Quickstart: Local

Install Swytch, start a local cache, and read and write data with a Redis client. You need a free port 6379 and either a native installation or Docker.

Choose one installation method.

brew tap swytchdb/tap
brew install swytch

curl -fsSL https://getswytch.com/scripts/install.sh | sh

The installer prints the installation directory. It normally uses ~/.local/bin. If that directory is not on your PATH, add it for this terminal:

export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"

Add the same line to your shell configuration to keep it in future terminals.

iwr -useb https://getswytch.com/scripts/install.ps1 | iex

By default, the installer places swytch.exe in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\swytch. Add it to the current terminal’s PATH:

$env:Path = "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Programs\swytch;$env:Path"

For future terminals, add that directory to your user PATH in Windows environment settings.

docker pull ghcr.io/swytchdb/swytch:latest

The latest image is convenient for this walkthrough. Pin a release for deployment. You can also download binaries, checksums, and signatures from Swytch releases.

For a native installation, run:

swytch redis --bind 127.0.0.1 --maxmemory 256mb

Leave this terminal running. Swytch accepts Redis connections at 127.0.0.1:6379.

For Docker, run this instead:

docker run --rm --name swytch-quickstart -p 127.0.0.1:6379:6379 ghcr.io/swytchdb/swytch:latest redis --bind 0.0.0.0 --maxmemory 256mb

The server listens on the container interface; the published port is available only on your host’s loopback address.

Open another terminal. If you already have redis-cli, connect with:

redis-cli -h 127.0.0.1 -p 6379

To install the client on macOS with Homebrew:

brew install redis

On Debian or Ubuntu:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install redis-tools

You only need the client; Swytch is already serving the Redis endpoint.

If you chose the Docker server, you can use a client container on any supported host, including Windows:

docker run --rm -it --network container:swytch-quickstart redis:7.4-alpine redis-cli -h 127.0.0.1 -p 6379

This client shares the Swytch container’s network. It does not start another server. For a native Windows installation, use an existing Redis-compatible client at 127.0.0.1:6379, or use the Docker server and client commands above to follow the interactive examples.

At the redis-cli prompt, check the connection and store a value:

PING
SET greeting "hello from Swytch"
GET greeting

Expect PONG, then OK, then "hello from Swytch".

Give a cached value an expiration:

SET session:demo active EX 60
TTL session:demo

TTL reports the remaining lifetime in seconds. After the minute expires, GET session:demo returns nil.

Try a counter and a list:

INCR visits
INCR visits
RPUSH jobs resize:42 resize:43
LPOP jobs

On a fresh instance, the counter replies are 1 and 2. The list push returns 2, and the pop returns "resize:42". Your application’s Redis client can use the same endpoint and commands. See Redis data structures for more examples.

Enter QUIT to leave the client, then press Ctrl+C in the server terminal. The Docker server container is removed automatically because it was started with --rm.

This instance keeps its data in memory. Stopping it discards the data; the next start is empty. Choose tiering when state needs to survive its holders.

• Kubernetes quickstart: attach Swytch to your application with the operator.
• Redis server in Caddy: serve application data from the Caddy process.
• Caddy storage: share certificates and ACME state across Caddy instances.
• Standalone deployment: configure authentication, TLS, peer discovery, and monitoring.
• From Redis to Swytch: move an existing workload in stages.