NATS

Key-Value Commands

Use NATS JetStream as a distributed key-value store. Store configuration, feature flags, and session data with built-in history, TTL, and watch capabilities.

9 commands

Pro Tips

Create a bucket: 'nats kv add CONFIG --history 5 --ttl 24h' with revision history and auto-expiry.

Watch for changes: 'nats kv watch CONFIG' streams all key updates in real-time.

Use 'nats kv get CONFIG key --revision 2' to read a specific historical version of a key.

Common Mistakes

KV buckets are backed by JetStream streams. Storage limits on the stream affect your KV capacity.

TTL applies to all keys in a bucket. You can't set per-key TTL — use separate buckets for different lifetimes.

Commands

Create KV bucket

$ nats kv add my-kv --history=3

Create KV bucket with 3 value revisions.

List buckets

$ nats kv ls

List all KV buckets.

Put value

$ nats kv put my-kv key1 'value1'

Store or update key value.

Get value

$ nats kv get my-kv key1

Retrieve value for key.

Create (exclusive)

$ nats kv create my-kv lock-key 'locked'

Create key only if not exists (semaphore pattern).

Update (CAS)

$ nats kv update my-kv key1 'new-value' 13

Update only if revision matches (compare-and-swap).

Watch bucket

$ nats kv watch my-kv

Watch for real-time changes to all keys.

Key history

$ nats kv history my-kv key1

View full history of key values.

Delete key

$ nats kv del my-kv key1

Remove key from bucket.