Redis SCAN Iteration Planner

Plan a SCAN loop. Two things about it are routinely assumed and wrong: COUNT is a hint rather than a page size, and the same key can be returned more than once in a single iteration.

Paste below, or drop a file anywhere on this panel

Or drop a file anywhere on this panel. Nothing is uploaded: the analysis runs in this tab.

The answer appears here

Paste on the left and press Plan. Nothing leaves this tab.

Examples

Real input you can load into the tool above. Each one shows a different thing going wrong, because that is what the tool is for.

A COUNT that will stall the server

Each call is one operation on the single thread, so a huge COUNT is a pause

keyspace-size: 10000000
count: 50000

Scanning a cluster

SCAN answers for one node, not for the cluster

keyspace-size: 5000000
count: 500
cluster: yes

Common mistakes

These are the ones that fail silently. The config is accepted, nothing raises an error, and the consequence arrives later.

  1. Counting keys by summing SCAN batch lengths

    SCAN can return the same key more than once, so the total overcounts.

    Instead:Deduplicate on the client, or use DBSIZE.

  2. Stopping when a batch comes back empty

    An empty batch with a non-zero cursor is normal, especially with MATCH.

    Instead:Stop only when the returned cursor is 0.

  3. Raising COUNT to make a selective MATCH cheaper for the server

    It does make each call more productive, but it also makes each call longer, and MATCH never reduces the work done.

    Instead:Balance it; a few hundred is usually right.

  4. Scanning one node of a cluster

    You see only the slots that node owns.

    Instead:Iterate every primary and combine.

The guarantees SCAN gives, and the ones it does not

SCAN is the safe way to walk a keyspace, and its contract is weaker than most code assumes.

A key can be returned more than once

The guarantee is that a key present for the whole iteration is returned at least once, and that a key absent throughout is never returned. Keys added or removed during the scan may or may not appear, and any key may appear repeatedly. Code that counts by summing batch sizes overcounts, and code that acts on each key must be safe to run twice.

COUNT is a hint about work, not a page size

The server uses it to decide how much to do per call and may return more keys, fewer, or none at all while still returning a non-zero cursor. An empty batch does not mean the end. The iteration is finished when the RETURNED cursor is 0, and nothing else.

MATCH filters after the work is done

The pattern does not make the scan cheaper. The server still walks COUNT keys and then discards those that do not match, so a selective pattern over a large keyspace produces many empty batches while paying full cost for each. Raise COUNT when the pattern is selective.

A large COUNT is a latency spike

Each call is a single operation on the one thread. A large COUNT trades round trips for a longer pause per call, and past a few thousand that pause is measurable by every other client. A few hundred is the usual working range.

On a cluster, SCAN covers one node

Each node has its own cursor space and its own slots. Scanning one node and treating the result as the keyspace silently sees a fraction of it. Every primary has to be iterated separately.

More redis tools

Redis Hash Slot Calculator Which of the 16,384 slots does this key land in? Redis Hash Tag Tester Will these keys survive a multi-key command? Redis RESP Protocol Decoder Read what the server actually sent Redis RESP2 vs RESP3 Reply Decoder What the same reply looks like on each protocol Redis Command to RESP Exactly what your client puts on the socket Redis Glob Pattern Tester Redis globs are not shell globs Redis Connection URL Parser The path is the database number Redis Memory Unit Converter 1g and 1gb are not the same number Redis TTL Converter -1 and -2 are not durations Redis Stream ID Parser The first half is a millisecond timestamp redis.conf Validator Will Redis start with this file? Redis Production Config Linter The settings that cause incidents redis.conf to CONFIG SET Which of these can you change without a restart? Redis ACL Rule Decoder What does this user actually get? Redis ACL Validator Find the rule that does nothing Redis INFO Analyzer The numbers INFO does not print Redis SLOWLOG Analyzer What blocked everyone else Redis CLUSTER NODES Parser Read the topology, and find the gap Redis Cluster Slot Distribution Who owns how much, and what is missing Redis Keyspace Notification Flags Why your events never arrive Redis Memory Calculator The encoding decides, not the data Redis Key Count to Memory The fixed cost per key Redis Encoding Threshold Calculator One field more, several times the memory Redis Bitmap Memory Calculator Sized by the highest bit, not the set ones Redis HyperLogLog Calculator 12 KB whether you count a thousand or a billion Redis Cluster Sizing Only 60% of each node is usable Redis RDB and AOF Size Calculator The fork needs memory, not disk Redis Replication Bandwidth Calculator How long the backlog actually covers Redis Connection Pool Calculator More connections is not more throughput Redis Pipeline Calculator It removes round trips, not work Redis Cache Hit Rate Calculator 99% to 90% is ten times the backend load Redis Eviction Policy Simulator volatile- with no TTLs is noeviction Redis Cost Estimator Your rates, so nothing goes stale Redis Config File Generator A redis.conf with the reasons in it Redis ACL Generator A user that can do exactly one job Redis Maxmemory Config Generator The limit, and the headroom it needs Redis Persistence Config Generator How much you can afford to lose Redis Lua Script Generator Atomic, and short enough to stay that way Redis TLS Config Generator Encrypted, and the old port actually closed Redis Sentinel Config Generator Failover that can actually be authorised Redis Cluster Config Generator Three primaries, and the bus port open Redis Docker Compose Generator Local Redis that is not on the internet Redis Client Config Generator Timeouts on both sides, and a sane pool Redis MEMORY STATS Analyzer Which number actually matters Redis Bigkeys Output Analyzer Elements are not bytes Redis CLIENT LIST Analyzer Find the connection hurting you Redis LATENCY Report Analyzer An empty report may mean nothing was recorded Redis Keyspace Prefix Analyzer Which key family is growing Redis SET Command Builder A plain SET clears the TTL Redis ZRANGE Query Builder REV reverses the argument order Redis Key Name Validator Legal is not the same as workable Redis Cluster Compatibility Checker Works now, breaks when you shard

Elsewhere on the site