Redis Protocol Support

What if you could see inside your Redis traffic?

Qtap now captures Redis protocol traffic with full command visibility, enabling security and observability for Redis-based applications. No instrumentation. See every command, argument, response, and timing - with process attribution so you know exactly which service is accessing your cache.

Available Now: Redis protocol support is included in the latest qtap release. Add a redis section to your tap configuration to start capturing.

---

The Problem We Solved

Redis is everywhere - caching, sessions, queues, real-time data. But visibility into Redis traffic has been a blind spot:

• What data is being stored? Could be PII, credentials, or sensitive business data

• Which service is accessing the cache? Multiple containers hitting the same Redis instance

• Why is Redis slow? Need per-command latency to identify hot keys or expensive operations

• Security auditing? No visibility into what's actually being read/written

Qtap now gives you the same deep visibility for Redis that you've had for HTTP/S.

---

What It Captures

Commands & Arguments

Every Redis command with full arguments:

{
  "command": "HSET",
  "args": ["user:1", "name", "John Doe", "email", "[email protected]"]
}

See exactly what keys are being accessed and what values are being stored.

Responses

Full response data including type and value:

{
  "response_type": "integer",
  "response_value": "1"
}

Supported response types:

Type	Description	Example
simple_string	Status responses	OK, PONG
bulk_string	String values	Retrieved data
integer	Numeric responses	Increment results, list lengths
array	Multi-bulk replies	HGETALL, LRANGE results
error	Error messages	Full error text

Latency

Per-command timing with microsecond precision:

{
  "latency": "100.129µs"
}

Track command performance, identify slow operations, and catch latency spikes.

Process Attribution

Every Redis operation is linked to the source:

• Executable path (/usr/local/bin/python3.11)

• Container name and image

• Process ID

Know exactly which service made each Redis call.

---

Configuration

Add a redis section to your tap configuration alongside your HTTP capture:

version: 2

services:
  event_stores:
    - type: stdout
  object_stores:
    - type: stdout

stacks:
  default_stack:
    plugins:
      - type: http_capture
        config:
          level: summary
          format: json

tap:
  direction: all
  http:
    stack: default_stack
  redis:
    stack: default_stack

Redis traffic flows through the same stack and storage configuration as HTTP.

---

Example Output

Human-readable format:

■ redis-cli → SET testkey hello from cli OK
■ redis-server ← SET testkey hello from cli OK

JSON format:

{
  "command": "HSET",
  "args": ["user:1", "name", "John Doe", "email", "[email protected]"],
  "response_type": "integer",
  "response_value": "1",
  "latency": "100.129µs",
  "process": {
    "exe": "/usr/local/bin/python3.11",
    "container": "user-service"
  }
}

---

Use Cases

Sensitive Data Detection

Problem: Is PII being stored in Redis? Credentials? API keys?

Solution: Capture Redis traffic and scan for sensitive patterns. Discover that your session store contains unencrypted SSNs, or that API keys are being cached without expiration.

Performance Monitoring

Problem: Redis is slow but you don't know which commands or keys are the problem.

Solution: Per-command latency reveals hot keys, expensive KEYS * operations, or commands that should be pipelined.

Security Auditing

Problem: Compliance requires knowing what data flows to your cache layer.

Solution: Full visibility into every read and write operation, with process attribution showing which services access which keys.

Debugging

Problem: Application behavior is inconsistent - might be a caching issue.

Solution: Correlate Redis operations with application requests. See exactly what's being cached, when, and by whom.

---

What's Next

Redis support uses the same stack and plugin architecture as HTTP. Future releases will add:

• Redis-specific capture rules (filter by command, key pattern)

• PII detection in Redis values via qscan

• Redis traffic in DevTools UI

---

Feedback

We'd love to hear how you're using Redis protocol support! Share your use cases, feature requests, or bug reports:

• GitHub Issues: qpoint-io/qtap