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Tutorial

Ruby and Redis

February 26, 20262 minute read
TL;DR:
Install the redis gem (gem install redis), create a connection with Redis.new, and call methods like set and get to store and retrieve data.
Use Redis with Ruby via the redis-rb gem. This tutorial walks you through installation, connecting to a Redis server, and performing basic operations so you can integrate Redis into your Ruby applications.

#What you'll learn

  • How to install and configure the redis-rb gem
  • How to connect a Ruby application to a Redis server
  • How to run basic Redis commands from Ruby
  • Where to find example apps built with Ruby on Rails and Redis

#Prerequisites

  • Ruby 2.7+ installed (check with ruby -v)
  • Bundler for dependency management (gem install bundler)
  • A running Redis server (see the Redis quick-start tutorial for setup options)

#How do I start a Redis server?

You can run Redis locally, in Docker, or in the cloud. The Redis quick-start guide covers every option in detail.
Once Redis is running, verify the connection with the CLI:
By default Redis listens on port 6379. You can change this in your Redis configuration file. If you have authentication enabled, the CLI will prompt for a password.

#How do I install redis-rb?

You can install the redis-rb gem directly:
Or add it to a Gemfile for use with Bundler:
Then run:
Verify the installation:
You should see output confirming the gem version and its source repository at github.com/redis/redis-rb.

#How do I connect to Redis from Ruby?

Create a connection using Redis.new and start issuing commands:
Replace host, port, and db with the values for your Redis instance. You can test this by saving the snippet as connect.rb and running:
To confirm the commands reached Redis, open a second terminal and run MONITOR:

#Ruby on Rails example apps

#Rate-limiting app

Screenshot of a rate-limiting demo application built with Ruby on Rails and Redis
Rate-limiting app built in Ruby on Rails — demonstrates how to use Redis to throttle requests.

#Leaderboard app

Screenshot of a leaderboard demo application built with Ruby on Rails and Redis
Leaderboard app built in Ruby on Rails — shows how to implement sorted-set-backed rankings.

#Next steps