Installing Redis

Getting Redis running locally takes just a few minutes. This lesson walks through installation on macOS, Ubuntu/Debian Linux, and Windows (via WSL), plus how to verify the installation and connect with the Redis CLI.

Installing on macOS

The easiest way to install Redis on macOS is via Homebrew:

brew install redis

Start Redis as a background service managed by Homebrew:

brew services start redis

To start Redis manually in the foreground (useful for watching logs):

redis-server

Installing on Ubuntu / Debian

sudo apt update
sudo apt install redis-server

Enable and start the service:

sudo systemctl enable redis-server
sudo systemctl start redis-server
sudo systemctl status redis-server

Installing on Windows (WSL2)

Redis does not have an official native Windows build. The recommended approach is to use Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL2) and follow the Ubuntu steps above inside the WSL terminal.

Connecting with the Redis CLI

Once the server is running, connect with the built-in command-line interface:

redis-cli

You will see the prompt 127.0.0.1:6379>. Test the connection:

127.0.0.1:6379> PING
PONG

PONG confirms the server is alive and responding.

Verifying the Server Version

redis-server --version

redis-cli --version

Basic Configuration

The configuration file is located at /etc/redis/redis.conf on Linux or /usr/local/etc/redis.conf on macOS. Key settings include:

• bind — the IP address Redis listens on (default: 127.0.0.1, localhost only)
• port — the port Redis listens on (default: 6379)
• requirepass — set a password for authentication
• maxmemory — cap memory usage and define an eviction policy

Stopping Redis

# Via Homebrew on macOS
brew services stop redis

# Via systemctl on Linux
sudo systemctl stop redis-server

# From inside redis-cli
127.0.0.1:6379> SHUTDOWN NOSAVE

With Redis installed and the CLI working, you are ready to start storing and retrieving data.