diff --git a/src/session/session_redis.go b/src/session/session_redis.go
index d7bcedb..300bbaa 100644
--- a/src/session/session_redis.go
+++ b/src/session/session_redis.go
@@ -9,21 +9,24 @@ import (
 
 type RedisStore struct {
 	client *redis.Client
+	ctx    context.Context
 }
 
 func NewRedisStore() *RedisStore {
 	logging.Debug("Creating new redis session store")
 
-	redis_server := "localhost:6379"
+	// this will be replaced with a URL that can be parsed in the config file
+	redis_server := "redis://localhost:6379/0"
 
-	// redis values will need to be loaded from the config file
-	rdb := redis.NewClient(&redis.Options{
-		Addr:     redis_server,
-		Password: "",
-		DB:       0,
-	})
+	opts, err := redis.ParseURL(redis_server)
+	if err != nil {
+		logging.Errorf("Failed to parse redis url %s", err.Error())
+	}
 
-	if err := rdb.Ping(context.Background()).Err(); err != nil {
+	rdb := redis.NewClient(opts)
+
+	ctx := context.Background()
+	if err := rdb.Ping(ctx).Err(); err != nil {
 		logging.Errorf("Failed to connect to redis server %s", redis_server)
 	} else {
 		logging.Infof("Successfully connected to redis server %s", redis_server)
@@ -31,6 +34,7 @@ func NewRedisStore() *RedisStore {
 
 	store := &RedisStore{
 		client: rdb,
+		ctx:    ctx,
 	}
 	return store
 }
@@ -39,6 +43,20 @@ func (m *RedisStore) Create(sessionID string, session *SessionData) (err error)
 	return nil
 }
 func (m *RedisStore) Get(sessionID string) (*SessionData, error) {
+	hashed := hashSession(sessionID)
+
+	_, err := m.client.Get(m.ctx, hashed).Result()
+	if err == redis.Nil {
+		return nil, ErrSessionNotFound
+	} else if err != nil {
+		logging.Error(err.Error())
+	}
+
+	// if time.Now().After(data.ExpiresAt) {
+	// 	_ = m.Delete(sessionID) // ignore error
+	// 	return nil, ErrSessionExpired
+	// }
+	// copy := *data
 	return nil, nil
 }
 func (m *RedisStore) Update(sessionID string, session *SessionData) error {