diff --git a/server/CMakeLists.txt b/server/CMakeLists.txt
index 5a5a40d1c..94abffb35 100644
--- a/server/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/server/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ cxx_link(dragonfly base dragonfly_lib)
 add_library(dragonfly_lib command_registry.cc common.cc config_flags.cc
             conn_context.cc db_slice.cc debugcmd.cc dragonfly_listener.cc
             dragonfly_connection.cc engine_shard_set.cc generic_family.cc
-            list_family.cc main_service.cc memcache_parser.cc rdb_save.cc snapshot.cc
+            list_family.cc main_service.cc memcache_parser.cc rdb_load.cc rdb_save.cc snapshot.cc
             redis_parser.cc reply_builder.cc server_family.cc string_family.cc transaction.cc)
 
 cxx_link(dragonfly_lib dfly_core redis_lib uring_fiber_lib
diff --git a/server/common_types.h b/server/common_types.h
index aef4e12c3..39e8d01a6 100644
--- a/server/common_types.h
+++ b/server/common_types.h
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ using CmdArgVec = std::vector<MutableStrSpan>;
 
 constexpr DbIndex kInvalidDbId = DbIndex(-1);
 constexpr ShardId kInvalidSid = ShardId(-1);
+constexpr DbIndex kMaxDbId = 1024;  // Reasonable starting point.
 
 class CommandId;
 class Transaction;
diff --git a/server/debugcmd.cc b/server/debugcmd.cc
index 06bdeb8e5..8f6f5a899 100644
--- a/server/debugcmd.cc
+++ b/server/debugcmd.cc
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-// Copyright 2021, Roman Gershman.  All rights reserved.
+// Copyright 2022, Roman Gershman.  All rights reserved.
 // See LICENSE for licensing terms.
 //
 #include "server/debugcmd.h"
@@ -6,12 +6,18 @@
 #include <absl/strings/str_cat.h>
 
 #include <boost/fiber/operations.hpp>
+#include <filesystem>
 
 #include "base/logging.h"
 #include "server/engine_shard_set.h"
 #include "server/error.h"
+#include "server/rdb_load.h"
 #include "server/string_family.h"
 #include "util/uring/uring_fiber_algo.h"
+#include "util/uring/uring_file.h"
+
+DECLARE_string(dir);
+DECLARE_string(dbfilename);
 
 namespace dfly {
 
@@ -19,6 +25,7 @@ using namespace std;
 using namespace util;
 namespace this_fiber = ::boost::this_fiber;
 using boost::fibers::fiber;
+namespace fs = std::filesystem;
 
 struct PopulateBatch {
   DbIndex dbid;
@@ -52,6 +59,12 @@ void DebugCmd::Run(CmdArgList args) {
   if (subcmd == "HELP") {
     std::string_view help_arr[] = {
         "DEBUG <subcommand> [<arg> [value] [opt] ...]. Subcommands are:",
+        "RELOAD [option ...]",
+        "    Save the RDB on disk (TBD) and reload it back to memory. Valid <option> values:",
+        "    * NOSAVE: the database will be loaded from an existing RDB file.",
+        "    Examples:",
+        "    * DEBUG RELOAD NOSAVE: replace the current database with the contents of an",
+        "      existing RDB file.",
         "POPULATE <count> [<prefix>] [<size>]",
         "    Create <count> string keys named key:<num>. If <prefix> is specified then",
         "    it is used instead of the 'key' prefix.",
@@ -67,11 +80,59 @@ void DebugCmd::Run(CmdArgList args) {
     return Populate(args);
   }
 
+  if (subcmd == "RELOAD") {
+    return Reload(args);
+  }
+
   string reply = absl::StrCat("Unknown subcommand or wrong number of arguments for '", subcmd,
                               "'. Try DEBUG HELP.");
   return cntx_->SendError(reply);
 }
 
