Install guide · Debian 13 (trixie)printed 29 Oct 2026, 02:23 UTC
Install Valkey 9.1 on Debian 13
Debian 13 ships Valkey 8.1.1. The current release is 9.1.3. freshdeb builds it for trixie from upstream's release with Debian's packaging, so it replaces the distribution's package in place and updates with apt upgrade like the rest of the system.
- Debian 13 ships
- 8.1.18.1.1+dfsg1-3+deb13u2
- v9.1
- 9.1.3stays on 9.1.x, patch releases only. Currently 9.1.3, upstream support until May 2031.
- v9.0
- 9.0.7stays on 9.0.x, patch releases only. Currently 9.0.7, upstream support until Oct 2028.
- v8.1
- 8.1.11stays on 8.1.x, patch releases only. Currently 8.1.11, upstream support until Mar 2030.
- Built for
- amd64 and arm64, natively
Not published yet. The first valkey release is being built. These commands work once it lands; the version shown is the one it will publish.
1Trust the signing key (once per machine)
sudo install -d -m 0755 /etc/apt/keyrings curl -fsSL https://deb.freshdeb.com/freshdeb-archive-keyring.gpg \ | sudo tee /etc/apt/keyrings/freshdeb-archive-keyring.gpg >/dev/null
Fingerprint 3BBD F03A 9C0B F890 F8CA 9510 7595 CC55 468F 3161. How to verify.
2Add the source for trixie
sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/freshdeb-valkey.sources >/dev/null <<EOF Types: deb URIs: https://deb.freshdeb.com/valkey Suites: trixie Components: v9 Signed-By: /etc/apt/keyrings/freshdeb-archive-keyring.gpg EOF
v9 follows the newest 9.x line, currently 9.1 (9.1.3). Upgrades to newer lines arrive on their own. Other components: v9.1, v9.0, v8, v8.1, listed with the versions.
3Install
sudo apt update && sudo apt install valkey-server
apt policy valkey-server # expect 9.1.3-3+freshdeb~deb13Already on Debian 13's Valkey? The same command upgrades it: the freshdeb version sorts higher. What's different from Debian's package.
Upgrading from Valkey 8.1.1
What changed between Debian 13's 8.1.1 and 9.1.3 that you may notice. Configuration and data stay where Debian put them.
- Since 9.0
- Valkey 9 saves snapshots in RDB format 80, which no Valkey 8 or Redis reads. It loads your existing data, but there's no way back with what it writes. To stay on 8.1 with the same data format, use the
v8component: 8.1's patch releases only.
Going back to 8.1.1
Delete /etc/apt/sources.list.d/freshdeb-valkey.sources, run sudo apt update, then sudo apt install valkey-server=8.1.1+dfsg1-3+deb13u2: apt asks before it downgrades. Name the other valkey packages you installed with their Debian 13 version too. From v9, not with the snapshots Valkey 9 wrote: keep a copy of /var/lib/valkey from before the upgrade. From v8, the data stays in RDB format 11, the one the distribution's version writes too.
Why a package
The official container image is the usual alternative. As a package, valkey-server runs under Debian's systemd unit as the valkey user with /etc/valkey/valkey.conf, and apt upgrade brings each patch release of the line you chose.
