Create a Free Database - Upstash Documentation

curl -X POST https://upstash.com/start-redis \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: $(uuidgen | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]')" \
  -H "User-Agent: <your-agent-name>"

curl -X POST https://upstash.com/start-redis \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: <the-uuid-you-used-before>" \
  -H "User-Agent: <your-agent-name>"

# Your Redis is ready

**Database ID:** 3b1f7c2e-9d4a-4c8b-a1e5-6f2d8e9c0b47
**Endpoint:** https://example-123456.upstash.io
**Token:** <token>
**Metrics:** https://upstash.com/start-redis/metrics/3b1f7c2e-9d4a-4c8b-a1e5-6f2d8e9c0b47 (JSON: uptime, commands, keys, throughput, memory, bandwidth)
**Expires:** 2026-08-28 (3 days from creation).
To keep this database alive, share the console URL with the user
(they can view usage and click Claim to take ownership):
https://upstash.com/start-redis/console/3b1f7c2e-9d4a-4c8b-a1e5-6f2d8e9c0b47

To re-fetch these credentials, POST again with the database id as
the `Idempotency-Key` header:

  curl -X POST -H "Idempotency-Key: 3b1f7c2e-9d4a-4c8b-a1e5-6f2d8e9c0b47" https://upstash.com/start-redis

**Avoid storing sensitive data** (PII, secrets, production credentials) — this database is temporary and not tied to a user account until claimed.

## Quickstart

# Short-term memory — state across tool calls in one run
curl https://example-123456.upstash.io \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <token>" \
  -d '["SET","session:abc","{\"step\":2,\"plan\":\"...\"}","EX","3600"]'

...

POST

start-redis

curl -X POST https://upstash.com/start-redis \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: $(uuidgen | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]')" \
  -H "User-Agent: <your-agent-name>"

curl -X POST https://upstash.com/start-redis \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: <the-uuid-you-used-before>" \
  -H "User-Agent: <your-agent-name>"

# Your Redis is ready

**Database ID:** 3b1f7c2e-9d4a-4c8b-a1e5-6f2d8e9c0b47
**Endpoint:** https://example-123456.upstash.io
**Token:** <token>
**Metrics:** https://upstash.com/start-redis/metrics/3b1f7c2e-9d4a-4c8b-a1e5-6f2d8e9c0b47 (JSON: uptime, commands, keys, throughput, memory, bandwidth)
**Expires:** 2026-08-28 (3 days from creation).
To keep this database alive, share the console URL with the user
(they can view usage and click Claim to take ownership):
https://upstash.com/start-redis/console/3b1f7c2e-9d4a-4c8b-a1e5-6f2d8e9c0b47

To re-fetch these credentials, POST again with the database id as
the `Idempotency-Key` header:

  curl -X POST -H "Idempotency-Key: 3b1f7c2e-9d4a-4c8b-a1e5-6f2d8e9c0b47" https://upstash.com/start-redis

**Avoid storing sensitive data** (PII, secrets, production credentials) — this database is temporary and not tied to a user account until claimed.

## Quickstart

# Short-term memory — state across tool calls in one run
curl https://example-123456.upstash.io \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <token>" \
  -d '["SET","session:abc","{\"step\":2,\"plan\":\"...\"}","EX","3600"]'

...

This endpoint does not require authentication. It creates a zero-config Redis database and returns its credentials, so an AI agent can get scratch storage on the fly without signing up. The database is deleted after 3 days unless it is claimed. The response includes a console URL where a user can view usage and click Claim to keep the database in their Upstash account.

If you are an agent, always send a User-Agent header identifying which agent you are (for example claude-code, cursor, codex, opencode) on every request you make to this endpoint.

Request

string (UUIDv4)

Optional but recommended. The UUID you send becomes the database ID, and sending the same UUID again returns the same database instead of creating a duplicate. This makes the first call retry-safe and lets you re-fetch the credentials later. Only UUIDv4 values are accepted.If omitted, the server generates an ID and returns it in the response; you can pass that ID back as Idempotency-Key to re-fetch the credentials.

string

The name of the agent making the request, for example claude-code.

Response

The response body is text/markdown and contains:

The database ID (reuse it as Idempotency-Key to re-fetch the credentials).
The REST endpoint and token.
A metrics URL (see Get Metrics).
The expiry date, and a console URL a user can open to view usage and claim the database.
A quickstart with example commands using the REST API.

curl -X POST https://upstash.com/start-redis \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: $(uuidgen | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]')" \
  -H "User-Agent: <your-agent-name>"

curl -X POST https://upstash.com/start-redis \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: <the-uuid-you-used-before>" \
  -H "User-Agent: <your-agent-name>"

# Your Redis is ready

**Database ID:** 3b1f7c2e-9d4a-4c8b-a1e5-6f2d8e9c0b47
**Endpoint:** https://example-123456.upstash.io
**Token:** <token>
**Metrics:** https://upstash.com/start-redis/metrics/3b1f7c2e-9d4a-4c8b-a1e5-6f2d8e9c0b47 (JSON: uptime, commands, keys, throughput, memory, bandwidth)
**Expires:** 2026-08-28 (3 days from creation).
To keep this database alive, share the console URL with the user
(they can view usage and click Claim to take ownership):
https://upstash.com/start-redis/console/3b1f7c2e-9d4a-4c8b-a1e5-6f2d8e9c0b47

To re-fetch these credentials, POST again with the database id as
the `Idempotency-Key` header:

  curl -X POST -H "Idempotency-Key: 3b1f7c2e-9d4a-4c8b-a1e5-6f2d8e9c0b47" https://upstash.com/start-redis

**Avoid storing sensitive data** (PII, secrets, production credentials) — this database is temporary and not tied to a user account until claimed.

## Quickstart

# Short-term memory — state across tool calls in one run
curl https://example-123456.upstash.io \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <token>" \
  -d '["SET","session:abc","{\"step\":2,\"plan\":\"...\"}","EX","3600"]'

...

​Request

​Response

Request

Response