CockroachDB aims to simplify data management and potentially serve as the entire state layer for web applications, with current efforts focused on the SQL layer and future plans for features like full-text search. An experiment is underway to implement the Redis protocol on top of CockroachDB, exploring its potential to replace Redis, which is widely used for fast caching but not as a persistent data store due to its in-memory nature and asynchronous replication. The experiment involves creating a Redis-like server within CockroachDB, implementing commands and testing them against a real Redis server, which has shown performance between 10 and 20 times slower than Redis, with room for optimization. Challenges include handling data structures and event notification features, but the experiment aims to eventually offer a viable, low-maintenance alternative for low- to medium-load Redis applications, leveraging CockroachDB's strong consistency and scalability.