Redis founder Salvatore Sanfilippo hadn’t run up against term limits. No one was demanding he stop leading the project, and he wasn’t struggling to keep Redis innovating. But on June 30, 2020, Sanfilippo announced the “end of the Redis adventure” for him. Effective immediately, he relinquished his lead maintainer role, saying “I don’t really know what there is for me in my future,” except to “just look around... without doing too many things.”
Despite (or, rather, because of) being the face of Redis for over 10 years, Sanfilippo was done. He needed a break. While Sanfilippo’s departure only affects the Redis community, the reasons have far broader implications.