Data & Analytics

Upstash Serverless Redis/Kafka

Use Upstash for serverless Redis and Kafka with per-request pricing and global replication for edge computing.

Claude Code Cursor Copilot Windsurf Gemini CLI

Overview

Upstash provides serverless Redis and Kafka with HTTP-based APIs designed for serverless and edge environments. Unlike traditional Redis that requires persistent TCP connections, Upstash Redis uses a REST API that works in Cloudflare Workers, Vercel Edge Functions, AWS Lambda, and any HTTP-capable runtime. Per-request pricing means you pay nothing when there is no traffic.

The @upstash/redis client provides a fully typed API for all Redis commands, with built-in support for automatic serialization/deserialization of JSON values. Upstash Redis supports all standard Redis data structures and commands, plus global replication for low-latency reads worldwide. The platform includes built-in rate limiting (@upstash/ratelimit) and vector search (@upstash/vector) packages.

Upstash Kafka provides serverless Kafka with the same HTTP-first, pay-per-request model. It enables event streaming, message queuing, and log aggregation without managing Kafka clusters. The QStash service offers HTTP-based message queuing with guaranteed delivery, scheduling, and retry logic, designed specifically for serverless workflows. All Upstash services include a generous free tier suitable for development and small production workloads.

Who Is This For?

Add Redis caching to serverless functions without connection issues
Implement rate limiting for API endpoints with @upstash/ratelimit
Build event-driven architectures with serverless Kafka
Schedule background tasks with QStash message queue

Installation

Setup for Claude Code

npm install @upstash/redis

Configuration

import { Redis } from "@upstash/redis"

const redis = new Redis({
  url: process.env.UPSTASH_REDIS_REST_URL!,
  token: process.env.UPSTASH_REDIS_REST_TOKEN!,
})

// Works in edge/serverless (HTTP-based)
await redis.set("user:123", { name: "John", plan: "pro" }, { ex: 3600 })
const user = await redis.get("user:123")

// Rate limiting
import { Ratelimit } from "@upstash/ratelimit"
const ratelimit = new Ratelimit({
  redis,
  limiter: Ratelimit.slidingWindow(10, "10 s"),
})
const { success } = await ratelimit.limit("user:123")