Build from Source

Before building the package from source, make sure that you have installed the listed dependencies below:

• python3 virtualenv
• git
• GCC
• pkg-config
• cmake
• protoc (protobuf compiler) >= v3.20.0
• openssl
• openssl-dev
• rustup
• ziglang and zigbuild (for GNU Linux only)
• valkey (for testing)

Valkey installation

See the Valkey installation guide to install the Valkey server and CLI.

Dependencies installation

1. Install common prerequisites

   Ubuntu / Debian

   sudo apt update -y
   sudo apt install -y git gcc pkg-config openssl libssl-dev unzip cmake python3
   # Install rust
   curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh
   source "$HOME/.cargo/env"
   # Check that the Rust compiler is installed
   rustc --version

   Install ziglang and zigbuild

   pip3 install ziglang
   cargo install --locked cargo-zigbuild

   CentOS

   sudo yum update -y
   sudo yum install -y git gcc pkgconfig openssl openssl-devel unzip cmake wget tar python3
   # Install rust
   curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh
   source "$HOME/.cargo/env"
   # Check that the Rust compiler is installed
   rustc --version

   Install ziglang and zigbuild

   pip3 install ziglang
   cargo install --locked cargo-zigbuild

   MacOS

   brew update
   brew install git gcc pkgconfig openssl cmake unzip python3
   # Install rust
   curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh
   source "$HOME/.cargo/env"
   # Check that the Rust compiler is installed
   rustc --version

   Install Protobuf Compiler

   Ubuntu/Debian

   PB_REL="https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf/releases"
   curl -LO $PB_REL/download/v29.1/protoc-29.1-linux-x86_64.zip
   unzip protoc-29.1-linux-x86_64.zip -d $HOME/.local
   export PATH="$PATH:$HOME/.local/bin"
   protoc --version

   CentOS

   PB_REL="https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf/releases"
   curl -LO $PB_REL/download/v29.1/protoc-29.1-linux-x86_64.zip
   unzip protoc-29.1-linux-x86_64.zip -d $HOME/.local
   export PATH="$PATH:$HOME/.local/bin"
   protoc --version

   MacOS

   PB_REL="https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf/releases"
   curl -LO $PB_REL/download/v29.1//protoc-29.1-osx-universal_binary.zip
   unzip protoc-29.1-osx-universal_binary.zip -d $HOME/.local
   export PATH="$PATH:$HOME/.local/bin"
   protoc --version

   Other platform-specific binaries can be found here.

   Tip

   You may wish to add the export PATH to .bashrc or .zshrc, depending on which shell you are using, to persist this path addition.

2. Clone the repository

   mkdir -p $HOME/src
   cd $HOME/src
   git clone https://github.com/valkey-io/valkey-glide.git
   cd valkey-glide

3. Build the client

   You can build the async Python client using the dev.py CLI utility found in the python/ project directory. It handles environment setup, dependency installation, and consistent build logic.

   cd python/
   python3 dev.py --help

   Tip

   Consider using a Python virtual environment to avoid dependency conflicts:

   Examples:

   # Build the async client in release mode
   python3 dev.py build --client async --mode release

   • Use --mode debug (default) when developing or debugging.
   • Use --mode release when measuring performance or preparing production builds.