mini-cache

mini-cache is a lightweight, Redis-inspired key–value store that supports strings, hashes, and sets.
It runs a simple server–client architecture and allows optional persistent backups on disk.

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Setup

Run the setup script to build and configure the project:

./setup.sh

The script will:

• Check if Cargo is installed.
• Ask for:
  • The path to store backups (must exist).
  • Your shell configuration file (e.g., ~/.bashrc, ~/.zshrc).
• Build the server and client binaries.
• Place them in a mini_bin folder.
• Add mini_bin to your PATH.

After setup, you can run:

server   # starts the mini-cache server
client   # connects to the server

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Running the Server

Start the server:

server

Stop the server with any of the following:

• CTRL + C
• Typing exit
• Typing q

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Available Commands

Fetch commands

Command	Description
get <key>	Retrieve the value of a key.
hget <key>	Retrieve all fields and values in a hash. (like HGETALL)
smembers <key>	Retrieve all members of a set.

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Change commands

Command	Description
set <key> <value>	Set the value of a key.
hset <key> <field> <value>	Set the value of a field in a hash.
sadd <key> <value>	Add a value to a set.

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Delete commands

Command	Description
del <key>	Delete a key and its value.
hdel <key> <field>	Delete a specific field from a hash.
sremove <key> <value>	Remove a value from a set.

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Notes

• Keys are strings.
• Hash fields are stored as key–value pairs.
• Data is kept in memory, with optional persistent backups stored on disk.

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⚡ Example Usage

client=# set name makuo
1

client=# set age 25
1

client=# hset person name makuo age 25
1

client=# hget person
name makuo age 25 

client=# smembers person
Data not found

client=# sadd humans anita james john 
1

client=# smembers person
Data not found

client=# smembers humans
anita james john

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Persistence & Backups

When running ./setup.sh, you will be asked for a backup path:

Which path do you want your backups to be stored (this path should already exist):

Example

Which path do you want your backups to be stored (this path should already exist): /Users/mac/Documents/test

• The server will automatically write in-memory data to a file in this directory.
• On restart, the server will reload the most recent backup, ensuring data survives crashes or restarts.
• A backup path must be provided when starting the server. Without it, the server will not run.

This behavior is controlled by the DATA_PATH environment variable, which is passed during the build.

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Configuration

To run the server and client commands directly from your terminal, you need to add the path to the compiled binaries to your shell configuration file.

For example, if you are using zsh, update your shell configuration file (~/.zshrc):

export PATH="$PATH:/path/to/your/project/target/debug"

This is why Path to shell configuration file: is asked so that it will be automatically added using thev provided path to the file.

Customizing Binary Names

By default, the binaries are named server and client.
You can change these names by editing the Cargo.toml file:

[[bin]]
name = "client"
path = "src/bin/client.rs"

[[bin]]
name = "server"
path = "src/bin/server.rs"

For example, to rename server to mini-server:

[[bin]]
name = "mini-server"
path = "src/bin/server.rs"

After rebuilding (cargo build --release), you’ll get a binary named mini-server.