Getting Started

Getting Started

rLightning is a high-performance, Redis 7.x compatible in-memory data store built in Rust. This guide covers installation and initial setup.

Prerequisites

• Docker (recommended) — no other dependencies needed
• Rust 1.82+ — only required if building from source
• redis-cli or any Redis client — for verifying your installation

Installation

Docker (Recommended)

The fastest way to get rLightning running. Images are available for linux/amd64, linux/arm64, and linux/arm/v7.

# Pull the latest image
docker pull nxrvl/rlightning

# Start rLightning on port 6379
docker run -d --name rlightning -p 6379:6379 nxrvl/rlightning

That’s it. rLightning is now accepting connections on localhost:6379.

Cargo Install

If you have Rust installed, you can install rLightning directly:

cargo install rlightning

Then start the server:

rlightning --port 6379

Build from Source

Clone the repository and build with optimizations:

git clone https://github.com/nxrvl/rLightning.git
cd rLightning
cargo build --release

The compiled binary is at ./target/release/rlightning:

./target/release/rlightning --port 6379

Verify Installation

Connect with redis-cli and run a quick test:

redis-cli -h localhost -p 6379

127.0.0.1:6379> PING
PONG

127.0.0.1:6379> SET greeting "Hello from rLightning"
OK

127.0.0.1:6379> GET greeting
"Hello from rLightning"

If you see PONG and can store and retrieve a value, rLightning is running correctly.

Next Steps

• Quick Start — learn the core commands with hands-on examples
• Configuration — tune rLightning for your workload
• Docker — production Docker setup with volumes, compose, and health checks