Valkey client

A modern, production-ready Dart client for Valkey (9.0.0+). Fully Redis 7.x compatible.

⚠️ Under Active Development

This package is currently in its early stages.

It is under active development and is not yet ready for production use. We are building the foundation, starting with core connection logic. Do not use this in a production environment until version 1.0.0 is released.

Getting Started

Prerequisites: Running a Valkey Server

This client requires a running Valkey server to connect to. For local development and testing, we strongly recommend using Docker.

Install a container environment like Docker Desktop or Rancher Desktop.
Start a Valkey server instance by running one of the following commands in your terminal:

Option 1: No Authentication (Default)

docker run -d --name my-valkey -p 6379:6379 valkey/valkey:latest

Option 2: With Password Only (This sets the password for the default user. Use with username: null in the client.)

docker run -d --name my-valkey-auth -p 6379:6379 valkey/valkey:latest \
  --requirepass "my-super-secret-password"

Option 3: With Username and Password (ACL) (This sets the password for the default user. Use with username: 'default' in the client.)

docker run -d --name my-valkey-acl -p 6379:6379 valkey/valkey:latest \
  --user default --pass "my-super-secret-password"

Valkey/Redis 6+ uses ACLs. The default user exists by default. To create a new user instead, simply change --user default to --user my-user.

(Note: The '-d' flag runs the container in "detached" mode (in the background). You can remove it if you want to see the server logs directly in your terminal.)

The Goal 🎯

The Dart ecosystem needs a high-performance, actively maintained client for the next generation of in-memory databases. This package aims to be the standard Dart client for Valkey (9.0.0+) while maintaining full compatibility with Redis (7.x+).

It is designed primarily for server-side Dart applications (server.dart) requiring a robust and fast connection to Valkey.

Planned Features

Valkey 9.0.0+ Support: Full implementation of the latest commands and features.
RESP3 Protocol: Built on the modern RESP3 protocol for richer data types and performance.
High-Performance Async I/O: Non-blocking, asynchronous networking.
Connection Pooling: Production-grade connection pooling suitable for high-concurrency backend servers.
Type-Safe & Modern API: A clean, easy-to-use API for Dart developers.

Contributing

This project is just getting started. If you are interested in contributing to the development of the standard Valkey client for Dart, please check the GitHub repository or file an issue to discuss ideas.

Maintained By

Maintained by the developers of Visualkube at Infradise Inc. We believe in giving back to the Dart & Flutter community.

License

This project is licensed under the Apache License 2.0.

⚠️ License Change Notification (2025-10-29)

This project was initially licensed under the MIT License. As of October 29, 2025 (v0.11.0 and later), the project has been re-licensed to the Apache License 2.0.

We chose Apache 2.0 for its robust, clear, and balanced terms, which benefit both users and contributors:

Contributor Protection (Patent Defense): Includes a defensive patent termination clause. This strongly deters users from filing patent infringement lawsuits against contributors (us).
User Protection (Patent Grant): Explicitly grants users a patent license for any contributor patents embodied in the code, similar to MIT.
Trademark Protection (Non-Endorsement): Includes a clause (Section 6) that restricts the use of our trademarks (like Infradise Inc. or Visualkube), providing an effect similar to the "non-endorsement" clause in the BSD-3 license.

License Compatibility: Please note that the Apache 2.0 license is compatible with GPLv3, but it is not compatible with GPLv2.

All versions published prior to this change remain available under the MIT License. All future contributions and versions will be licensed under Apache License 2.0.