1.3 Redis Clients

Redis has a client-server architecture and uses a request-response model. Applications send requests to the Redis server, which processes them and returns responses for each. The role of a Redis client library is to act as an intermediary between your application and the Redis server.

Client libraries perform the following duties:

• Implement the Redis wire protocol - the format used to send requests to and receive responses from the Redis server
• Provide an idiomatic API for using Redis commands from a particular programming language

Managing the connection to Redis

Redis clients communicate with the Redis server over TCP, using a protocol called RESP (REdis Serialization Protocol) designed specifically for Redis.

The RESP protocol is simple and text-based, so it is easily read by humans, as well as machines. A common request/response would look something like this. Note that we're using netcat here to send raw protocol:

This simple, well documented protocol has resulted in Redis clients for almost every language you can think of. The redis.io client page lists over 200 client libraries for more than 50 programming languages.