redis/redis-py · info · NotImplementedError

MEMORY HELP is intentionally not implemented in the client.

Error message

MEMORY HELP is intentionally not implemented in the client. For more information, see https://redis.io/commands/memory-help

What it means

memory_help is a stub that always raises NotImplementedError. MEMORY HELP prints usage help to the redis-cli console; it has no value in a programmatic client, so redis-py does not implement it.

Source

Thrown at redis/commands/core.py:1877

    def object(self, infotype: str, key: KeyT, **kwargs) -> Any | Awaitable[Any]:
        """
        Return the encoding, idletime, or refcount about the key
        """
        return self.execute_command(
            "OBJECT", infotype, key, infotype=infotype, **kwargs
        )

    def memory_doctor(self, **kwargs) -> None:
        raise NotImplementedError(
            """
            MEMORY DOCTOR is intentionally not implemented in the client.

            For more information, see https://redis.io/commands/memory-doctor
            """
        )

    def memory_help(self, **kwargs) -> None:
        raise NotImplementedError(
            """
            MEMORY HELP is intentionally not implemented in the client.

            For more information, see https://redis.io/commands/memory-help
            """
        )

    @overload
    def memory_stats(self: SyncClientProtocol, **kwargs) -> dict[str, Any]: ...

    @overload
    def memory_stats(
        self: AsyncClientProtocol, **kwargs
    ) -> Awaitable[dict[str, Any]]: ...

    def memory_stats(self, **kwargs) -> dict[str, Any] | Awaitable[dict[str, Any]]:
        """
        Return a dictionary of memory stats

View on GitHub (pinned to da03cdc7e8)

Solutions

Consult the Redis documentation for MEMORY command usage.
Use r.execute_command('MEMORY', 'HELP') only if you want the raw help text.
Use the real memory methods: memory_stats, memory_usage, memory_purge.

Example fix

# before
r.memory_help()
# after
r.memory_stats()  # structured memory statistics

Defensive patterns

Strategy: fallback

Try / catch

try:
    r.memory_help()
except NotImplementedError:
    r.memory_stats()

Prevention

memory_help is console help text — remove calls to it.
Use the Redis docs or memory_stats for real memory information.

When it happens

Trigger: Calling r.memory_help(). Auto-discovering memory_* methods and invoking memory_help.

Common situations: Developer expects programmatic help text. Enumerating all MEMORY subcommands. IDE autocomplete suggests the method.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of redis/redis-py@da03cdc7e8 (2026-08-04). Data as JSON: /data/errors/e6c63f36928672ee.json. Report an issue: GitHub.