+void DebugCmd::Reload(CmdArgList args) {
+  bool save = true;
+  for (size_t i = 2; i < args.size(); ++i) {
+    ToUpper(&args[i]);
+    std::string_view opt = ArgS(args, i);
+    VLOG(1) << "opt " << opt;
+
+    if (opt == "NOSAVE") {
+      save = false;
+    } else {
+      return cntx_->SendError("DEBUG RELOAD only supports the NOSAVE options.");
+    }
+  }
+  if (save) {
+    return cntx_->SendError("NOSAVE required (TBD).");
+  }
+
+  if (FLAGS_dbfilename.empty()) {
+    return cntx_->SendError("dbfilename is not set");
+  }
+
+  fs::path dir_path(FLAGS_dir);
+  string filename = FLAGS_dbfilename;
+  fs::path path = dir_path;
+  path.append(filename);
+  auto res = uring::OpenRead(path.generic_string());
+
+  if (!res) {
+    cntx_->SendError(res.error().message());
+    return;
+  }
+
+  io::FileSource fs(*res);
+
+  RdbLoader loader;
+  error_code ec = loader.Load(&fs);
+
+  if (ec) {
+    cntx_->SendError(ec.message());
+  } else {
+    cntx_->SendOk();
+  }
+}
+
 void DebugCmd::Populate(CmdArgList args) {
   if (args.size() < 3 || args.size() > 5) {
     return cntx_->SendError(
diff --git a/server/debugcmd.h b/server/debugcmd.h
index 68b33f0df..fb56f61bc 100644
--- a/server/debugcmd.h
+++ b/server/debugcmd.h
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-// Copyright 2021, Roman Gershman.  All rights reserved.
+// Copyright 2022, Roman Gershman.  All rights reserved.
 // See LICENSE for licensing terms.
 //
 
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ class DebugCmd {
  private:
   void Populate(CmdArgList args);
   void PopulateRangeFiber(uint64_t from, uint64_t len, std::string_view prefix, unsigned value_len);
+  void Reload(CmdArgList args);
 
   EngineShardSet* ess_;
   ConnectionContext* cntx_;
diff --git a/server/error.h b/server/error.h
index dbf18c163..0dd26c86d 100644
--- a/server/error.h
+++ b/server/error.h
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 #pragma once
 
 #include <atomic>
+#include <string>
 
 namespace dfly {
 
@@ -26,6 +27,23 @@ extern const char kInvalidDbIndErr[];
     if (ec)              \
       return ec;         \
   } while (0)
-#endif
+
+#endif  // RETURN_ON_ERR
+
+namespace rdb {
+
+enum errc {
+  wrong_signature = 1,
+  bad_version = 2,
+  module_not_supported = 3,
+  duplicate_key = 4,
+  rdb_file_corrupted = 5,
+  bad_checksum = 6,
+  bad_db_index = 7,
+  invalid_rdb_type = 8,
+  invalid_encoding = 9,
+};
+
+}  // namespace rdb
 
