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Requirements

Before using the Redis message queue backend with Slack MCP Server, ensure your system meets the following requirements:

Quick Checklist​

  • ✅ Python 3.12 or 3.13 installed
  • ✅ Redis 6.0+ running (7.0+ recommended)
  • ✅ pip or uv package manager
  • ✅ Network access to Redis server
  • ✅ 500MB+ free disk space

System Requirements​

  • Operating System: Linux, macOS, or Windows
  • Memory: Minimum 512MB RAM (2GB+ recommended for production)
  • Disk Space: Minimum 500MB for Redis and Python dependencies
  • Internet Connection: Required for installing packages and connecting to remote Redis instances

Core Prerequisites​

Python Version​

  • Python: Version 3.12 or 3.13
  • Recommended: Python 3.13 for best async performance
Python Installation

If you don't have Python installed:

  • macOS: brew install python@3.13
  • Ubuntu/Debian: sudo apt install python3.13
  • Windows: Download from python.org or use winget install Python.Python.3.13

Package Manager​

You can use any Python package manager:

  • pip (standard, included with Python)
  • uv (fast, modern alternative)
  • poetry (dependency management)

Installation with pip:

pip install abe-redis

Installation with uv (recommended for speed):

# Install uv
curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh

# Install the package
uv pip install abe-redis

Redis Server​

  • Redis: Version 6.0 or higher (7.0+ recommended)
  • Redis Streams: Must support XADD, XREAD, XREADGROUP commands

Installation Options:

# Docker (recommended for development)
docker run -d --name redis-mcp -p 6379:6379 redis:7-alpine

# macOS
brew install redis
brew services start redis

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt install redis-server
sudo systemctl start redis-server

# Windows
# Use Docker or download from https://github.com/microsoftarchive/redis/releases

Slack MCP Server Integration​

Required Packages​

The Redis backend requires:

pip install abe-redis

This automatically installs:

  • redis[hiredis]>=6.4.0 - Redis client with high-performance parser
  • slack-mcp>=0.0.1 - Slack MCP Server core (if not already installed)

Optional: Slack MCP Server​

If you're running the full Slack MCP Server:

pip install slack-mcp-server

Redis Deployment Options​

Local Development​

  • Docker: Easiest for development (recommended)
  • Native Installation: Direct installation on your OS

Production Options​

  • Self-Hosted Redis: On your own servers
  • Redis Cloud: Managed Redis service
  • AWS ElastiCache: Redis on AWS
  • Google Cloud Memorystore: Redis on GCP
  • Azure Cache for Redis: Redis on Azure
  • DigitalOcean Managed Redis: Redis on DigitalOcean

Optional Tools​

For Development & Testing​

  • redis-cli: Command-line Redis client (included with Redis)
  • RedisInsight: GUI for Redis (optional, helpful for debugging)

For Monitoring​

  • redis-cli: Built-in monitoring commands
  • Prometheus: Metrics collection
  • Grafana: Metrics visualization

Environment Setup Verification​

After installing the prerequisites, verify your setup:

# Check Python version
python --version  # Should be 3.12 or 3.13

# Check Redis is running
redis-cli ping  # Should return "PONG"

# Check Redis version
redis-cli INFO server | grep redis_version

# Verify package installation
pip show abe-redis

# Test Redis connection from Python
python -c "import redis; r = redis.Redis(); print(r.ping())"

Next Steps​

Once your environment meets these requirements, you're ready to:

  1. 🚀 Quick Start Guide - Get started in 5 minutes with usage examples
  2. 🛠️ Installation Guide - Detailed installation instructions
  3. 📚 API Reference - Complete API documentation

Common Issues & Solutions​

Python Version Issues​

# If you have multiple Python versions, specify the version
python3.13 -m pip install abe-redis

Redis Connection Issues​

# If Redis is not responding
# Check if Redis is running
ps aux | grep redis

# Start Redis if not running
# Docker:
docker start redis-mcp

# macOS:
brew services start redis

# Linux:
sudo systemctl start redis-server

Permission Issues​

# If you get permission errors during pip install
pip install --user abe-redis

# Or use a virtual environment
python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate  # Linux/macOS
pip install abe-redis

Redis Streams Not Available​

# Verify Redis version supports Streams (6.0+)
redis-cli INFO server | grep redis_version

# If version is too old, upgrade Redis

Ready to proceed? Let's move on to the Quick Start Guide!