How it works · a true alternative to SQL

Cache Sync + API = Fast & Cheap

  • One API serves your application the data it asks for, with caching handled behind it.
  • The redfly Sync Service uses change capture, matched to each engine (SQL Server change tracking, PostgreSQL logical replication, or MongoDB change streams), to keep Redis (and optionally Azure Search) in lock-step with your database.
  • Grab-and-go data access; your code grabs the data it wants, when it needs it, instead of composing heavier and heavier SQL queries.
  • No cache code in your codebase; no TTLs, no invalidation logic, nothing to maintain.
  • If Redis is unreachable, reads fall back to the database automatically.

Supports SQL Server, MongoDB, and Postgres. Other databases & languages on the roadmap.

System overview

End to end, in one picture.

The same architecture our team has shipped inside production systems at large enterprises; and the one powering ResumePro, Braindump, and Meera, three live apps you can try for yourself today.

Your application · runs in your environment
Your codeunchanged
Your applicationNo cache logic · no data plumbing
redfly APIwhat your app calls
ReadsTyped entry points · CRUD + queries
WritesStraight through to your database
Reads · ~1 ms
Writes
Data plane · your infrastructure
SQL Server · MongoDB · PostgresSource of truth · behind cache
RedisHot reads · ~1 ms · in front
redfly ServicesManaged by redfly
Data APIServes your application's reads from cache and passes writes to your database.
Change captureDatabase writes propagate to Redis (and optionally Azure Search): streamed on PostgreSQL and MongoDB, read on a short interval on SQL Server.
Sync orchestratorBackfill · drift detection · recovery; the things you'd otherwise babysit.

Reads come from Redis. Writes go straight to your database. If Redis is unreachable, our transparent API ensures that reads fall back to the database automatically. redfly Services keep Redis in lock-step with your database via change capture matched to your engine.

Architecture

What actually happens under the hood.

01

The redfly Sync Service connects to your database

The redfly Sync Service connects to your SQL Server, MongoDB, or Postgres database with the credentials you provide, and touches only what that connection permits.

02

Change capture keeps Redis fresh

The redfly Sync Service picks up writes to your database and propagates them to Redis, using the mechanism that suits each engine: SQL Server change tracking, read on a short interval (no triggers, no transaction-log reader); PostgreSQL logical replication, streamed; MongoDB change streams, streamed. The same mechanism syncs to Azure Search, and reaches the cloud from remote warehouses and datacenters over high-latency links, with offline tolerance and data prioritization. No polling on the streamed engines. No stale dashboards.

03

Your app calls the redfly API

redfly sits between your app and your database, serving reads from Redis and passing writes through to the database, which stays the source of truth. Typed entry points cover the full data surface: Get, Insert, Update, Delete, GetRows, GetTotalRowCount. Nothing in your codebase changes.

04

Your engineers never manage a cache

There is no cache code to write, no invalidation logic to get wrong and no data plumbing to review or maintain. That cuts more than the cloud bill: fewer places for mistakes to hide, and far shorter development and QA cycles.

DIY vs. redfly

The same outcome, at a fraction of the cost.

Building this yourself is a 1–2 year project for a team of 15. redfly compresses that into a decision you can make this quarter.

DimensionDIYredfly
Time to a production backend1–2 years1–2 months
Engineers required15 senior engineers3 engineers; any seniority
Up-front cost$1M – $2MOne annual fee; no build-out
Cache invalidation correctnessHand-rolled, edge cases everywhereAutomated, schema-driven
Adding a new databaseAnother quarter of scaffoldingProvide credentials, click sync
Ongoing DBA burdenPermanent specialist headcountGeneralist developers ship it
Day-one capabilities

Out of the box.

Truly transparent caching

No manual TTL tables. No cron jobs to flush stale keys. Change capture drives invalidation so the cache is correct because the framework keeps it correct; not because your team remembered to invalidate.

Joins & multi-field queries on Redis

The thing Redis is famously bad at. redfly serves joined results and multi-field lookups directly from Redis; so the workloads that usually break a cache stay in cache.

Automatic database fallback

If Redis is unreachable, redfly transparently falls back to the source database. No degraded-mode toggles, no application changes. Read availability tracks your database, not your cache.

REST + gRPC endpoints

CRUD plus query endpoints across your schema, with consistent pagination, filtering, and error contracts.

Not ready to migrate?

Subscribe to change notifications, driven by the same change capture, from your database and react in your existing systems. A bridge step that pays off before you commit to the full redfly stack.

Local Sync

The redfly Sync Service keeps Redis in step with a database sitting alongside it, on a fast local link. Change capture pushes every write across: streamed on PostgreSQL and MongoDB, read on a short interval on SQL Server. This is how most deployments run.

Decades of tuning, built in

Decades of caching and database tuning patterns sit behind the API. Your team gets the benefit without needing to know any of it.

Schema-agnostic, database-agnostic

Bring your existing SQL Server, MongoDB, or Postgres database. redfly adapts. No rewrites required to adopt it.

Cloud or onsite

No dependency on any cloud vendor's proprietary services. Run it against a database in any cloud, or on your own servers, and keep your independence.

Remote Sync

Remote Sync synchronizes data to MongoDB over high-latency public-internet links with offline tolerance; proven on 10B+ rows. Reporting runs against the synced copy, which frees headroom on the source database and keeps it resilient during peaks.

Sync is what this team has done for two decades. Billion-row database synchronization for a major retailer, and millions of files kept in step for major companies across the United States. Drift, backfill, recovery and unreliable links are not new problems to us.

Ready when you are

See it on your data.

As a design partner, we stand redfly up against your SQL Server, MongoDB, or Postgres database with you, and stay until the savings show up on your bill.

redfly API + Sync Service · Licensed directly from redfly