 }  // namespace dfly
diff --git a/server/rdb_load.cc b/server/rdb_load.cc
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6b36f3806
--- /dev/null
+++ b/server/rdb_load.cc
@@ -0,0 +1,554 @@
+// Copyright 2022, Roman Gershman.  All rights reserved.
+// See LICENSE for licensing terms.
+//
+
+#include "server/rdb_load.h"
+
+extern "C" {
+
+#include "redis/lzfP.h" /* LZF compression library */
+#include "redis/rdb.h"
+#include "redis/zmalloc.h"
+#include "redis/util.h"
+}
+
+#include <absl/cleanup/cleanup.h>
+#include <absl/strings/str_cat.h>
+
+#include "base/endian.h"
+#include "base/logging.h"
+#include "server/engine_shard_set.h"
+#include "server/error.h"
+#include "strings/human_readable.h"
+
+namespace dfly {
+
+using namespace std;
+using base::IoBuf;
+using nonstd::make_unexpected;
+using namespace util;
+using rdb::errc;
+
+class error_category : public std::error_category {
+ public:
+  const char* name() const noexcept final {
+    return "dragonfly.rdbload";
+  }
+
+  string message(int ev) const final;
+
+  error_condition default_error_condition(int ev) const noexcept final;
+
+  bool equivalent(int ev, const error_condition& condition) const noexcept final {
+    return condition.value() == ev && &condition.category() == this;
+  }
+
+  bool equivalent(const error_code& error, int ev) const noexcept final {
+    return error.value() == ev && &error.category() == this;
+  }
+};
+
+string error_category::message(int ev) const {
+  switch (ev) {
+    case errc::wrong_signature:
+      return "Wrong signature while trying to load from rdb file";
+    default:
+      return absl::StrCat("Internal error when loading RDB file ", ev);
+      break;
+  }
+}
+
+error_condition error_category::default_error_condition(int ev) const noexcept {
+  return error_condition{ev, *this};
+}
+
+static error_category rdb_category;
+
+inline error_code RdbError(int ev) {
+  return error_code{ev, rdb_category};
+}
+
+static const error_code kOk;
+
+RdbLoader::RdbLoader() : mem_buf_{16_KB} {
+}
+
+RdbLoader::~RdbLoader() {
+}
+
+#define SET_OR_RETURN(expr, dest) \
+  do {                            \
+    auto exp_val = (expr);        \
+    if (!exp_val)                 \
+      return exp_val.error();     \
+    dest = exp_val.value();       \
+  } while (0)
+
+#define SET_OR_UNEXPECT(expr, dest)            \
+  {                                            \
+    auto exp_res = (expr);                     \
+    if (!exp_res)                              \
+      return make_unexpected(exp_res.error()); \
+    dest = exp_res.value();                    \
+  }
+
+error_code RdbLoader::Load(io::Source* src) {
+  CHECK(!src_ && src);
+
+  absl::Time start = absl::Now();
+  src_ = src;
+
+  IoBuf::Bytes bytes = mem_buf_.AppendBuffer();
+  io::Result<size_t> read_sz = src_->ReadAtLeast(bytes, 9);
+  if (!read_sz)
+    return read_sz.error();
+
+  bytes_read_ = *read_sz;
+  if (bytes_read_ < 9) {
+    return RdbError(errc::wrong_signature);
+  }
+
+  mem_buf_.CommitWrite(bytes_read_);
+
+  {
+    auto cb = mem_buf_.InputBuffer();
+
+    if (memcmp(cb.data(), "REDIS", 5) != 0) {
+      return RdbError(errc::wrong_signature);
+    }
+
+    char buf[64] = {0};
+    ::memcpy(buf, cb.data() + 5, 4);
+
+    int rdbver = atoi(buf);
+    if (rdbver < 5 || rdbver > RDB_VERSION) {  // We accept starting from 5.
+      return RdbError(errc::bad_version);
+    }
+
+    mem_buf_.ConsumeInput(9);
+  }
+
+  int type;
+
+  while (1) {
+    /* Read type. */
+    auto expected_type = FetchType();
+    if (!expected_type)
+      return expected_type.error();
+    type = expected_type.value();
+
+    /* Handle special types. */
