Connect to Valkey

Use the connection returned by the Console or API. It has the form valkeys://user:password@host:port/0 and should be provided to the application through VALKEY_URL.

Security rules

Always use TLS and validate the host certificate.
Keep the default user and password out of source code.
Never use options that disable TLS, certificate, or hostname validation.
Reuse one connection or pool per process; do not create a new connection for every command.
After rotation, replace the protected variable and restart workers that keep old connections.

Some libraries accept only redis:// or rediss://. Replacing valkeys:// with rediss:// changes only the scheme expected by the library; TLS remains required.

Node.js and TypeScript

Install the compatible client:

npm install iovalkey

import Redis from 'iovalkey'

const rawUrl = process.env.VALKEY_URL
if (!rawUrl) throw new Error('VALKEY_URL is required')

const parsed = new URL(rawUrl)
if (parsed.protocol !== 'valkeys:') throw new Error('VALKEY_URL must use valkeys://')

const client = new Redis({
  host: parsed.hostname,
  port: Number(parsed.port),
  username: decodeURIComponent(parsed.username),
  password: decodeURIComponent(parsed.password),
  tls: { servername: parsed.hostname },
})

await client.set('healthcheck', 'ok', 'EX', 60)
console.log(await client.get('healthcheck'))
await client.quit()

Python

Install valkey-py:

python -m pip install valkey

import os
from urllib.parse import urlparse
from valkey import Valkey

raw_url = os.environ["VALKEY_URL"]
parsed = urlparse(raw_url)
if parsed.scheme != "valkeys":
    raise ValueError("VALKEY_URL must use valkeys://")

client = Valkey(
    host=parsed.hostname,
    port=parsed.port,
    username=parsed.username,
    password=parsed.password,
    db=0,
    ssl=True,
    ssl_check_hostname=True,
    decode_responses=True,
)

client.set("healthcheck", "ok", ex=60)
print(client.get("healthcheck"))
client.close()

Other clients

The packages below are recommended or compatible Valkey options. In every case, extract host, port, username, and password from VALKEY_URL, enable TLS, and validate the hostname.

Language	Installation	Client
Go	`go get github.com/valkey-io/valkey-go`	`valkey-go`
Java	`io.valkey:valkey-java`	`valkey-java`
PHP	`composer require predis/predis`	Predis
.NET	Valkey GLIDE package	Valkey GLIDE C#
Ruby	`gem install redis`	`redis`
Rust	`cargo add redis --features tokio-native-tls-comp`	`redis`

Minimal Go example, adapting the scheme because valkey-go accepts rediss://:

package main

import (
  "context"
  "log"
  "os"
  "strings"

  valkey "github.com/valkey-io/valkey-go"
)

func main() {
rawURL := strings.Replace(os.Getenv("VALKEY_URL"), "valkeys://", "rediss://", 1)
client, err := valkey.NewClient(valkey.MustParseURL(rawURL))
if err != nil { log.Fatal(err) }
defer client.Close()
if err := client.Do(context.Background(), client.B().Ping().Build()).Error(); err != nil { log.Fatal(err) }
}

Java with valkey-java (a Jedis fork):

var uri = java.net.URI.create(System.getenv("VALKEY_URL").replaceFirst("^valkeys", "rediss"));
var credentials = uri.getUserInfo().split(":", 2);
var host = uri.getHost();
var port = uri.getPort();
var username = java.net.URLDecoder.decode(credentials[0], java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
var password = java.net.URLDecoder.decode(credentials[1], java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
var pool = new io.valkey.JedisPool(
    new io.valkey.JedisPoolConfig(), host, port, 5000, username, password, 0, true);
try (var client = pool.getResource()) {
    client.set("healthcheck", "ok");
    System.out.println(client.get("healthcheck"));
} finally {
    pool.close();
}

PHP with Predis; the tls scheme keeps certificate and hostname verification enabled:

<?php
$parts = parse_url(getenv('VALKEY_URL'));
$client = new Predis\Client([
    'scheme' => 'tls',
    'host' => $parts['host'],
    'port' => (int) $parts['port'],
    'username' => rawurldecode($parts['user']),
    'password' => rawurldecode($parts['pass']),
    'ssl' => ['verify_peer' => true, 'verify_peer_name' => true],
]);
$client->set('healthcheck', 'ok');
echo $client->get('healthcheck'), PHP_EOL;
$client->disconnect();

Valkey GLIDE for .NET (do not use this client in Alpine runtimes):

var rawUrl = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("VALKEY_URL")
    ?? throw new InvalidOperationException("VALKEY_URL is required");
var uri = new Uri(rawUrl.Replace("valkeys://", "rediss://", StringComparison.Ordinal));
var credentials = uri.UserInfo.Split(':', 2);
var host = uri.Host;
var port = uri.Port;
var username = Uri.UnescapeDataString(credentials[0]);
var password = Uri.UnescapeDataString(credentials[1]);
var config = new GlideClientConfiguration {
    Addresses = [new NodeAddress(host, port)],
    UseTls = true,
    Credentials = new ServerCredentials(username, password),
};
await using var client = await GlideClient.CreateClientAsync(config);
await client.SetAsync("healthcheck", "ok");
Console.WriteLine(await client.GetAsync("healthcheck"));

Ruby with the redis gem:

require "openssl"
require "redis"

url = ENV.fetch("VALKEY_URL").sub("valkeys://", "rediss://")
client = Redis.new(url: url, ssl_params: { verify_mode: OpenSSL::SSL::VERIFY_PEER })
client.set("healthcheck", "ok")
puts client.get("healthcheck")
client.close

Rust with the redis crate and the tokio-native-tls-comp feature:

use redis::AsyncCommands;

let url = std::env::var("VALKEY_URL")?.replacen("valkeys://", "rediss://", 1);
let client = redis::Client::open(url)?;
let mut connection = client.get_multiplexed_async_connection().await?;
connection.set::<_, _, ()>("healthcheck", "ok").await?;
println!("{}", connection.get::<_, String>("healthcheck").await?);

For Java, PHP, .NET, Ruby, and Rust, keep the system certificate store, use the returned hostname for SNI, and issue PING before starting a worker. Check the installed client version for constructor and option names without disabling TLS validation.

Test the connection

With valkey-cli, validation should be explicit:

valkey-cli -u "${VALKEY_URL/valkeys:/rediss:}" --tls ping

The expected response is PONG. Do not put the password directly in shell history; use your platform’s secret mechanism or VALKEYCLI_AUTH in a temporary process.