 "<json_data>" EX 300

# Cache with refresh-ahead (renew before expiry)
GET cache:product:42
# If TTL < 60 seconds, trigger async refresh
TTL cache:product:42

# Cache invalidation on write
SET cache:user:1001 "<new_data>" EX 300     # Write-through
# Or on update:
DEL cache:user:1001                          # Invalidate

# Distributed lock with SET NX
SET lock:order:99 "unique_token" NX PX 10000
# Returns OK if lock acquired, nil if already held
# Release with a Lua script (verify ownership):
EVAL "
if redis.call('GET', KEYS[1]) == ARGV[1] then
    return redis.call('DEL', KEYS[1])
else
    return 0
end
" 1 lock:order:99 unique_token

Leaderboards

# Add or update a player's score
ZADD leaderboard:global 1500 "player:1001"
ZINCRBY leaderboard:global 50 "player:1001"     # +50 points

# Top N players (highest scores first)
ZREVRANGE leaderboard:global 0 9 WITHSCORES     # Top 10
ZREVRANGE leaderboard:global 0 99 WITHSCORES    # Top 100

# Get a player's rank
ZREVRANK leaderboard:global "player:1001"        # 0-based rank
ZSCORE leaderboard:global "player:1001"          # 1550

# Players near a given rank (for pagination)
# Get the score of the player at the boundary, then:
ZREVRANGEBYSCORE leaderboard:global 1550 1400 WITHSCORES

# Top N players within a specific range
ZREVRANGEBYSCORE leaderboard:global 2000 1500 WITHSCORES LIMIT 0 10

# Remove a player
ZREM leaderboard:global "player:1001"

Job Queues

# Simple FIFO queue with lists
RPUSH queue:emails "send_welcome user@example.com"
RPUSH queue:emails "send_invoice order:99"
BLPOP queue:emails 30                          # Worker: block up to 30s for next job

# Reliable queue with sorted sets (priority queue)
ZADD queue:jobs <priority> <job_id>
# Worker: claim the highest-priority job
ZPOPMIN queue:jobs                              # Pop lowest score (highest priority if lower = higher)

# Delayed queue
ZADD queue:delayed <execute_at_timestamp> <job_id>
# Worker: poll for due jobs
ZRANGEBYSCORE queue:delayed -inf <current_timestamp> LIMIT 0 10
ZREM queue:delayed <job_id>

# Reliable processing with Streams (preferred for production)
XADD stream:orders * event "created" order_id "1234" customer "1001"
XREADGROUP GROUP workers worker-1 COUNT 1 BLOCK 5000 STREAMS stream:orders >
# Process job...
XACK stream:orders workers <message_id>

Distributed Counters

# Page view counter
INCR page:views:/about
GET page:views:/about

# Daily counter with auto-expiry
INCR stats:pageviews:2026-04-20
EXPIRE stats:pageviews:2026-04-20 172800       # Expire in 2 days

# Per-user action counter
HINCRBY user:1001:stats logins 1
HINCRBY user:1001:stats purchases 1
HGET user:1001:stats logins

Configuration

# Runtime configuration
CONFIG GET maxmemory                          # Get a config value
CONFIG GET "*"                                # Get all config
CONFIG SET maxmemory 2gb                      # Set a config value at runtime
CONFIG REWRITE                                # Persist runtime config to redis.conf

# Common configuration
bind 127.0.0.1                                # Listen on specific interfaces
port 6379                                     # Listen port
daemonize yes                                 # Run as daemon
pidfile /var/run/redis/redis-server.pid
logfile /var/log/redis/redis.log
loglevel notice                               # debug, verbose, notice, warning
databases 16                                  # Number of databases (default: 16)

# Slow log
slowlog-log-slower-than 10000                 # Log commands slower than 10ms
slowlog-max-len 128                           # Keep last 128 slow entries

Best Practices

Use key naming conventions with colons as separators: object-type:id:field (e.g., user:1001:profile).
Always set TTLs on cache keys to prevent memory leaks from stale data.
Use SCAN instead of KEYS in production — KEYS blocks the server.
Use connection pooling in application clients to avoid connection overhead.
Enable appendonly yes for durability in production, or use mixed persistence.
Use UNLINK instead of DEL for large keys — it deletes asynchronously in a background thread.
Use Lua scripts for atomic multi-step operations (rate limiting, distributed locks).
Use hash tags {...} in cluster mode to keep related keys on the same slot.
Set maxmemory-policy to allkeys-lru or volatile-lru to handle memory pressure gracefully.
Use Sentinel or Redis Cluster for high availability — never rely on a single Redis instance in production.
Use ACLs (Redis 6.0+) instead of a single requirepass for fine-grained access control.
Monitor with INFO, SLOWLOG, and MEMORY DOCTOR regularly in production.

In-Memory Data Structure Store Reference