+    if (type == RDB_OPCODE_EXPIRETIME) {
+      LOG(FATAL) << "TBD";
+      continue; /* Read next opcode. */
+    }
+
+    if (type == RDB_OPCODE_EXPIRETIME_MS) {
+      LOG(FATAL) << "TBD";
+      continue; /* Read next opcode. */
+    }
+
+    if (type == RDB_OPCODE_FREQ) {
+      /* FREQ: LFU frequency. */
+      FetchInt<uint8_t>();  // IGNORE
+      continue;             /* Read next opcode. */
+    }
+
+    if (type == RDB_OPCODE_IDLE) {
+      /* IDLE: LRU idle time. */
+      LOG(FATAL) << "TBD";
+      continue; /* Read next opcode. */
+    }
+
+    if (type == RDB_OPCODE_EOF) {
+      /* EOF: End of file, exit the main loop. */
+      break;
+    }
+
+    if (type == RDB_OPCODE_SELECTDB) {
+      unsigned dbid = 0;
+
+      /* SELECTDB: Select the specified database. */
+      SET_OR_RETURN(LoadLen(nullptr), dbid);
+
+      if (dbid > kMaxDbId) {
+        return RdbError(errc::bad_db_index);
+      }
+
+      cur_db_index_ = dbid;
+      continue; /* Read next opcode. */
+    }
+
+    if (type == RDB_OPCODE_RESIZEDB) {
+      /* RESIZEDB: Hint about the size of the keys in the currently
+       * selected data base, in order to avoid useless rehashing. */
+      uint64_t db_size, expires_size;
+      SET_OR_RETURN(LoadLen(nullptr), db_size);
+      SET_OR_RETURN(LoadLen(nullptr), expires_size);
+
+      ResizeDb(db_size, expires_size);
+      continue; /* Read next opcode. */
+    }
+
+    if (type == RDB_OPCODE_AUX) {
+      RETURN_ON_ERR(HandleAux());
+      continue; /* Read type again. */
+    }
+
+    if (type == RDB_OPCODE_MODULE_AUX) {
+      return RdbError(errc::module_not_supported);
+    }
+
+    if (!rdbIsObjectType(type)) {
+      return RdbError(errc::invalid_rdb_type);
+    }
+    RETURN_ON_ERR(LoadKeyValPair(type));
+  }  // main load loop
+
+  /* Verify the checksum if RDB version is >= 5 */
+  RETURN_ON_ERR(VerifyChecksum());
+
+  absl::Duration dur = absl::Now() - start;
+  double seconds = double(absl::ToInt64Milliseconds(dur)) / 1000;
+  LOG(INFO) << "Loading finished after " << strings::HumanReadableElapsedTime(seconds);
+
+  return kOk;
+}
+
+error_code RdbLoader::EnsureReadInternal(size_t min_sz) {
+  DCHECK_LT(mem_buf_.InputLen(), min_sz);
+
+  auto out_buf = mem_buf_.AppendBuffer();
+  CHECK_GT(out_buf.size(), min_sz);
+
+  io::Result<size_t> res = src_->ReadAtLeast(out_buf, min_sz);
+  if (!res)
+    return res.error();
+
+  if (*res < min_sz)
+    return RdbError(errc::rdb_file_corrupted);
+
+  bytes_read_ += *res;
+  mem_buf_.CommitWrite(*res);
+
+  return kOk;
+}
+
+auto RdbLoader::LoadLen(bool* is_encoded) -> io::Result<uint64_t> {
+  if (is_encoded)
+    *is_encoded = false;
+
+  // Every RDB file with rdbver >= 5 has 8-bytes checksum at the end,
+  // so we can ensure we have 9 bytes to read up until that point.
+  error_code ec = EnsureRead(9);
+  if (ec)
+    return make_unexpected(ec);
+
+  uint64_t res = 0;
+  uint8_t first = mem_buf_.InputBuffer()[0];
+  int type = (first & 0xC0) >> 6;
+  mem_buf_.ConsumeInput(1);
+  if (type == RDB_ENCVAL) {
+    /* Read a 6 bit encoding type. */
+    if (is_encoded)
+      *is_encoded = true;
+    res = first & 0x3F;
+  } else if (type == RDB_6BITLEN) {
+    /* Read a 6 bit len. */
+    res = first & 0x3F;
+  } else if (type == RDB_14BITLEN) {
+    res = ((first & 0x3F) << 8) | mem_buf_.InputBuffer()[0];
+    mem_buf_.ConsumeInput(1);
+  } else if (first == RDB_32BITLEN) {
+    /* Read a 32 bit len. */
+    res = absl::big_endian::Load32(mem_buf_.InputBuffer().data());
+    mem_buf_.ConsumeInput(4);
+  } else if (first == RDB_64BITLEN) {
+    /* Read a 64 bit len. */
