redis

Q: How do I install redis?

Run npx skills add https://github.com/bagelhole/devops-security-agent-skills --skill redis in your project. The skills CLI detects the agents you use and copies the skill into the right folder. For Claude Code you can also place the skill folder at ~/.claude/skills/redis/ (personal) or .claude/skills/redis/ (project).

by bagelholeData & Databases

Configure Redis for caching and data storage. Set up clustering, persistence, and Sentinel. Use when implementing Redis caching or queues.

Installs: 380
Last 24h: —
Trending rank: —
Security: Not audited

Install

Works with every agent the skills CLI supports.

npx skills add https://github.com/bagelhole/devops-security-agent-skills --skill redis

01
Install
Run the command in your project. The CLI asks which agents to install for.
02
Describe the task
Ask your agent for something this skill covers. It loads redis automatically when relevant.
03
Review the result
The agent follows the SKILL.md steps, scripts and references bundled with the skill.

SKILL.md

The instructions your agent reads when the skill is triggered.

Redis

Configure, operate, and optimize Redis for caching, queues, rate limiting, and real-time data storage.

When to Use

You need a low-latency in-memory cache to reduce database load.
Your application requires rate limiting, session storage, or leaderboards.
You need pub/sub messaging between services.
You want a distributed lock or job queue backed by an in-memory store.

Prerequisites

Linux server or Docker.
Root or sudo access for package installation.
Redis 7.x recommended for production.

Installation and Setup

# Debian / Ubuntu
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y redis-server

# RHEL / Amazon Linux
sudo dnf install -y redis

# Start and enable
sudo systemctl enable --now redis-server

# Verify
redis-cli ping
# Expected output: PONG

Core Configuration

Edit /etc/redis/redis.conf:

# Network
bind 0.0.0.0
port 6379
protected-mode yes
requirepass strong_redis_password

# Memory
maxmemory 2gb
maxmemory-policy allkeys-lru

# Connections
maxclients 10000
timeout 300
tcp-keepalive 60

# Logging
loglevel notice
logfile /var/log/redis/redis-server.log

# Security — disable dangerous commands in production
rename-command FLUSHALL ""
rename-command FLUSHDB ""
rename-command CONFIG ""
rename-command DEBUG ""

sudo systemctl restart redis-server

redis-cli Commands Reference

# Connect with authentication
redis-cli -a strong_redis_password

# Connect to a remote host
redis-cli -h 10.0.0.5 -p 6379 -a strong_redis_password

String Operations

SET user:1:name "Alice"
GET user:1:name

# Set with TTL (seconds)
SETEX session:abc123 3600 '{"userId":1}'

# Set only if key does not exist (distributed lock pattern)
SET lock:order:42 "worker-1" NX EX 30

# Increment counters
INCR page:views:/home
INCRBY api:quota:user:1 -1

Hash Operations

HSET user:1 name "Alice" email "alice@example.com" plan "pro"
HGET user:1 email
HGETALL user:1
HINCRBY user:1 login_count 1

List Operations (Queues)

LPUSH queue:emails '{"to":"alice@example.com","subject":"Welcome"}'
RPOP queue:emails
LLEN queue:emails

# Blocking pop (worker pattern)
BRPOP queue:emails 30

Set and Sorted Set Operations

# Sets — unique tags
SADD article:1:tags "redis" "database" "caching"
SMEMBERS article:1:tags
SISMEMBER article:1:tags "redis"

# Sorted sets — leaderboards
ZADD leaderboard 1500 "player:1" 2300 "player:2" 1800 "player:3"
ZREVRANGE leaderboard 0 9 WITHSCORES
ZINCRBY leaderboard 100 "player:1"
ZRANK leaderboard "player:2"

Key Management

KEYS user:*             # avoid in production — use SCAN instead
SCAN 0 MATCH user:* COUNT 100
TTL session:abc123
PERSIST session:abc123
DEL user:old
EXPIRE user:1 86400
TYPE user:1

