Async Operations

Many Redis Cloud and Enterprise operations are asynchronous - they return immediately with a task ID while the work happens in the background. redisctl handles this automatically.

The --wait Flag

Use --wait to block until the operation completes:

# Returns immediately with task ID
redisctl cloud database create --subscription 123 --data '{...}'

# Waits for completion, returns final result
redisctl cloud database create --subscription 123 --data '{...}' --wait

Polling Options

Control how redisctl polls for completion:

redisctl cloud subscription create \
  --data '{...}' \
  --wait \
  --poll-interval 10 \    # Check every 10 seconds (default: 5)
  --max-wait 600          # Timeout after 10 minutes (default: 300)

Task Management

Check Task Status

# Cloud
redisctl cloud task get <task-id>

# Enterprise
redisctl enterprise action get <action-id>

List Recent Tasks

# Cloud - list all tasks
redisctl cloud task list

# Enterprise - list actions
redisctl enterprise action list

Common Async Operations

Redis Cloud

subscription create/delete
database create/update/delete
vpc-peering create/delete
cloud-account create/delete

Redis Enterprise

database create/update/delete
cluster join/remove-node
module upload

Error Handling

When --wait is used and an operation fails:

$ redisctl cloud database create --data '{...}' --wait
Error: Task failed: Invalid memory configuration

# Check task details
$ redisctl cloud task get abc-123
{
  "taskId": "abc-123",
  "status": "failed",
  "error": "Invalid memory configuration"
}

Scripting Patterns

Wait and Extract Result

# Create and get the new database ID
DB_ID=$(redisctl cloud database create \
  --subscription 123 \
  --data '{"name": "mydb"}' \
  --wait \
  -q 'databaseId')

echo "Created database: $DB_ID"

Fire and Forget

# Start multiple operations in parallel
redisctl cloud database delete 123 456 &
redisctl cloud database delete 123 789 &
wait

Custom Polling

# Start operation
TASK_ID=$(redisctl cloud database create --data '{...}' -q 'taskId')

# Custom polling loop
while true; do
  STATUS=$(redisctl cloud task get $TASK_ID -q 'status')
  echo "Status: $STATUS"
  
  if [ "$STATUS" = "completed" ] || [ "$STATUS" = "failed" ]; then
    break
  fi
  
  sleep 10
done

Timeouts

If an operation exceeds --max-wait:

$ redisctl cloud subscription create --data '{...}' --wait --max-wait 60
Error: Operation timed out after 60 seconds. Task ID: abc-123

# Check manually
$ redisctl cloud task get abc-123

The operation continues in the background - only the CLI stops waiting.

redisctl Documentation