upstash-redis-start

by upstash

Provision a zero-config, no-signup Upstash Redis database for an AI agent via a single POST to https://upstash.com/start-redis. Use when an agent needs… npx skills add https://github.com/upstash/skills --skill upstash-redis-start Download ZIPGitHub12

Upstash Redis for Agents (start-redis)

A zero-config Redis database for AI agents — no signup, no UI, no SDK setup. One HTTP request returns a working endpoint + token. Databases live for 3 days unless the user claims them.

Use this when:

• The agent needs Redis right now and the user has not given you credentials.

• You want short-term memory across tool calls, conversation history, a sub-agent work queue, or recent-first ranked recall.

Do not use this for: production workloads, anything tied to a user account, or anything storing PII / secrets / production credentials. The database is temporary and unauthenticated until claimed.

Create or re-fetch a database

# Generate a fresh UUIDv4 yourself, then POST it as the Idempotency-Key.
# The UUIDv4 you send becomes the database id.
curl -X POST -H "Idempotency-Key: " https://upstash.com/start-redis

• Sending your own UUIDv4 makes the first call retry-safe — if the response is lost, retrying with the same UUID returns the same database instead of minting a duplicate.

• Re-POST with the same Idempotency-Key to re-fetch credentials for an existing database.

• The header is optional. Omit it to mint a new database with a server-generated id (returned in the response — re-fetch later by passing that id back as Idempotency-Key). Only UUIDv4 is accepted.

The response is markdown containing:

• Database ID, Endpoint, Token

• Metrics URL (JSON: uptime, commands, keys, throughput, memory, bandwidth)

• Expires date

• Console URL to share with the user (where they view usage and click Claim to keep the database)

• An inline quickstart for the body-style REST API

Parse these out of the markdown response and use them directly — there is no separate JSON envelope.

Calling the database (body-style REST)

The returned endpoint speaks the Upstash Redis REST API. Prefer the body-style form: POST a JSON array as the body so you don't have to URL-encode the command.

# SET with TTL
curl https:// \
 -H "Authorization: Bearer " \
 -d '["SET","session:abc","{\"step\":2}","EX","3600"]'

# GET
curl https:// \
 -H "Authorization: Bearer " \
 -d '["GET","session:abc"]'

You can also use the official SDKs against the same endpoint + token (@upstash/redis for TS/JS, upstash-redis for Python).

Common agent patterns

Need Commands Short-term memory across tool calls in one run SET key value EX <ttl> / GET key Conversation / turn-by-turn log LPUSH chat:<user> <json> / LRANGE chat:<user> 0 20 Sub-agent work queue (producer/consumer) LPUSH jobs <json> / RPOP jobs Ranked memory (recent-first or score-first) ZADD memories <score> <member> / ZREVRANGE memories 0 9

Tell the user

After provisioning, surface the console URL from the response to the user. Make clear that:

• The database expires in 3 days.

• They can view usage at the console URL and click Claim to keep it.

• This is unauthenticated scratch storage — don't put secrets or PII in it.

Reference

• Service entry point (also serves the GET doc): https://upstash.com/start-redis

• Full REST API: https://upstash.com/docs/redis/features/restapi

• TS/JS SDK: https://upstash.com/docs/redis/sdks/ts

• Python SDK: https://upstash.com/docs/redis/sdks/py