Redis Cheat Sheet

Redis cheat sheet with real commands and snippets for setup, core workflows, debugging, and production-safe automation patterns. If you are working across tools, pair this with the MongoDB Cheat Sheet and Django Cheat Sheet.

Setup and Connection

Goal: Connect to database shell or endpoint

# Run connection or version command
redis-cli

# Run connection or version command
redis-cli -h 127.0.0.1 -p 6379

# Run connection or version command
redis-cli PING

Schema and Data Modeling

Goal: Create a table/index/schema foundation

# Write and expire cache entries
SET session:123 '{"userId":42}' EX 3600
SETNX lock:job:daily $(date +%s)

Core Queries and Mutations

Goal: Run practical read/write operations

# Read key values and data structures
GET session:123
HSET user:42 name "Rem" role "admin"
HGETALL user:42

Performance and Optimization

Goal: Add indexes and inspect query plans

# Inspect keyspace and memory usage
SCAN 0 MATCH session:* COUNT 100
MEMORY USAGE session:123
INFO memory

Automation and Backups

Goal: Create backup and restore routines

# Export data snapshot before risky migrations
pg_dump "$DATABASE_URL" > backup.sql || mysqldump appdb > backup.sql || true

# Compress backup artifact for storage
gzip -f backup.sql || true

# Verify backup file exists and has content
ls -lh backup.sql.gz || ls -lh backup.sql

Debugging and Troubleshooting

Goal: Inspect slow-query symptoms

# Check active connections/sessions
psql -c "SELECT now();" || mysql -e "SELECT NOW();" || true

# Inspect query plans for heavy statements
psql -c "EXPLAIN SELECT 1;" || mysql -e "EXPLAIN SELECT 1;" || true

# Search migration files for destructive statements
rg "DROP TABLE|TRUNCATE|DELETE FROM" prisma migrations sql -n

Common Gotchas

• Use transactions for multi-step Redis data changes that must stay consistent.
• Create indexes for frequent WHERE and JOIN columns, then verify with query plans.
• Back up production data before schema migrations.
• Separate read-only credentials from write credentials in app environments.
• Monitor connection pool limits to avoid timeout spikes under load.

Related Sheets

• MongoDB Cheat Sheet — daily MongoDB commands and production-ready examples.
• Django Cheat Sheet — daily Django commands and production-ready examples.
• Elixir Cheat Sheet — daily Elixir commands and production-ready examples.