+    res = absl::big_endian::Load64(mem_buf_.InputBuffer().data());
+    mem_buf_.ConsumeInput(8);
+  } else {
+    LOG(FATAL) << "Unknown length encoding " << type << " in rdbLoadLen()";
+  }
+
+  return res;
+}
+
+std::error_code RdbLoader::FetchBuf(size_t size, void* dest) {
+  if (size == 0)
+    return kOk;
+
+  uint8_t* next = (uint8_t*)dest;
+  size_t bytes_read;
+
+  size_t to_copy = std::min(mem_buf_.InputLen(), size);
+  DVLOG(2) << "Copying " << to_copy << " bytes";
+
+  ::memcpy(next, mem_buf_.InputBuffer().data(), to_copy);
+  mem_buf_.ConsumeInput(to_copy);
+  size -= to_copy;
+  if (size == 0)
+    return kOk;
+
+  next += to_copy;
+
+  if (size > 512) {  // Worth reading directly into next.
+    io::MutableBytes mb{next, size};
+
+    SET_OR_RETURN(src_->Read(mb), bytes_read);
+    if (bytes_read < size)
+      return RdbError(errc::rdb_file_corrupted);
+
+    bytes_read_ += bytes_read;
+
+    return kOk;
+  }
+
+  io::MutableBytes mb = mem_buf_.AppendBuffer();
+
+  // Must be because mem_buf_ is be empty.
+  DCHECK_GT(mb.size(), size);
+
+  SET_OR_RETURN(src_->ReadAtLeast(mb, size), bytes_read);
+
+  if (bytes_read < size)
+    return RdbError(errc::rdb_file_corrupted);
+  bytes_read_ += bytes_read;
+
+  mem_buf_.CommitWrite(bytes_read);
+  ::memcpy(next, mem_buf_.InputBuffer().data(), size);
+  mem_buf_.ConsumeInput(size);
+
+  return kOk;
+}
+
+error_code RdbLoader::HandleAux() {
+  /* AUX: generic string-string fields. Use to add state to RDB
+   * which is backward compatible. Implementations of RDB loading
+   * are required to skip AUX fields they don't understand.
+   *
+   * An AUX field is composed of two strings: key and value. */
+  robj *auxkey, *auxval;
+
+  auto exp = FetchGenericString(RDB_LOAD_NONE);
+  if (!exp)
+    return exp.error();
+  auxkey = (robj*)exp->first;
+  exp = FetchGenericString(RDB_LOAD_NONE);
+  if (!exp) {
+    decrRefCount(auxkey);
+    return exp.error();
+  }
+
+  auxval = (robj*)exp->first;
+  if (((char*)auxkey->ptr)[0] == '%') {
+    /* All the fields with a name staring with '%' are considered
+     * information fields and are logged at startup with a log
+     * level of NOTICE. */
+    LOG(INFO) << "RDB '" << (char*)auxkey->ptr << "': " << (char*)auxval->ptr;
+  } else if (!strcasecmp((char*)auxkey->ptr, "repl-stream-db")) {
+    // TODO
+  } else if (!strcasecmp((char*)auxkey->ptr, "repl-id")) {
+    // TODO
+  } else if (!strcasecmp((char*)auxkey->ptr, "repl-offset")) {
+    // TODO
+  } else if (!strcasecmp((char*)auxkey->ptr, "lua")) {
+    LOG(FATAL) << "Lua scripts are not supported";
+  } else if (!strcasecmp((char*)auxkey->ptr, "redis-ver")) {
+    LOG(INFO) << "Loading RDB produced by version " << (char*)auxval->ptr;
+  } else if (!strcasecmp((char*)auxkey->ptr, "ctime")) {
+    time_t age = time(NULL) - strtol((char*)auxval->ptr, NULL, 10);
+    if (age < 0)
+      age = 0;
+    LOG(INFO) << "RDB age " << strings::HumanReadableElapsedTime(age);
+  } else if (!strcasecmp((char*)auxkey->ptr, "used-mem")) {
+    long long usedmem = strtoll((char*)auxval->ptr, NULL, 10);
+    LOG(INFO) << "RDB memory usage when created " << strings::HumanReadableNumBytes(usedmem);
+  } else if (!strcasecmp((char*)auxkey->ptr, "aof-preamble")) {
+    long long haspreamble = strtoll((char*)auxval->ptr, NULL, 10);
+    if (haspreamble)
+      LOG(INFO) << "RDB has an AOF tail";
+  } else if (!strcasecmp((char*)auxkey->ptr, "redis-bits")) {
+    /* Just ignored. */
+  } else {
+    /* We ignore fields we don't understand, as by AUX field
+     * contract. */
+    LOG(WARNING) << "Unrecognized RDB AUX field: '" << (char*)auxkey->ptr << "'";
+  }
+
+  decrRefCount(auxkey);
