Redis CLI Cheatsheet

Top commands.

Overview

Redis operations live in the CLI. The cheatsheet captures the patterns operators actually use during investigation; CLI fluency reduces MTTR more than any dashboard.

• Top commands. INFO, MONITOR, SLOWLOG, CLIENT LIST; the working set for any incident.
• INFO sections. Memory, replication, clients, persistence; the four panes that surface most issues.
• SLOWLOG GET. Slowest commands recorded; the first investigation move when latency spikes.
• --scan. Non-blocking key iteration; replaces the dangerous KEYS command in production.

The approach

The practical approach is INFO-first, SLOWLOG for performance, SCAN not KEYS. The team's discipline produces fast investigation under pressure.

• INFO memory. redis-cli INFO memory; memory pressure check; investigation starts here.
• SLOWLOG. redis-cli SLOWLOG GET 10; top 10 slow commands; immediate performance signal.
• CLIENT LIST. redis-cli CLIENT LIST; active connections; debug stuck or runaway clients.
• --scan. redis-cli --scan --pattern 'user:*'; non-blocking pattern scan; never use KEYS on a busy box.

Why this compounds

redis-cli fluency compounds. Each investigation grows the team's caching expertise; the discipline matures over years, not months.

• Faster debugging. Fluent CLI produces fast root cause; MTTR drops as muscle memory builds.
• Cache hygiene. SLOWLOG catches expensive operations before they become incidents.
• Stability. SCAN replaces dangerous KEYS; one less foot-gun in the production toolkit.
• Compounding knowledge. Each command teaches Redis patterns; the team's caching expertise grows with use.