Redis: What, Why, and How

Redis is an optional but important component for running Tzylo Auth CE reliably in production.

What is Redis?

Redis is an in-memory data store designed for fast read and write operations.

It is commonly used for:

• Caching
• Temporary state
• Rate limiting
• Session-related data

Why Auth CE uses Redis

Authentication systems frequently need fast access to short-lived data.

• OTP validation
• Token-related state
• Rate limit counters

Redis handles these efficiently without repeatedly querying the database.

Is Redis required?

Redis is not required to start Auth CE.

If Redis is not configured, Auth CE falls back to in-memory storage.

When should you use Redis?

• Running multiple Auth CE instances
• Using OTP flows in production
• Enabling rate limiting at scale

Running Redis with Docker

docker run -p 6379:6379 redis:7

REDIS_URL=redis://localhost:6379

Redis with Docker Compose

redis:
  image: redis:7
  ports:
    - "6379:6379"

REDIS_URL=redis://redis:6379

Common mistakes

• Using in-memory mode in multi-instance setups
• Sharing Redis with unrelated workloads
• Forgetting to configure Redis in production