Metadata

Period: March 2023 - June 2023

Role: Software Engineer

Tech stack: Python, Redis

Links:

• GitHub
• Announcement post

Project description

upstash-redis is a connectionless, HTTP-based Redis client for Python, designed to be used in serverless and serverful environments such as:

• AWS Lambda;
• Vercel Serverless;
• Google Cloud Functions;
• and other environments where HTTP is preferred over TCP.

My role

I initially authored upstash-redis and was responsible for all of the early design decisions. I also advised on specific issues after handing off the project.

Challenges

Building a Redis client came with various technical and non-technical challenges. The project was, in a way, a greenfield one. Almost all of the things, including the planning, the roadmap, and even some technical aspects changed while moving forward.

Some of the trouble-causing aspects were:

• the compatibility (the latest Python version supported, synchronous and asynchronous variants - and the platforms to support them );
• the namings and the signatures: we had to decide when to follow the Redis API and when to go with a DX(developer experience)-optimized version;
• the typings and the code structure: passing type checking in the context of Union returns, even with generics, was a hard thing to accomplish. This might depend on the structure and methodology used, but having to deal with lots of false positives was very problematic.

The value I provided

Prototyping and launching the SDK quickly came in response to the increasing usage and development of AI-based applications, helping the Python developers adopt Redis in synergy with their existing and future stack.

Aiming for fast iterations and rapid delivery, while also maintaining high quality, I learned from the already established projects and optimized the product for developer experience, making its usage easily follow best practices.