---
title: "Grove KV Overview"
description: "A command-oriented data access layer for key-value stores with typed keyspaces, middleware hooks, CRDT integration, and pluggable backends."
---

Grove KV is a command-oriented data access layer for key-value, cache, and document stores. It is part of the Grove ecosystem and shares Grove's hook engine, plugin architecture, CRDT layer, and observability infrastructure.

Grove KV is not a fake SQL abstraction over SET/GET -- it exposes **native idioms per store** (Redis pipelines, DynamoDB expressions, Memcached CAS) while providing a unified `Store` interface for common operations.

## Supported Backends

Grove KV ships with dedicated drivers for five backends:

| Driver | Package | Capabilities |
|--------|---------|-------------|
| **Redis** | `redisdriver` | TTL, CAS, Scan, Batch, PubSub, Streams, Transactions, Sorted Sets |
| **Memcached** | `memcacheddriver` | TTL, CAS, Batch |
| **DynamoDB** | `dynamodriver` | TTL, Batch, Expressions, Transactions |
| **BoltDB** | `boltdriver` | Scan, Transactions |
| **Badger** | `badgerdriver` | TTL, Scan, Batch, Transactions, Iterators |

Each driver implements the core `driver.Driver` interface and optionally implements `BatchDriver`, `TTLDriver`, `ScanDriver`, `CASDriver`, `PubSubDriver`, and `TransactionDriver` for extended capabilities.

## Architecture

```
Store
 ├── Driver         (Redis, Memcached, DynamoDB, BoltDB, Badger)
 ├── Codec          (JSON, MsgPack, Protobuf, Gob)
 └── Hook Engine    (pre/post command hooks, shared with Grove ORM)

Keyspace[T]         (typed, namespaced partition over a Store)

Extensions          (Lock, RateLimit, Session, Counter, Leaderboard, Queue)

CRDT Layer          (LWW-Register, PN-Counter, OR-Set, CRDT Map, Sync)
```

The `Store` wraps a connected driver, a default codec, and a hook engine. All values pass through the codec for serialization before reaching the driver. Hooks intercept every command for logging, namespacing, compression, encryption, caching, and more.

## Key Features

- **Command-Oriented** -- Operations map directly to KV commands (GET, SET, DEL, MGET, MSET, TTL, EXPIRE, SCAN) rather than SQL-style queries
- **Typed Keyspaces** -- `Keyspace[T]` binds a Go type, key prefix, codec, and TTL policy to a partition of the store for type-safe access
- **Middleware as Hooks** -- Pre/post command hooks for logging, namespacing, compression, encryption, stampede protection, retries, and circuit breaking
- **CRDT Integration** -- Built-in LWW-Register, PN-Counter, OR-Set, and CRDT Map types with sync support for distributed state
- **Extensions** -- Higher-level primitives built on the Store: distributed locks, rate limiters, sessions, atomic counters, leaderboards, and queues
- **Pluggable Codecs** -- JSON (default), MsgPack, Protobuf, and Gob with support for custom codecs
- **Native Access via Unwrap** -- Access driver-specific features (Redis pipelines, Badger iterators, DynamoDB expressions) via typed Unwrap functions

## Quick Example

```go
package main

import (
    "context"
    "fmt"
    "time"

    "github.com/xraph/grove/kv"
    "github.com/xraph/grove/kv/drivers/redisdriver"
)

func main() {
    ctx := context.Background()

    // 1. Create and connect the Redis driver.
    rdb := redisdriver.New()
    rdb.Open(ctx, "redis://localhost:6379/0")

    // 2. Open a Store with the connected driver.
    store, err := kv.Open(rdb)
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }
    defer store.Close()

    // 3. Set a value with a TTL.
    type User struct {
        Name  string `json:"name"`
        Email string `json:"email"`
    }

    err = store.Set(ctx, "user:1", &User{
        Name:  "Alice",
        Email: "alice@example.com",
    }, kv.WithTTL(5*time.Minute))
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }

    // 4. Get the value back.
    var user User
    err = store.Get(ctx, "user:1", &user)
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }
    fmt.Println(user.Name) // Alice
}
```

## Next Steps

<Cards>
  <Card title="Getting Started" href="/docs/grove/kv/getting-started" description="Install Grove KV and run your first Get/Set in under 5 minutes." />
  <Card title="Store Interface" href="/docs/grove/kv/store-interface" description="Full API reference for the Store: Get, Set, Delete, MGet, Batch, TTL, Scan, and more." />
  <Card title="Keyspaces" href="/docs/grove/kv/keyspaces" description="Typed, namespaced key partitions with automatic prefix, codec, and TTL management." />
  <Card title="Codecs" href="/docs/grove/kv/codecs" description="Built-in serialization codecs and how to implement custom ones." />
</Cards>