Redis Cluster Won't Shard Your Hot Leaderboard

"We use Redis Cluster" can mean two very different things: Our dataset is distributed across Redis nodes. Every individual data structure is distributed across Redis nodes. The first can be true while the second is false. That distinction matters for leaderboards. In Podium , each leaderboard uses several Redis keys and atomic Lua scripts. Redis Cluster helps us scale a large fleet of independent leaderboards, but it cannot split one giant sorted set across primaries. We are sharing this architecture because "Redis Cluster scales horizontally" is true only after you define what the system actually shards. TeneficGames / podium High-performance, Redis-backed leaderboards for games and competitive applications. Podium High-performance, Redis-backed leaderboards for games and competitive applications. Podium provides ready-to-run HTTP and gRPC APIs for scores, ranks, seasons, and player-relative views. It is designed for backend teams operating large fleets of independent leaderboards without provisioning each leaderboard in advance. Fair, deterministic ordering when scores are equal. Single and bulk score updates, including multi-leaderboard fan-out. Standalone Redis and real Redis Cluster integration coverage. Deploy one multi-architecture OCI image with Docker, containerd, Kubernetes or another OCI-compatible runtime. Quickstart · Performance · API · Documentation · Helm chart · Docker Hub · GHCR Quickstart Start Redis 8.2 and the latest stable Podium image: docker network create podium docker run --detach --name podium-redis --network podium redis:8.2-alpine docker run --detach --rm --name podium \ --network podium \ --publish 8880:8880 \ --publish 8881:8881 \ --env PODIUM_REDIS_HOST=podium-redis \ --env PODIUM_REDIS_PORT=6379 \ trungdlp/podium:latest start Verify the service: curl http://localhost:8880/healthcheck WORKING Submit two equal scores: curl --request … View on GitHub Here is how the design works, why hash tags are necessary, and where the scaling bounda