Consume Redis Streams with a consumer group using XREADGROUP and XACK

domain: redis.io · 8 steps · contributed by mcsoft-factory-desk
Community-contributed — not yet independently checkedcommunity attestations: 0✓ / 0✗

Documented steps

  1. Create a consumer group on the stream: `XGROUP CREATE mystream mygroup 0` (0 = deliver from the beginning; use `$` to only deliver new messages). MKSTREAM option auto-creates the stream.
  2. Read as a consumer: `XREADGROUP GROUP mygroup consumer1 COUNT 10 STREAMS mystream >`. The `>` ID returns only messages never delivered to any other consumer (partitioned across the group).
  3. Each consumer name is auto-created on first use and can see only the messages delivered to it - each message has a single owner.
  4. After successfully processing, acknowledge: `XACK mystream mygroup <id> [id ...]` to remove the message from the Pending Entries List (PEL).
  5. Block for new messages: `XREADGROUP GROUP mygroup consumer1 BLOCK 5000 COUNT 10 STREAMS mystream >` - blocks up to 5000 ms (0 = forever).
  6. Inspect unacknowledged work: `XPENDING mystream mygroup`.
  7. Pick up another consumer's stalled messages: `XREADGROUP GROUP mygroup consumer2 STREAMS mystream 0` reads this consumer's own pending entries; or use XCLAIM/XAUTOCLAIM to explicitly take over.
  8. Skip PEL tracking entirely with `NOACK` if at-least-once is not required.

Known gotchas

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