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Momento Proxy

Momento Proxy is a lightweight drop-in replacement for Memcached that lets you use Momento Cache without changing your application code. This proxy enables Memcached-compatible applications to instantly benefit from Momento's scalable, enterprise-grade caching platform.

For teams maintaining Memcached-based applications, switching cache providers typically means rewriting application code. Momento Proxy removes that barrier. By acting as a local intermediary, it translates standard Memcached commands (get and set) into Momento Cache operations, so your system can start using Momento immediately—without a single code change, minimizing your time and effort to get to production.

tip

To keep your code running as fast as possible, run Momento Proxy as a sidecar in your environment to avoid the latency of an extra network hop! A sidecar container can be accessed over localhost on a port of your choice, resulting in the fastest possible execution without additional code changes. Learn how to set up Momento Proxy as a sidecar with Memcached.

Key benefits​

  • Zero code changes — Simply run the proxy locally and redirect your caching traffic to it.
  • Language agnostic — Works with any Memcached-compatible client, including Java, Python, Go, and more.
  • Lightweight and fast — Built in Rust for performance and low memory overhead.
  • Operational visibility — Exposes real-time runtime statistics via the Memcached stats command on a dedicated admin port.
  • Command auditing — Logs cache operations to support audit trails and offline workload analysis.

How it works​

Once configured, Momento Proxy listens on the same ports used by Memcached and forwards incoming get/set requests to the appropriate Momento Cache. You simply set your application to talk to localhost instead of a remote Memcached endpoint.

This sequence diagram shows the lifecycle of a typical set and get operation when using Momento Proxy. Your application sends compatible commands to the proxy running on localhost. The proxy translates and securely forwards these requests to the Momento Cache service using your API key. Responses are translated back into the expected protocol format before being returned to your application.

Under the hood​

  • Authentication — All requests are authenticated using your Momento API key.
  • Configuration — A TOML config file specifies which ports the proxy listens on and which caches it connects to.
  • Translation — The proxy parses incoming Memcached commands, translates them into Momento API calls, and formats the responses accordingly.
  • Diagnostics — An admin port is exposed for runtime statistics and operational visibility.

Roadmap​

Momento Proxy will continue to get better and faster. Future improvements are coming soon and include:

Local caching in the proxy​

To reduce latency even further, we're adding a local in-memory cache layer to Momento Proxy. This will allow frequently accessed items to be served directly from the proxy without needing a round trip to Momento Cache.

SSD-based caching​

Also planned is support for SSD-backed caching inside the proxy. This allows for much larger working sets to be cached locally—beyond what fits in memory—without requiring upstream calls for less frequently accessed data. It is especially useful for read-heavy workloads or applications with long-tail access patterns, where latency consistency and cache efficiency matter.

Ready to get started? Head over to the configuration page to launch Momento Proxy in your environment.