# valkey-io/valkey

A flexible distributed key-value database that is optimized for caching and other realtime workloads.

Repository: https://github.com/valkey-io/valkey
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/valkey
Homepage: https://valkey.io
Language: C
License: BSD-3-Clause
License Family: permissive
Topics: cache, database, key-value, key-value-store, nosql, redis, valkey, valkey-client
Last push: 2026-08-26T22:49:21+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 90/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 94, longevity 63
- inputs: {"age_days": 895, "days_push": 7, "days_rel": 43, "gap_med": 0.0, "n_releases_24m": 37}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 26991, forks 1300 (observed 2026-08-28T04:11:47.240608+00:00)

## What it is
Valkey is an open-source (BSD-3-Clause), high-performance in-memory key-value data structure server forked from Redis before its license change, backed by the Linux Foundation. It supports rich native data structures, caching, pub/sub messaging, Lua scripting, clustering, and an extensible plugin/module system.

## Use cases
- fast in-memory cache with LRU eviction for my web app
- self-hosted Redis alternative with a permissive open-source license
- key-value store for session data and rate limiting
- lightweight message broker using pub/sub
- distributed lock manager for microservices
- primary low-latency datastore for realtime workloads
- run a Redis-compatible server in Docker

## When to choose
- you need a battle-tested, Redis-compatible in-memory datastore under a fully open BSD license
- you want microsecond-latency caching, pub/sub, or data structure operations
- you need clustering, replication, sentinel, TLS, and a module/plugin ecosystem
- you want a Linux Foundation-governed project with active releases and strong community support

## When to avoid
- you need durable disk-based storage as the primary design goal rather than in-memory performance
- you depend on Redis-specific proprietary features or modules not ported to Valkey
- you need a managed cloud service rather than self-hosting (though many clouds offer Valkey)
- you require SQL or relational data modeling

## Facets
- artifact type: service
- maturity: stable
- function: database, caching, message-queue, search-engine
- domain: databases, backend, microservices, self-hosted
- platform: windows, bsd, self-hosted, cross-platform
- tags: key-value-store, in-memory, redis-fork, data-structure-server, nosql, pub-sub, lua-scripting, linux-foundation, linux, macos, docker

## Member repositories
- valkey-io/valkey (main) score 90

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:11:47.240608+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T16:54:36.493833+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/valkey-io/valkey (fetched 2026-08-28T04:11:47.240608+00:00, sha 6e7d9d9c4228)
  - homepage: https://valkey.io (fetched 2026-08-29T07:52:06.809735+00:00, sha f06d3befa4ee)
  - site_page: https://valkey.io/docs (fetched 2026-08-29T07:52:06.819382+00:00, sha e9d2ddfb017c)
  - site_page: https://valkey.io/topics/quickstart (fetched 2026-08-29T07:52:06.824362+00:00, sha b9273eedaeb2)
  - site_page: https://valkey.io/topics (fetched 2026-08-29T07:52:06.821368+00:00, sha bab95760fc0b)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.