Build DragonflyDB From Source

Running the server

Dragonfly runs on linux. We advise running it on linux version 5.11 or later but you can also run Dragonfly on older kernels as well.

Step 1 - install dependencies

On Debian/Ubuntu:

sudo apt install ninja-build libunwind-dev libboost-context-dev libssl-dev \
     autoconf-archive libtool cmake g++ bison  zlib1g-dev

On Fedora:

sudo dnf install -y automake boost-devel g++ git cmake libtool ninja-build \
     openssl-devel libunwind-devel autoconf-archive patch bison libstdc++-static

On openSUSE:

sudo zypper install automake boost-devel gcc-c++ git cmake libtool ninja \
     openssl-devel libunwind-devel autoconf-archive patch bison \
     libboost_context-devel libboost_system-devel

On FreeBSD:

pkg install -y git bash cmake ninja libunwind boost-libs autoconf automake libtool gmake bison

Step 2 - clone the project

git clone --recursive https://github.com/dragonflydb/dragonfly && cd dragonfly

Step 3 - configure & build it

# Configure the build
./helio/blaze.sh -release

# Build
cd build-opt && ninja dragonfly

Build options

Option	Description
WITH_AWS	Include AWS client. Required for cloud snapshots
WITH_GCP	Include GCP client. Required for cloud snapshots
WITH_GPERF	Include gperf tracing profiler
WITH_TIERING	Include tiered storage module
WITH_SEARCH	Include Search module
WITH_COLLECTION_CMDS	Include commands for collections (SET, HSET, ZSET)
WITH_EXTENSION_CMDS	Include extension commands (Bloom, HLL, JSON, ...)
USE_MOLD	Uses the mold linker to reduce link time overhead while enabling Link Time Optimization (LTO) for improved runtime performance. Recommended for benchmarking and production.
ENABLE_CCACHE	Use ccache as the compiler launcher when it is installed (ON by default). Disable with -DENABLE_CCACHE=OFF

Minimal debug build:

./helio/blaze.sh -DWITH_GPERF=OFF -DWITH_AWS=OFF -DWITH_GCP=OFF -DWITH_TIERING=OFF -DWITH_SEARCH=OFF -DWITH_COLLECTION_CMDS=OFF -DWITH_EXTENSION_CMDS=OFF

ccache

For local builds, ccache is enabled automatically whenever the ccache binary is on your PATH, so incremental rebuilds recompile only the files you changed. (In CI it is enabled per-workflow, and the production make release build forces it off.) If you do not want ccache, disable it in any of these ways:

• configure with -DENABLE_CCACHE=OFF (e.g. ./helio/blaze.sh -DENABLE_CCACHE=OFF)
• set the CCACHE_DISABLE=1 environment variable
• set disable = true in your ccache config (ccache -o disable=true)

Cache size

Dragonfly is large, so ccache's default size (5 GB, or ~5% of disk on ccache ≥ 4.10) fills up quickly - more so with several build configs or multiple worktrees — and hit rates drop once it's full. The right size depends on your free disk space and how many projects share the (per-user) cache, so it's left to you. If rebuilds feel slow, raise it (50 GB is a comfortable value):

ccache -M 50G              # per-user, global; applies to all projects
ccache -p | grep max_size  # verify

Step 4 - voilà

# Run
./dragonfly --alsologtostderr

Dragonfly DB will answer to both http and redis requests out of the box!

You can use redis-cli to connect to localhost:6379 or open a browser and visit http://localhost:6379

Step 5

Connect with a redis client

redis-cli
127.0.0.1:6379> set hello world
OK
127.0.0.1:6379> keys *
1) "hello"
127.0.0.1:6379> get hello
"world"
127.0.0.1:6379>

Step 6

Continue being great and build your app with the power of DragonflyDB!