A Redis-compatible in-memory data store written in Zig, designed for learning and experimentation. Zedis implements the core Redis protocol and data structures with a focus on simplicity, performance, and thread safety.
Made for learning purposes. Not intended for production use for now.
- Redis Protocol Compatibility: Supports the Redis Serialization Protocol (RESP)locks.
- Multiple Data Types: String and integer value storage with automatic type conversion.
- Core Commands: Essential Redis commands including GET, SET, INCR, DECR, DEL, EXISTS, and TYPE.
- High Performance: Written in Zig for optimal performance and memory safety.
- Key Expiration: Set time-to-live (TTL) for keys with background expiration handling.
- Disk persistence (RDB): Point-in-time snapshots of your dataset.
- Append-only file (AOF): Durable write-ahead logging for data recovery.
- Memory Budgeting: Eviction-aware KV allocator, fixed client slot pool, and separate temporary allocation paths.
- Pub/Sub: Decoupled communication between services.
- Time Series: Time series data structure. Now with Gorilla compression!
- Zedis is intentionally single-store. It does not support multiple logical databases and does not expose Redis
SELECT. It adds complexity and segment memory. This follows the reasoning Salvatore Sanfilippo gave when he called Redis multiple databases one of his worst design decisions: https://groups.google.com/g/redis-db/c/vS5wX8X4Cjg/m/8ounBXitG4sJ
See the open issues for upcoming features and improvements.
Download the binary from the releases page or build from source to get started with Zedis.
- Zig master branch (required for latest language features)
# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/barddoo/zedis.git
cd zedis
# Build the project
zig build
# Run the server
zig build runThe server will start on 127.0.0.1:6379 by default.
You can test Zedis using the standard redis-cli or any Redis client:
# Connect to Zedis
redis-cli -h 127.0.0.1 -p 6379
# Try some commands
127.0.0.1:6379> SET mykey "Hello, Zedis!"
OK
127.0.0.1:6379> GET mykey
"Hello, Zedis!"
127.0.0.1:6379> INCR counter
(integer) 1
127.0.0.1:6379> TYPE mykey
stringPre-built images are available on Docker Hub:
docker run -p 6379:6379 barddoo/zedis| Tag | Base | Size | Use case |
|---|---|---|---|
latest, x.x.x-alpine |
Alpine 3.20 | Smallest with shell | Default |
x.x.x-debian, x.x.x-slim |
Debian Bookworm slim | glibc compat | Broader ecosystem |
x.x.x-distroless |
Distroless static | No shell | Security-sensitive |
Mount a volume to persist data across restarts:
docker run -p 6379:6379 -v zedis-data:/var/lib/zedis/data barddoo/zedisdocker run -p 6379:6379 -v ./zedis.conf:/etc/zedis/zedis.conf barddoo/zedisThe codebase follows Zig conventions with clear separation of concerns:
- Type-safe operations with compile-time guarantees
- Explicit error handling throughout
- Memory safety
- Modular design for easy extension
- Comprehensive logging for debugging
See docs/server-architecture.md for the current server thread model and request flow.
See docs/memory-architecture.md for the current allocator layout, memory budgets, and runtime allocation behavior.
# Build in debug mode (default)
zig build -Doptimize=Debug
# Build optimized release
zig build -Doptimize=ReleaseFast
# Run tests (when available)
zig build testContributors are welcome! Whether you're fixing bugs, adding features, improving documentation, or suggesting enhancements, your contributions are appreciated.
Feel free to:
- Open an issue to report bugs or suggest features
- Submit pull requests with improvements
- Share feedback and ideas
Check out the open issues to see where you can help.
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- Andrew Kelley - For creating the amazing Zig Language.
- Redis - For the inspiration and protocol design.
- TigerBeetle - For the memory management and the tiger style.
- Karl Seguin - For the great articles.