New Valkey Swift Client Reaches 1.0

The Swift on server ecosystem celebrates a major milestone with the release of valkey-swift 1.0, a production-grade client library for Valkey and Redis. Valkey, an open-source fork of Redis, is a high-performance datastore widely used as a caching layer or message broker in server applications.

Built from the ground up with Swift 6 and structured concurrency, valkey-swift offers compile-time safety for all Valkey commands. Every command returns typed responses checked at compile time, and strict concurrency checking is enabled throughout to catch data races early. Connections and subscriptions are scoped through structured concurrency, ensuring automatic resource cleanup.

The library supports every standard Valkey command, with code auto-generated from Valkey’s own command specifications to remain in sync as the server evolves. Previously, the de facto Redis client was RediStack, built on pre-concurrency concepts. Retrofitting structured concurrency would have been awkward, and some valkey-swift features infeasible. When Redis changed its licensing, the open-source Valkey fork emerged, creating the ideal moment for a clean break.

Adam Fowler, one of the library’s authors, explains: “If you’re building server-side Swift and need a fast key-value store, add valkey-swift via Swift Package Manager and you’re ready to go.” A migration guide from RediStack is available, along with comprehensive documentation and contributing guidelines on GitHub.

Videos to Watch: Embedded Swift and Concurrency

The try! Swift Tokyo 2026 conference featured two compelling talks on Embedded Swift, making it easier than ever to run Swift on devices like the Game Boy Advance and Raspberry Pi Pico.

Getting Started with Embedded Swift

This short introductory talk covers writing Swift using embedded simulators, with code examples for running Swift on devices including the Game Boy Advance. Perfect for beginners looking to explore Swift beyond traditional platforms.

Learn by Building: Bare-Metal Programming with Embedded Swift

A deeper dive into Embedded Swift, this session walks through five bare-metal examples for the Raspberry Pi Pico. Follow along with sample code featured in the talk to gain hands-on experience.

For those keen on Swift concurrency, an online live Q&A session features engineers who designed and used concurrency features. Additionally, Nil Coalescing published a video on Advanced Techniques for Working with Optionals in Swift, exploring lesser-known options for handling optionals.

New Package Releases

April brought several notable additions to the Swift package ecosystem. While the original digest highlights valkey-swift, the community also saw updates to libraries for networking, testing, and more. Developers are encouraged to explore the Swift Package Index for the latest releases.