How to fix ERR operation not permitted in Redis

Connect to Redis and check if authentication is required:

redis-cli
> COMMAND

If you get "ERR operation not permitted" or see a "requirepass" in config, you need to authenticate first:

redis-cli
> AUTH your_password
OK
> PING
PONG

If using a client library, ensure you pass the password in the connection options.

If you're using Redis 6.0 or newer with ACL enabled, check your current user:

redis-cli
> AUTH username password
OK
> ACL WHOAMI
"username"
> ACL LIST

Review the output to see what commands your user is allowed to execute. Look for lines starting with your username showing permissions like +@read, +@write, or +@all.

If your user is missing permissions, log in as an admin (or the default user) and grant them:

# For specific commands
ACL SETUSER myuser +get +set +del

# For command categories
ACL SETUSER myuser +@read +@write

# For all commands
ACL SETUSER myuser +@all

# For key patterns
ACL SETUSER myuser ~myprefix:*

# Save changes
ACL SAVE

Then reconnect with the updated credentials.

Some client libraries may not re-send the AUTH command after a network timeout. If you see intermittent "operation not permitted" errors:

Node.js (redis):

const client = redis.createClient({
  host: "localhost",
  port: 6379,
  password: "your_password",
  // Ensure auth is re-sent on reconnect
});

Python (redis-py):

import redis
r = redis.Redis(
    host="localhost",
    port=6379,
    password="your_password",
    decode_responses=True
)

Update to the latest version of your Redis client library.

If write operations fail but reads succeed, you may be connected to a replica:

redis-cli
> INFO replication
# Replication
role:slave

If this shows role:slave, you're on a replica. Write operations are not permitted on replicas. Connect to the master instead:

redis-cli -h master_hostname -p 6379
> AUTH password
> SET key value
OK

For applications, ensure your write operations target the master host.

If running Redis in Docker, permission errors may occur when persisting data:

# Ensure data directory exists with correct permissions
sudo mkdir -p ~/redis/data
sudo chown -R 999:999 ~/redis/data
sudo chmod -R 700 ~/redis/data

# Run container with proper volume mount
docker run -d \
  -v ~/redis/data:/data \
  -p 6379:6379 \
  redis:latest

The 999:999 UID/GID is the default Redis user in official images. Verify with:

docker exec <container_id> id