Why I Built My Own Redis Server in Go
· Pradeep Chandran M
Go, Redis, Networking, Systems Programming
It all started with a simple problem. I was working on an internal project where the application kept fetching the same user profile over and over again. The repeated database lookups were unnecessary, so adding a cache was the obvious solution. My first thought was to use Redis. Then I started looking for a free Redis hosting service. While there were managed options available, none of them really fit what I was looking for. That's when a different idea came to mind: Why not build my own Redis-like server? Initially, I considered deploying it on Cloudflare. But I quickly realized that Cloudflare Workers are JavaScript-first, while I wanted to build the project in Go. At that point, I had another realization. Over the past few months, I had been relying heavily on AI to generate code. While it helped me build applications quickly, I noticed that I wasn't really learning how the code worked. I was getting good at writing prompts not writing software. So I made a promise to myself. For this project, I wouldn't use AI to write the code. Every line I wrote had to be something I understood completely. If I couldn't explain it, I wouldn't use it. That decision changed the entire experience. Instead of rushing toward the final product, I spent time understanding TCP networking, goroutines, mutexes, protocols, WebSockets, and how Redis actually communicates with clients. Progress was slower, but every feature I completed taught me something new. Introducing Rendis The result is Rendis a self-built, Redis-compatible in-memory database written from scratch in Go. It implements the Redis RESP protocol, supports concurrent client handling using goroutines, and uses a thread-safe storage engine protected by "sync.RWMutex" Core Features Custom TCP server written in Go Redis RESP protocol implementation In-memory key-value storage Concurrent client handling Thread-safe operations Key expiration system (both Lazy and Active Expiration) It supports essential commands like "PING" ,…