+  decrRefCount(auxval);
+
+  return kOk;
+}
+
+error_code RdbLoader::VerifyChecksum() {
+  uint64_t expected;
+
+  SET_OR_RETURN(FetchInt<uint64_t>(), expected);
+
+  io::Bytes cur_buf = mem_buf_.InputBuffer();
+
+  VLOG(1) << "VerifyChecksum: input buffer len " << cur_buf.size() << ", expected " << expected;
+
+  return kOk;
+}
+
+auto RdbLoader::FetchGenericString(int flags) -> io::Result<OpaqueBuf> {
+  bool isencoded;
+  size_t len;
+
+  SET_OR_UNEXPECT(LoadLen(&isencoded), len);
+
+  if (isencoded) {
+    switch (len) {
+      case RDB_ENC_INT8:
+      case RDB_ENC_INT16:
+      case RDB_ENC_INT32:
+        return FetchIntegerObject(len, flags, NULL);
+      case RDB_ENC_LZF:
+        LOG(FATAL) << "TBD";
+      default:
+        LOG(FATAL) << "Unknown RDB string encoding type " << len;
+    }
+  }
+
+  bool encode = (flags & RDB_LOAD_ENC) != 0;
+  bool plain = (flags & RDB_LOAD_PLAIN) != 0;
+  bool sds = (flags & RDB_LOAD_SDS) != 0;
+
+  if (plain || sds) {
+    char* buf = plain ? (char*)zmalloc(len) : sdsnewlen(SDS_NOINIT, len);
+    error_code ec = FetchBuf(len, buf);
+    if (ec) {
+      if (plain)
+        zfree(buf);
+      else
+        sdsfree(buf);
+      return make_unexpected(ec);
+    }
+
+    return make_pair(buf, len);
+  }
+
+  robj* o = encode ? createStringObject(SDS_NOINIT, len) : createRawStringObject(SDS_NOINIT, len);
+  error_code ec = FetchBuf(len, o->ptr);
+  if (ec) {
+    decrRefCount(o);
+    return make_unexpected(ec);
+  }
+  return make_pair(o, len);
+}
+
+auto RdbLoader::FetchIntegerObject(int enctype, int flags, size_t* lenptr)
+    -> io::Result<OpaqueBuf> {
+  bool plain = (flags & RDB_LOAD_PLAIN) != 0;
+  bool sds = (flags & RDB_LOAD_SDS) != 0;
+  bool encode = (flags & RDB_LOAD_ENC) != 0;
+  long long val;
+
+  if (enctype == RDB_ENC_INT8) {
+    SET_OR_UNEXPECT(FetchInt<int8_t>(), val);
+  } else if (enctype == RDB_ENC_INT16) {
+    SET_OR_UNEXPECT(FetchInt<uint16_t>(), val);
+  } else if (enctype == RDB_ENC_INT32) {
+    SET_OR_UNEXPECT(FetchInt<uint32_t>(), val);
+  } else {
+    return make_unexpected(RdbError(errc::invalid_encoding));
+  }
+
+  if (plain || sds) {
+    char buf[LONG_STR_SIZE], *p;
+    int len = ll2string(buf, sizeof(buf), val);
+    if (lenptr)
+      *lenptr = len;
+    p = plain ? (char*)zmalloc(len) : sdsnewlen(SDS_NOINIT, len);
+    memcpy(p, buf, len);
+    return make_pair(p, len);
+  }
+
+  robj* o = encode ? createStringObjectFromLongLongForValue(val)
+                   : createObject(OBJ_STRING, sdsfromlonglong(val));
+  return make_pair(o, 16);
+}
+
+auto RdbLoader::ReadKey() -> io::Result<sds> {
+  auto res = FetchGenericString(RDB_LOAD_SDS);
+  if (res) {
+    sds k = (sds)res->first;
+    DVLOG(2) << "Read " << std::string_view(k, sdslen(k));
+    return k;
+  }
+  return res.get_unexpected();
+}
+
+auto RdbLoader::ReadObj(int rdbtype) -> io::Result<robj*> {
+  if (rdbtype == RDB_TYPE_STRING) {
+    /* Read string value */
+    auto res = FetchGenericString(0);
+    if (!res)
+      return res.get_unexpected();
+    return (robj*)res->first;
+  }
+
+  LOG(FATAL) << "TBD " << rdbtype;
+  return NULL;
+}
+
+void RdbLoader::ResizeDb(size_t key_num, size_t expire_num) {
+  DCHECK_LT(key_num, 1U << 31);
+  DCHECK_LT(expire_num, 1U << 31);
+}
+
+error_code RdbLoader::LoadKeyValPair(int type) {
+  /* Read key */
+  sds key;
+  robj* val;
+
+  SET_OR_RETURN(ReadKey(), key);
+
+  auto key_cleanup = absl::MakeCleanup([key] { sdsfree(key); });
+
+  SET_OR_RETURN(ReadObj(type), val);
+
+  /* Check if the key already expired. This function is used when loading
+   * an RDB file from disk, either at startup, or when an RDB was