Persistence

RDB Snapshots

# redis.conf — save snapshots at intervals
save 900 1       # snapshot if >= 1 key changed in 900 seconds
save 300 10      # snapshot if >= 10 keys changed in 300 seconds
save 60 10000    # snapshot if >= 10000 keys changed in 60 seconds

dbfilename dump.rdb
dir /var/lib/redis
rdbcompression yes

AOF (Append-Only File)

appendonly yes
appendfilename "appendonly.aof"
appendfsync everysec    # good balance of safety and performance
# Options: always (safest, slowest), everysec (recommended), no (OS decides)

# AOF rewrite thresholds
auto-aof-rewrite-percentage 100
auto-aof-rewrite-min-size 64mb

Recommended Production Strategy

Use both RDB and AOF together. RDB provides fast restarts and compact backups. AOF provides durability down to 1-second granularity.

save 900 1
save 300 10
appendonly yes
appendfsync everysec

Redis Sentinel (High Availability)

Sentinel monitors Redis instances and performs automatic failover.

Sentinel Configuration

# /etc/redis/sentinel.conf
port 26379
sentinel monitor mymaster 10.0.0.1 6379 2
sentinel auth-pass mymaster strong_redis_password
sentinel down-after-milliseconds mymaster 5000
sentinel failover-timeout mymaster 60000
sentinel parallel-syncs mymaster 1

Run at least three Sentinel instances for quorum.

# Start Sentinel
redis-sentinel /etc/redis/sentinel.conf

# Query Sentinel
redis-cli -p 26379 SENTINEL masters
redis-cli -p 26379 SENTINEL get-master-addr-by-name mymaster
redis-cli -p 26379 SENTINEL replicas mymaster

Redis Cluster Mode

Cluster mode distributes data across multiple shards automatically.

# Create a 6-node cluster (3 masters + 3 replicas)
redis-cli --cluster create \
  10.0.0.1:6379 10.0.0.2:6379 10.0.0.3:6379 \
  10.0.0.4:6379 10.0.0.5:6379 10.0.0.6:6379 \
  --cluster-replicas 1 -a strong_redis_password

# Check cluster status
redis-cli -c -a strong_redis_password CLUSTER INFO
redis-cli -c -a strong_redis_password CLUSTER NODES

# Add a new node
redis-cli --cluster add-node 10.0.0.7:6379 10.0.0.1:6379

# Rebalance slots
redis-cli --cluster rebalance 10.0.0.1:6379

# redis.conf for cluster nodes
cluster-enabled yes
cluster-config-file nodes.conf
cluster-node-timeout 5000

Common Patterns

Caching with TTL

# Cache a database query result for 5 minutes
SET cache:user:42:profile '{"name":"Alice","plan":"pro"}' EX 300

# Cache-aside pattern (pseudocode):
# 1. GET cache:key -> if hit, return
# 2. Query database
# 3. SET cache:key result EX 300
# 4. Return result

Rate Limiting (Sliding Window)

# Allow 100 requests per minute per user
# Using a sorted set with timestamps as scores
ZADD ratelimit:user:42 1700000000.123 "req-uuid-1"
ZREMRANGEBYSCORE ratelimit:user:42 0 1699999940.000
ZCARD ratelimit:user:42
EXPIRE ratelimit:user:42 60
# If ZCARD >= 100, reject the request

Pub/Sub Messaging

# Terminal 1 — subscriber
redis-cli -a strong_redis_password
SUBSCRIBE notifications:order-updates

# Terminal 2 — publisher
redis-cli -a strong_redis_password
PUBLISH notifications:order-updates '{"orderId":42,"status":"shipped"}'

# Pattern subscription
PSUBSCRIBE notifications:*

Distributed Locking (Redlock Pattern)

# Acquire lock
SET lock:resource:42 "worker-abc" NX EX 30
# Returns OK if acquired, nil if already held

# Release lock (use Lua script to ensure atomicity)
redis-cli -a strong_redis_password EVAL "
  if redis.call('get', KEYS[1]) == ARGV[1] then
    return redis.call('del', KEYS[1])
  else
    return 0
  end
" 1 lock:resource:42 "worker-abc"

