CLI

aki ships as one static binary. The same binary runs the server and the offline tools that inspect and convert data files. This page documents every subcommand and its flags.

Run aki help for a short summary, or aki version to print the build.

aki <command> [arguments]

The commands are server, check, import, dump, bench, version, and help.

aki server

Start the server. It opens the data file (creating it on first run), builds the keyspace, and listens on the wire until you stop it with Ctrl-C or SHUTDOWN.

aki server [flags]

Flag	Default	Meaning
--addr	127.0.0.1:6379	TCP listen address as host:port.
--unixsocket	(none)	Path to a unix socket to listen on as well as the TCP address.
--maxclients	10000	Maximum number of connected clients.
--databases	16	Number of logical databases. Used only when the file is created.
--requirepass	(none)	Password required for the default user.
--aclfile	(none)	Path to an external ACL file, loaded at startup and written by ACL SAVE.
--logfile	(none)	Log file path. Empty logs to stderr.
--loglevel	(none)	Minimum log level: debug, verbose, notice, or warning.
--dbfile	aki.db	Path to the .aki data file.
--load-rdb	(none)	Import this dump.rdb on first open only, when the data file does not exist yet.
--rdb-db	-1 (all)	With --load-rdb, import only this source database number.

--databases only takes effect when the data file is created. On a later start aki reads the layout back from the file header, so the flag is ignored.

--load-rdb is a first-open seed. If the data file already exists, aki refuses the flag rather than silently skipping the import.

aki server --addr 127.0.0.1:6379 --dbfile data.aki --requirepass s3cret

Seed a fresh database from a Redis dump on first start:

aki server --dbfile data.aki --load-rdb dump.rdb

aki check

Inspect an .aki file and validate its structure. It opens the file, walks the B-trees, checks the freelist and page accounting, verifies value headers, and reports any TTL problems.

aki check <file> [flags]
aki check --rdb <file>

Flag	Default	Meaning
--file	(none)	Path to the .aki file. You can also pass it positionally.
--rdb	(none)	Validate a Redis dump.rdb instead of an .aki file.
--fix	false	Repair safe issues, such as clearing impossibly-future TTLs.
--verbose	false	Print per-database detail.

The exit code reports the worst severity found: 0 healthy, 1 warnings, 2 errors, 3 critical (file not usable).

aki check data.aki
aki check --rdb dump.rdb
aki check data.aki --fix --verbose

aki import

Import a Redis dump.rdb (or a JSONL export) into an .aki file, or ship it straight to a running instance.

aki import <file> [flags]

Flag	Default	Meaning
--format	detect	Input format: rdb, jsonl, or detect.
--target	aki.aki	Path to the .aki file to write.
--addr	(none)	Ship the keys to this running instance instead of writing a file.
--auth	(none)	Password to send to the --addr instance.
--db	-1 (all)	Import only this source database.
--replace	false	Overwrite keys that already exist.
--dry-run	false	Parse and count without writing.

With detect, aki picks the format from the leading bytes: the REDIS magic means RDB, a leading { means JSONL. AOF input is not supported yet.

aki import dump.rdb --target data.aki
aki import dump.rdb --addr 127.0.0.1:6379 --auth s3cret --replace
aki import dump.rdb --dry-run

aki dump

Export a keyspace to a Redis dump.rdb (or JSONL). It reads from an offline .aki file with --file, or from a running instance over the wire with --addr.

aki dump (--file <.aki> | --addr host:port) [flags]

Flag	Default	Meaning
--format	rdb	Output format: rdb or jsonl.
--output	dump.rdb	Output file path.
--db	-1 (all)	Export only this database.
--file	(none)	Read directly from this .aki file, offline.
--addr	(none)	Connect to a running instance over the wire.
--auth	(none)	Password to send to the --addr instance.
--databases	16	With --addr, how many databases to scan.

Use either --file or --addr, not both.

aki dump --file data.aki --output backup.rdb
aki dump --addr 127.0.0.1:6379 --auth s3cret --output live.rdb
aki dump --file data.aki --format jsonl --output data.jsonl

aki bench

Run a load test against a server and report latency.

aki bench run [flags]

Flag	Default	Meaning
--addr	127.0.0.1:6379	Server address.
--socket	(none)	Unix socket path, overrides --addr.
--tls	false	Dial the server over TLS.
--auth	(none)	Password to authenticate with.
--clients	50	Number of parallel clients.
--requests	1000000	Total requests per test.
--pipeline	1	Pipeline depth.
--keyspace	1000000	Key cardinality.
--data-size	64	Value size in bytes.
--workload	set	One of set, get, mixed, cache, queue, leaderboard, session, ratelimit, stream.
--ratio	9:1	Read:write ratio for mixed-style workloads.
--access	uniform	Key access pattern: uniform, zipfian, or latest.
--zipf-s	1.01	Zipfian s parameter.
--warmup	10000	Requests to discard at the start.
--duration	0	Run for this long instead of a fixed --requests.
--co-correct	true	Coordinated-omission correction.
--hdr-file	(none)	Write an HdrHistogram percentile table to this path.
--json-out	(none)	Write the JSON result to this path.
--format	text	Output format: text, json, or csv.
--shard-count	0	Server shard count, recorded in the report.
--quiet	false	Suppress progress output.

aki bench run --addr 127.0.0.1:6379 --workload mixed --clients 50 --requests 500000
aki bench run --workload get --pipeline 16 --format json --json-out result.json

aki version

Print the version, commit, and build date.

aki version

aki v0.1.0 (commit abc1234, built 2026-06-20)

aki help

Show usage.

aki help