Install RedisVL

There are a few ways to install RedisVL. The easiest way is to use pip.

Install RedisVL with Pip

Install redisvl into your Python (>=3.9) environment using pip:

$ pip install -U redisvl

RedisVL comes with a few dependencies that are automatically installed, however, several optional dependencies can be installed separately based on your needs:

# Vectorizer providers
$ pip install redisvl[openai]              # OpenAI embeddings
$ pip install redisvl[cohere]              # Cohere embeddings and reranking
$ pip install redisvl[mistralai]           # Mistral AI embeddings
$ pip install redisvl[voyageai]            # Voyage AI embeddings and reranking
$ pip install redisvl[sentence-transformers]  # HuggingFace local embeddings
$ pip install redisvl[vertexai]            # Google Vertex AI embeddings
$ pip install redisvl[bedrock]             # AWS Bedrock embeddings

# Other optional features
$ pip install redisvl[mcp]                 # RedisVL MCP server support (Python 3.10+)
$ pip install redisvl[langcache]           # LangCache managed service integration
$ pip install redisvl[sql-redis]           # SQL query support

If you use ZSH, remember to escape the brackets:

$ pip install redisvl\[openai\]

You can install multiple optional dependencies at once:

$ pip install redisvl[mcp,openai,cohere,sentence-transformers]

To install all optional dependencies at once:

$ pip install redisvl[all]

NOTE

The core RedisVL package supports Python 3.9+, but the redisvl[mcp] extra requires Python 3.10 or newer because the MCP server depends on fastmcp.

Install RedisVL from Source

To install RedisVL from source, clone the repository and install the package using pip:

$ git clone https://github.com/redis/redis-vl-python.git && cd redis-vl-python
$ pip install .

# or for an editable installation (for developers of RedisVL)
$ pip install -e .

Development Installation

For contributors who want to develop RedisVL, we recommend using uv for dependency management:

# Clone the repository
$ git clone https://github.com/redis/redis-vl-python.git && cd redis-vl-python

# Install uv if you don't have it
$ pip install uv

# Install all dependencies (including dev and docs)
$ uv sync

# Or use make
$ make install

This installs the package in editable mode along with all development dependencies (testing, linting, type checking) and documentation dependencies.

Running Tests and Linting

# Run tests (no external APIs required)
$ make test

# Run all tests (includes API-dependent tests)
$ make test-all

# Format code
$ make format

# Run type checking
$ make check-types

# Run full check (lint + test)
$ make check

Pre-commit Hooks

We use pre-commit hooks to ensure code quality. Install them with:

$ pre-commit install

Run hooks manually on all files:

$ pre-commit run --all-files

Installing Redis

RedisVL requires Redis with Redis Search available. There are several options:

1. Redis Cloud, a fully managed cloud offering with a free tier
2. Redis 8+ (Docker), for local development and testing
3. Redis Enterprise, a commercial self-hosted option

Redis Cloud

Redis Cloud is the easiest way to get started with RedisVL. You can sign up for a free account here. Make sure to have Redis Search enabled when creating your database.

Redis 8+ (local development)

For local development and testing, we recommend running Redis 8+ in a Docker container:

docker run -d --name redis -p 6379:6379 redis:8.4

Redis 8 includes Redis Search and built-in vector search capabilities.

Redis Enterprise (self-hosted)

Redis Enterprise is a commercial offering that can be self-hosted. You can download the latest version here.

If you are considering a self-hosted Redis Enterprise deployment on Kubernetes, there is the Redis Enterprise Operator for Kubernetes. This will allow you to easily deploy and manage a Redis Enterprise cluster on Kubernetes.

Redis Sentinel

For high availability deployments, RedisVL supports connecting to Redis through Sentinel. Use the redis+sentinel:// URL scheme to connect. Both sync and async connections are fully supported.

from redisvl.index import SearchIndex, AsyncSearchIndex

# Sync connection via Sentinel
# Format: redis+sentinel://[username:password@]host1:port1,host2:port2/service_name[/db]
index = SearchIndex.from_yaml(
    "schema.yaml",
    redis_url="redis+sentinel://sentinel1:26379,sentinel2:26379/mymaster"
)

# Async connection via Sentinel
async_index = AsyncSearchIndex.from_yaml(
    "schema.yaml",
    redis_url="redis+sentinel://sentinel1:26379,sentinel2:26379/mymaster"
)

# With authentication and database selection
index = SearchIndex.from_yaml(
    "schema.yaml",
    redis_url="redis+sentinel://user:pass@sentinel1:26379,sentinel2:26379/mymaster/0"
)

The Sentinel URL format supports:

• Multiple sentinel hosts (comma-separated)
• Optional authentication (username:password)
• Service name (defaults to mymaster if not specified)
• Optional database number (defaults to 0)
• Both sync (SearchIndex) and async (AsyncSearchIndex) connections