+   * received from the master. In the latter case, the master is
+   * responsible for key expiry. If we would expire keys here, the
+   * snapshot taken by the master may not be reflected on the slave.
+   * Similarly if the RDB is the preamble of an AOF file, we want to
+   * load all the keys as they are, since the log of operations later
+   * assume to work in an exact keyspace state. */
+  // TODO: check rdbflags&RDBFLAGS_AOF_PREAMBLE logic in rdb.c
+  bool should_expire = false;  // TODO: to implement
+  if (should_expire) {
+    decrRefCount(val);
+  } else {
+    std::move(key_cleanup).Cancel();
+
+    // TODO: we should handle the duplicates.
+    if (false) {
+      LOG(WARNING) << "RDB has duplicated key '" << std::string_view(key, sdslen(key)) << "' in DB "
+                   << cur_db_index_;
+      return RdbError(errc::duplicate_key);
+    }
+
+    /* call key space notification on key loaded for modules only */
+    // moduleNotifyKeyspaceEvent(NOTIFY_LOADED, "loaded", &keyobj, db->id);
+  }
+
+  return kOk;
+}
+
+template <typename T> io::Result<T> RdbLoader::FetchInt() {
+  auto ec = EnsureRead(sizeof(T));
+  if (ec)
+    return make_unexpected(ec);
+
+  char buf[16];
+  mem_buf_.ReadAndConsume(sizeof(T), buf);
+
+  return base::LE::LoadT<std::make_unsigned_t<T>>(buf);
+}
+
+}  // namespace dfly
diff --git a/server/rdb_load.h b/server/rdb_load.h
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..9543bf898
--- /dev/null
+++ b/server/rdb_load.h
@@ -0,0 +1,66 @@
+// Copyright 2021, Roman Gershman.  All rights reserved.
+// See LICENSE for licensing terms.
+//
+#include <system_error>
+
+extern "C" {
+#include "redis/object.h"
+}
+
+#include "base/io_buf.h"
+#include "io/io.h"
+#include "server/common_types.h"
+
+namespace dfly {
+
+class RdbLoader {
+ public:
+  explicit RdbLoader();
+
+  ~RdbLoader();
+
+  std::error_code Load(::io::Source* src);
+
+ private:
+  using MutableBytes = ::io::MutableBytes;
+
+  void ResizeDb(size_t key_num, size_t expire_num);
+  std::error_code HandleAux();
+
+  ::io::Result<uint8_t> FetchType() {
+    return FetchInt<uint8_t>();
+  }
+
+  template <typename T> io::Result<T> FetchInt();
+
+  io::Result<uint64_t> LoadLen(bool* is_encoded);
+  std::error_code FetchBuf(size_t size, void* dest);
+
+  // FetchGenericString may return various types. I basically copied the code
+  // from rdb.c and tried not to shoot myself on the way.
+  // flags are RDB_LOAD_XXX masks.
+  using OpaqueBuf = std::pair<void*, size_t>;
+  io::Result<OpaqueBuf> FetchGenericString(int flags);
+  io::Result<OpaqueBuf> FetchIntegerObject(int enctype, int flags, size_t* lenptr);
+
+  ::io::Result<sds> ReadKey();
+  ::io::Result<robj*> ReadObj(int type);
+
+  std::error_code EnsureRead(size_t min_sz) {
+    if (mem_buf_.InputLen() >= min_sz)
+      return std::error_code{};
+
+    return EnsureReadInternal(min_sz);
+  }
+
+  std::error_code EnsureReadInternal(size_t min_sz);
+  std::error_code LoadKeyValPair(int type);
+  std::error_code VerifyChecksum();
+
+  base::IoBuf mem_buf_;
+  ::io::Source* src_ = nullptr;
+  size_t bytes_read_ = 0;
+  DbIndex cur_db_index_ = 0;
+};
+
+}  // namespace dfly
diff --git a/server/server_family.cc b/server/server_family.cc
index e74e2e6f9..0208a0e7d 100644
--- a/server/server_family.cc
+++ b/server/server_family.cc
@@ -165,7 +165,6 @@ void ServerFamily::Save(CmdArgList args, ConnectionContext* cntx) {
   path.concat(absl::StrCat("_", fl_index++));
   VLOG(1) << "Saving to " << path;
 
-  // TODO: use io-uring file instead.
   auto res = uring::OpenWrite(path.generic_string());
   if (!res) {
     cntx->SendError(res.error().message());