Install redis on Mac

Redis is an open source, in-memory data structure store, used as database, cache and message broker. It is one of the most popular key-value nosql database. Also note that the name Redis means REmote DIctionary Server.

Here are installation steps for redis on Mac using brew.

1. Get redis package info

   $ brew info redis
   redis: stable 3.0.7 (bottled), HEAD
   Persistent key-value database, with built-in net interface
   http://redis.io/
   Not installed
   From: https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew/blob/master/Library/Formula/redis.rb
   ...
   ...
   

2. Install redis using brew

   $ brew install redis
   

3. List installed files

   $ brew list redis
   /usr/local/Cellar/redis/3.0.7/bin/redis-benchmark
   /usr/local/Cellar/redis/3.0.7/bin/redis-check-aof
   /usr/local/Cellar/redis/3.0.7/bin/redis-check-dump
   /usr/local/Cellar/redis/3.0.7/bin/redis-cli
   /usr/local/Cellar/redis/3.0.7/bin/redis-sentinel
   /usr/local/Cellar/redis/3.0.7/bin/redis-server
   /usr/local/Cellar/redis/3.0.7/homebrew.mxcl.redis.plist
   

4. In case you want to start redis at login add symlink in ~/Library/LaunchAgents. Note that it will start redis as current user. This info can also be obtained by command brew info.

   $ ln -sfv /usr/local/opt/redis/*.plist ~/Library/LaunchAgents
   

5. To start redis one time as current user:

   $ launchctl load /usr/local/opt/redis/homebrew.mxcl.redis.plist
   

6. View redis config

   $ less /usr/local/etc/redis.conf 
   

7. View redis log

   $ tail -f /usr/local/var/log/redis.log
   ...
   59980:M 03 Mar 14:01:37.643 # Server started, Redis version 3.0.7
   59980:M 03 Mar 14:01:37.658 * DB loaded from disk: 0.015 seconds
   59980:M 03 Mar 14:01:37.658 * The server is now ready to accept connections on port 6379
   

8. Look at redis db file

   $ ls -l /usr/local/var/db/redis/
   -rw-r--r--  1 user1  admin  33 Jan 21 09:33 dump.rdb
   

9. Try out few redis-cli commands

   $ echo "set key1 value1" | redis-cli
   OK
   $ echo "INFO keyspace" | redis-cli
   # Keyspace
   db0:keys=1,expires=0,avg_ttl=0
   $ echo "KEYS *" | redis-cli
   1) "key1"
   

   You may also want to visit redis cli quick start tutorial