Rebuild Redis from an empty file (Ship That Code setup)

Everything below is from shipthatcode.com and the project's GitHub, checked on 31 August 2026.

What it actually is: 179 courses where you write the real system rather than follow a video about one. Your code runs against a real test executor and either passes or it does not. The Redis build is 29 lessons across 8 stages, and the first one is making the server answer PING.

The numbers

Receipt	Value
Courses	179, of which 80+ are build from scratch
Languages	37
Exercises	1,900+, all verified on the executor
Price	$0, no credit card
Time to your first passing test	about 2 minutes
The Redis build	29 lessons, 8 stages, roughly 7 hours

What to start with

There is nothing to install. It runs in the browser.

1. Go to shipthatcode.com/courses/build-redis
2. Press Start learning. You do not need an account for this part
3. Lesson 1 is answering PING. That is your two minutes
4. Sign up only when you want progress tracked across sessions

Pick the language you already think in, not the one you want to learn. You are learning the system here, and fighting a new syntax at the same time is how people quit at stage 3.

The catch

Two, and the second one matters more than it looks.

First, "free" has a footnote. The site says "Free forever, no credit card" and its own pricing line reads "$0, everything free while we grow". Those are two different promises. It is free today. I would not build a year of learning on the assumption that it stays that way, and I would not be annoyed if it changes, because someone is paying for those executors right now.

Second, the Redis course is labelled advanced and estimated at 7 hours. That is not a lunch break. Eight stages in, you are implementing replication and streams. If you have never written a network server, start with something smaller from the 179 and come back.

What it is good at

The executor is the whole point. There is no video to nod along to and no way to convince yourself you understood something you did not, because the tests either pass or they do not.

Certificates only issue when every graded exercise passes, so the certificate means something, which is rarer than it should be.

One thing worth knowing about where it came from

Its own GitHub README is far behind the site: it still says 40+ courses across six languages, and the repo shows 2 stars. So unless you look at the product itself you will badly underestimate it. The author built it as a free alternative to a paid incumbent and has said so in his own words.

Sources

• The product: shipthatcode.com
• The Redis build: shipthatcode.com/courses/build-redis
• The repo: github.com/shaongitbd/shipthatcode

If the site changes after 31 August 2026, trust the site over this page.

Which one are you rebuilding first?

Tell me in The Rabbit Hole and I will tell you where the hard part actually is.

It is the room where I keep the parts that don't fit on a page like this: the full run of numbers, what broke the first time, and the ones that looked good and then didn't work at all.

Two catches, up front, because that's the rule here. It's private, so you have to be inside to read anything. And it's new, so you'd be early rather than joining something busy.

Free: skool.com/the-rabbit-hole-3206/about