Run Redis on Koo

A Redis database on Koo is a service in your environment: you create it on the environment canvas, next to the services that cache, queue, or share state through it. Koo runs Redis 7.4 — there is no version to pick and nothing to install or upgrade.

A database is never internet-reachable. It has no public URL, and its hostname only resolves inside Koo — your services reach it over Koo's private network, and each one wires itself in with a connection variable.

Create a Redis database

1. Open the environment canvas and click New service (or right-click the canvas).
2. Choose Database, then Redis.
3. The database appears as a staged ghost node — nothing exists yet. Staged changes explains this model.
4. Optional: click the staged node and open its Settings to set a password under Credentials. Leave it blank for a secure auto-generated one.
5. Optional: adjust CPU and memory in the same Settings pane.
6. Press Deploy (Shift+Enter) on the changes bar.
7. The node shows In progress while the database provisions, then Online. Your Redis is ready.

The password

Redis has a single credential: the password. There is no username and no named database. The password is set at create time — auto-generated unless you supply one — and can never be changed afterwards.

A password you supply yourself must be 8–128 characters, using only letters, digits, and . _ ~ -. The restriction exists because the password is embedded verbatim in the connection URL — redis://:<password>@<host>:6379 — so it must never need URL-encoding. Generate secure password fills in a compliant one for you.

In that URL the username is empty, and the leading colon is correct: it separates the empty username from the password. Redis clients accept this form as-is.

Size, disk & persistence

You give a database explicit CPU and memory, like any service. Disk is included automatically and follows the memory you pick — you never choose a disk size.

Your Redis writes an append-only file to its disk, so data survives restarts. That is durability for a running database, not a backup.

A database always runs as exactly one instance in one location, on every plan.

Connect from your services

Nothing is wired automatically. Creating a Redis changes nothing about your other services — each consumer declares its own connection variable:

1. Click the consuming service on the canvas and open its Variables tab.
2. Click Reference, name the variable REDIS_URL, and under From a database choose your Redis's REDIS_URL entry — the full connection URL.
3. Click Add, then Deploy the staged change.

Your code then reads REDIS_URL from its environment like any other variable.

A Redis database publishes four connection keys — REDIS_URL, HOST, PORT, PASSWORD — and a consumer can wire any single one individually. The connection guide covers individual keys, sharing one database between services, and the API shape.

View connection details

The database's Settings tab shows a read-only Connection card with the non-secret details: HOST and PORT. The same card rides every read of the service object in the API.

The full set, password included, is behind Reveal connection on the same card. Revealing requires the editor role or higher, and every reveal is logged to the audit trail.

HOST is the database's internal hostname — the same value shown under Private networking in Settings. It only resolves inside Koo; there is no external address.

Run commands

The database's Console tab opens a shell in the running container, where redis-cli is available and REDIS_PASSWORD is already set:

redis-cli -a "$REDIS_PASSWORD" ping

The console requires the editor role or higher, and every session is audited.

There is no external access of any kind — not from your laptop, not from CI, not from a GUI client. The database's host only resolves inside Koo.

A Redis console in the browser will let you inspect keys and run commands without opening a shell. Coming soon

What a Redis service doesn't do

• No public URL, ever — a database cannot be exposed.
• No builds, deployments, or logs tabs — a database has no deploy pipeline.
• No variables of its own — a database runs with its own connection settings; other services read it through a connection variable in their Variables tab.
• No version choice — every database runs Redis 7.4.
• No replicas or extra locations — always exactly one instance in one location.

Delete a database

Deleting a database is staged like any other change: the node is marked for deletion, and you can undo freely until you confirm on the changes bar. The bar's button reads Delete when the deletion stands alone (Deploy when other staged changes ride along).