django-redis-sessions

0.6.2 verified Fri May 01 auth: no python maintenance

A Redis session backend for Django, providing high-performance session storage. Current version is 0.6.2, released in 2017. The project is in maintenance mode with no recent updates.

pip install django-redis-sessions

Common errors

error ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'redis_sessions' ↓

cause Package not installed or virtual environment not activated.

fix

Run 'pip install django-redis-sessions' and ensure the virtual environment is active.

error ConnectionError: Error 111 connecting to localhost:6379. Connection refused. ↓

cause Redis server is not running or not reachable.

fix

Start Redis server (e.g., 'redis-server') or check the host/port in SESSION_REDIS.

error django.core.exceptions.ImproperlyConfigured: SESSION_ENGINE is not installed or is invalid. ↓

cause Incorrect SESSION_ENGINE value or missing dependencies.

fix

Set SESSION_ENGINE = 'redis_sessions.session' and ensure django-redis-sessions is installed.

Warnings

gotcha SESSION_REDIS must be a dict, not a string. If you set SESSION_REDIS as a Redis URL string (e.g., 'redis://...'), it will be ignored silently and fall back to defaults. ↓

fix Use dict format: SESSION_REDIS = {'host': ..., 'port': ..., ...}

deprecated Django versions 4.x and later removed the PREFERRED_SESSION_COOKIE_SALT setting; if using combined with sessions_cached_db, be aware of changes in session backend. ↓

fix For Django 4+, ensure you have no deprecated settings; test session behavior.

gotcha The prefix option in SESSION_REDIS does not support nested keys; if you use colons in prefix (e.g., 'project:session'), it will be treated as literal. May cause namespace collisions. ↓

fix Use simple prefix without colons or use a separate Redis db.

breaking In version 0.6, the configuration changed from separate settings (SESSION_REDIS_HOST, etc.) to a single SESSION_REDIS dict. Old settings are not automatically migrated. ↓

fix Replace SESSION_REDIS_HOST, SESSION_REDIS_PORT, etc. with SESSION_REDIS = {'host': ..., 'port': ...}

Imports

session_engine
```
from redis_sessions.session import SessionStore
```
Direct import of SessionStore for custom session backends

Quickstart

Configure Django to use Redis sessions by setting SESSION_ENGINE and optionally SESSION_REDIS dict. Ensure redis is running.

# In settings.py
SESSION_ENGINE = 'redis_sessions.session'
# Optional Redis connection settings (use env vars for secrets)
SESSION_REDIS = {
    'host': os.environ.get('REDIS_HOST', 'localhost'),
    'port': 6379,
    'db': 0,
    'password': os.environ.get('REDIS_PASSWORD', ''),
    'prefix': 'session',
    'socket_timeout': 1
}