MULTI

Starts a transaction.

Browse all commands · Upstream source documentation

Reference field	Value
Canonical name	MULTI
Catalog group	Transaction commands
Upstream since	1.2.0 — upstream Redis/module version, not an ffkv release
Pinned catalog	Redis 8.10.0

Syntax

MULTI

ffkv behavior and limits

Use one persistent connection for MULTI/EXEC and WATCH. Runtime command errors do not roll back earlier effects. Blocking list/stream commands do not wait inside EXEC. A disconnected client cannot infer whether a submitted write committed.

Source: README.md:389–419, 125; tests/bdd/features/transactions.feature; tests/bdd/features/transactions_runtime.feature.

All requests share the 8 MiB framing/1,024-argument ingress limit; normal RESP replies have 64 MiB wire/logical budgets with bounded nesting/value counts. Management and Lua origins impose smaller budgets. These are not a process RSS cap. Catalog inclusion is not exhaustive option or wire-format parity. See limits and compatibility.

Upstream metadata

The following fields come from the pinned Redis metadata, not measured ffkv performance or an assertion that ffkv enforces every upstream flag. Running COMMAND INFO/COMMAND DOCS describe the current engine.

Upstream Redis complexity: O(1)

Upstream arity: 1 (includes the command name; a negative number is a minimum).

Command flags: NOSCRIPT, LOADING, STALE, FAST, ALLOW_BUSY.

ACL categories: TRANSACTION.

Additional pinned upstream metadata

{
  "group": "transactions",
  "since": "1.2.0"
}

Metadata source · Local snapshot: src/command_metadata.json, key multi.

BDD coverage and source examples

These are source observations, not a test run performed by this documentation build. A tag identifies scenario intent; an extracted vector identifies a command invocation, which may intentionally produce an error. Scenarios may require setup, multiple connections, persistence, cluster nodes or native-module fixtures.

• EXEC aggregates may-replicate pause classification from queued commands — tests/bdd/features/client_control_repair.feature:214; invocation observed.
• EXEC reauthorization logs denials in transaction context after an ACL update — tests/bdd/features/client_control_repair.feature:406; invocation observed.
• Opting in before MULTI tracks all reads in that transaction — tests/bdd/features/connections.feature:912; invocation observed.
• Transactions apply session imports in execution order — tests/bdd/features/hashes.feature:1197; invocation observed.
• Discarded transactions never discard prepared definitions — tests/bdd/features/hashes.feature:1229; invocation observed.
• Blocking operations inside EXEC return immediately and later writes are not consumed — tests/bdd/features/lists.feature:858; invocation observed.
• Native commands run inside transactions and scripts unless their registered flags forbid it — tests/bdd/features/server.feature:917; invocation observed.
• An applied bounded increment invalidates a watching transaction — tests/bdd/features/strings.feature:1092; invocation observed.
• Queued writes remain invisible until EXEC and commit in order — tests/bdd/features/transactions.feature:5; command tag and invocation observed.
• A competing write aborts WATCH without applying queued changes — tests/bdd/features/transactions.feature:61; invocation observed.
• UNWATCH permits a later transaction after the watched value changes — tests/bdd/features/transactions.feature:113; invocation observed.
• DISCARD removes the queue and watches but not committed values — tests/bdd/features/transactions.feature:168; invocation observed.
• Invalid queued arity aborts the entire transaction without mutation — tests/bdd/features/transactions.feature:247; invocation observed.
• Invalid counted script keys fail during EXEC without discarding adjacent writes (Scenario Outline) — tests/bdd/features/transactions.feature:289; command tag and invocation observed.
• Invalid script arity still poisons the transaction at queue admission — tests/bdd/features/transactions.feature:337; command tag and invocation observed.
• Transactional configuration publishes effective values and observations do not repause engines — tests/bdd/features/transactions_runtime.feature:5; command tag and invocation observed.
• AOF configuration inside EXEC preserves the saved committed prefix exactly once — tests/bdd/features/transactions_runtime.feature:66; invocation observed.
• A transactional statistics reset clears real prior observations without clearing data — tests/bdd/features/transactions_runtime.feature:91; invocation observed.
• A background save scheduled by EXEC runs after its inherited pause is released — tests/bdd/features/transactions_runtime.feature:140; invocation observed.
• Memory usage inside EXEC observes the database selected by a preceding queued command — tests/bdd/features/transactions_runtime.feature:169; invocation observed.
• Graceful shutdown drains a save and its scheduled successor from EXEC — tests/bdd/features/transactions_runtime.feature:185; invocation observed.
• Memory statistics distinguish allocated bytes from actual live keys across databases — tests/bdd/features/transactions_runtime.feature:211; invocation observed.
• Queue admission checks command ACLs even when script key counts are malformed — tests/bdd/features/transactions_runtime.feature:271; command tag and invocation observed.
• Script key ACLs are checked at queue admission and rechecked during execution — tests/bdd/features/transactions_runtime.feature:314; command tag and invocation observed.

Extracted command vectors

The following JSON arrays are the test harness’s argument vectors, not shell commands. Numeric arguments are converted by the harness; objects of the form {"base64":"…"} represent decoded binary bytes, not a literal JSON command argument. Preserve scenario setup and connection ordering. See the CLI guide for shell quoting and binary stdin. No reply is invented or inferred.

An applied bounded increment invalidates a watching transaction — tests/bdd/features/strings.feature:1114 (client “watcher” executes:)

[
  "MULTI"
]

Next source assertion: the reply equals:

"OK"