Redis Conventions To Follow

Namespaces Convention

In Redis, namespaces are not a built-in feature, but a naming convention used to logically organize and manage keys. The namespace concept is achieved by using prefixes in key names, separating parts with a delimiter like a colon (:). This approach helps group related keys, avoid naming collisions, and improve readability.

Why Use Namespaces in Redis?

1. Organization: Helps categorize keys by context or functionality.

2. Collision Avoidance: Prevents different parts of the application from accidentally overwriting each other’s keys.

3. Pattern Matching: Simplifies key retrieval using pattern-based commands like SCAN or KEYS.

4. Multi-Tenancy: Allows segregating keys for different users or environments.

The convention typically follows this structure:

<application>:<module>:<key>

• Application Name: Identifies the application or service using the Redis instance.

• Module/Feature: Represents the feature or module within the application.

• Key: The specific key being stored.

Examples

• Single-Tenant Application

user:123:profile # Stores profile data for user ID 123 
user:123:settings # Stores settings data for user ID 123 
order:456:details # Stores details for order ID 456

• Multi-Tenant Application

tenant1:user:123:profile # Profile data for user 123 in tenant1 
tenant2:order:456:details # Order details for order 456 in tenant2

• Environment-Based Namespaces

prod:user:123:profile # Production environment 
dev:user:123:profile # Development environment

Operations Using Namespaces

• Retrieve Keys by Namespace

SCAN 0 MATCH user:123:* COUNT 100
#Retrieves all keys under the user:123 namespace.

• Delete Keys by Namespace

SCAN 0 MATCH user:123:* | xargs redis-cli DEL
#Deletes all keys within a specific namespace (careful with this in production).

• Key Expiry

    #Apply expiration (EXPIRE) to namespace-specific keys
    EXPIRE user:123:profile 3600
  

• Avoid KEYS Command in Production

  Use SCAN instead, as KEYS blocks the server during its operation.