Docker Compose Setup

# docker-compose.yml
version: "3.9"

services:
  redis:
    image: redis:7-alpine
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "6379:6379"
    volumes:
      - redis_data:/data
      - ./redis.conf:/usr/local/etc/redis/redis.conf:ro
    command: redis-server /usr/local/etc/redis/redis.conf
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD", "redis-cli", "-a", "strong_redis_password", "ping"]
      interval: 10s
      timeout: 5s
      retries: 5

  redis-sentinel:
    image: redis:7-alpine
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "26379:26379"
    volumes:
      - ./sentinel.conf:/usr/local/etc/redis/sentinel.conf
    command: redis-sentinel /usr/local/etc/redis/sentinel.conf
    depends_on:
      redis:
        condition: service_healthy

  redis-commander:
    image: rediscommander/redis-commander:latest
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "8081:8081"
    environment:
      REDIS_HOSTS: "local:redis:6379:0:strong_redis_password"
    depends_on:
      redis:
        condition: service_healthy

volumes:
  redis_data:

docker compose up -d
redis-cli -h 127.0.0.1 -a strong_redis_password ping

Monitoring

# Real-time stats
redis-cli -a strong_redis_password INFO stats
redis-cli -a strong_redis_password INFO memory
redis-cli -a strong_redis_password INFO replication

# Key metrics to watch
redis-cli -a strong_redis_password INFO stats | grep -E "keyspace_hits|keyspace_misses"
# Hit ratio = hits / (hits + misses) — aim for > 95%

# Memory usage breakdown
redis-cli -a strong_redis_password MEMORY STATS

# Slow log (queries > 10ms by default)
redis-cli -a strong_redis_password SLOWLOG GET 10
redis-cli -a strong_redis_password SLOWLOG LEN

# Monitor all commands in real time (debugging only — impacts performance)
redis-cli -a strong_redis_password MONITOR

# Connected clients
redis-cli -a strong_redis_password CLIENT LIST

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Likely Cause	Fix
`OOM command not allowed`	`maxmemory` limit reached	Increase `maxmemory` or set a stricter eviction policy
High latency spikes	RDB save or AOF rewrite forking	Use `save ""` to disable RDB if AOF is enabled; tune `auto-aof-rewrite-min-size`
`LOADING Redis is loading the dataset in memory`	Large dataset being restored on startup	Wait for load to complete; consider smaller dataset or faster disk
Cache hit ratio < 90%	TTLs too short or working set exceeds memory	Increase `maxmemory`; review TTL strategy
Sentinel not failing over	Fewer than quorum Sentinels reachable	Ensure >= 3 Sentinels are running and network-connected
`CROSSSLOT` error in cluster	Multi-key command spans slots	Use hash tags `{user:42}:profile` to colocate related keys

Related Skills

postgresql - Primary database that Redis caches
mysql - Primary database that Redis caches
mongodb - Document database that Redis can front
database-backups - Include RDB files in backup strategy

FAQ

What does the redis skill do?

Configure Redis for caching and data storage. Set up clustering, persistence, and Sentinel. Use when implementing Redis caching or queues.

How do I install redis?

Run npx skills add https://github.com/bagelhole/devops-security-agent-skills --skill redis in your project. The skills CLI detects the agents you use and copies the skill into the right folder. For Claude Code you can also place the skill folder at ~/.claude/skills/redis/ (personal) or .claude/skills/redis/ (project).

Which AI agents can use redis?

Any agent that supports the open Agent Skills format (a folder with a SKILL.md file), including Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, Windsurf, Cline, OpenCode and more.

Is redis safe to install?

No partner security audit is available yet. Skills can run commands and scripts, so read the SKILL.md and any bundled files before installing.

Who maintains redis?

It is published by bagelhole in bagelhole/devops-security-agent-skills. It has 380 recorded installs.