Redis Patterns
Quick reference for Redis best practices across common backend use cases.
How It Works
Redis is an in-memory data structure store that supports strings, hashes, lists, sets, sorted sets, streams, and more. Individual Redis commands are atomic on a single instance; multi-step workflows require Lua scripts, MULTI/EXEC transactions, or explicit synchronization to stay atomic. Data is optionally persisted via RDB snapshots or AOF logs. Clients communicate over TCP using the RESP protocol; connection pools are essential to avoid per-request handshake overhead.
When to Activate
- Adding caching to an application
- Implementing rate limiting or throttling
- Building distributed locks or coordination
- Setting up session or token storage
- Using Pub/Sub or Redis Streams for messaging
- Configuring Redis in production (pooling, eviction, clustering)
Data Structure Cheat Sheet
| Use Case | Structure | Example Key |
|---|---|---|
| Simple cache | String | product:123 |
| User session | Hash | session:abc |
| Leaderboard | Sorted Set | scores:weekly |
| Unique visitors | Set | visitors:2024-01-01 |
| Activity feed | List | `feed… |