skills/redis-development/rules/rqe-dialect.md

title	impact	impactDescription	tags	description	alwaysApply
Use DIALECT 2 for Query Syntax	MEDIUM	Ensures consistent query behavior and access to modern features	rqe, dialect, query, syntax	Use DIALECT 2 for Query Syntax	true

Use DIALECT 2 for Query Syntax

Use DIALECT 2 for consistent query behavior. Many Redis client libraries now default to DIALECT 2, and other dialects (1, 3, 4) are deprecated as of Redis 8.

Correct: Use DIALECT 2 explicitly or rely on modern client defaults.

from redis import Redis

r = Redis()

# Modern redis-py (6.0+) defaults to DIALECT 2
# You can also set it explicitly
results = r.ft("idx:products").search(
    "@name:laptop",
    dialect=2
)

# In raw commands, specify DIALECT 2
FT.SEARCH idx:products "@name:laptop" DIALECT 2

FT.AGGREGATE idx:products "@category:{electronics}"
    GROUPBY 1 @category
    REDUCE COUNT 0 AS count
    DIALECT 2

Note: DIALECT 2 is required for vector search queries. Most modern client libraries (redis-py 6.0+, go-redis, Lettuce) now use DIALECT 2 by default.

Why DIALECT 2:

• Consistent handling of special characters
• Better NULL value handling
• More predictable query parsing
• Required for vector search

Reference: Query Dialects