
Thinking Elixir Podcast
The Thinking Elixir podcast is a weekly show where we talk about the Elixir programming language and the community around it. We cover news and interview guests to learn more about projects and developments in the community.
Whether you are already experienced with Elixir or just exploring the language, this show is created with you in mind. We discuss community news, Functional Programming, transitioning from OOP, coding conventions, and more.
Guests visit the show to help challenge our assumptions, learn about new developments and grow in the process.
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Latest episodes

May 20, 2025 • 31min
254: Lua Scripting and Tidewave on Zed
News includes Hex 2.2.0 with the new :warn_if_outdated option for keeping dependencies updated, Honeybadger's APM with built-in Elixir traces for major components, José Valim demonstrating Tidewave with Zed's AI coding agents, LiveDebugger v0.2.0 with DevTools integration and component highlighting, Dave Lucia's new Elixir "Lua" library for embedding Lua scripting, Paulo Valente's "handoff" library for distributed function graph execution, a PhD thesis on Elixir code smells becoming a finalist for a prestigious award, and more!
Show Notes online - http://podcast.thinkingelixir.com/254
Elixir Community News
https://paraxial.io/ – Paraxial.io is sponsoring today's show! Sign up for a free trial of Paraxial.io today and mention Thinking Elixir when you schedule a demo for a limited time offer.
https://github.com/hexpm/hex/releases/tag/v2.2.0 – Hex releases 2.2.0 introducing the :warn_if_outdated option to help keep dependencies updated.
Taking a week off - no episode next week, but returning the following week.
https://www.honeybadger.io/blog/elixir-performance-monitoring – Honeybadger now offers APM with built-in Elixir traces, including default dashboards for Ecto, Phoenix/LiveView, Oban, Absinthe, Finch, and Tesla.
https://x.com/josevalim/status/1920062725394243640 – José Valim demonstrates Tidewave being used with Zed editor's AI coding agents.
https://zed.dev/agentic – Zed's agentic features used with Tidewave to code a pricing plan component.
https://www.reddit.com/r/elixir/comments/1kgyfhb/livedebugger_v020_is_out/ – LiveDebugger v0.2.0 released with Chrome DevTools extension, component highlighting, callback trace filtering, and dark mode.
https://podcast.thinkingelixir.com/249 – Previous podcast episode discussing LiveDebugger with Krzysztof.
https://blog.swmansion.com/whats-new-in-livedebugger-v0-2-0-4543d3af5486 – Blog post covering the new features in LiveDebugger v0.2.0.
https://hexdocs.pm/luerl/readme.html – Luerl v1.4.1 released with Hex docs - an implementation of Lua 5.3 in Erlang/OTP.
https://github.com/rvirding/luerl – The GitHub repository for Luerl, which Dave Lucia worked on with Robert Virding.
https://www.lua.org/about.html – Information about Lua, a lightweight, embeddable scripting language.
https://bsky.app/profile/davelucia.com/post/3lozadtvqtc2m – Dave Lucia's announcement of his new Elixir "Lua" library.
https://davelucia.com/blog/lua-elixir – Blog post explaining Dave's new Elixir Lua library.
https://github.com/tv-labs/lua – The GitHub repository for the new Elixir Lua library, providing an ergonomic interface to Luerl.
https://hexdocs.pm/handoff/ – Documentation for "handoff", a new Elixir library for distributed function graph execution.
https://bsky.app/profile/polvalente.social/post/3louqxeegrs2u – Paulo Valente's announcement of the handoff library, which enables distributed Nx computations.
https://github.com/polvalente/handoff – GitHub repository for the handoff library created by Paulo Valente and sponsored by TvLabs.
https://bsky.app/profile/lucasvegi.bsky.social/post/3lke2pt2zws2e – Lucas Vegi's PhD thesis "Code Smells and Refactorings for Elixir" is a finalist for the SBC Dissertation Award.
https://hexdocs.pm/elixir/code-anti-patterns.html – Elixir's code anti-patterns guide, a practical resource related to code smells and refactoring in Elixir.
Do you have some Elixir news to share? Tell us at @ThinkingElixir or email at show@thinkingelixir.com
Find us online
Message the show - Bluesky
Message the show - X
Message the show on Fediverse - @ThinkingElixir@genserver.social
Email the show - show@thinkingelixir.com
Mark Ericksen on X - @brainlid
Mark Ericksen on Bluesky - @brainlid.bsky.social
Mark Ericksen on Fediverse - @brainlid@genserver.social
David Bernheisel on Bluesky - @david.bernheisel.com
David Bernheisel on Fediverse - @dbern@genserver.social
Sponsored By:Paraxial.io: Paraxial.io is sponsoring today's show! Sign up for a free trial of Paraxial.io today and mention Thinking Elixir when you schedule a demo for a limited time offer.

May 13, 2025 • 24min
253: Tidewave Triumphs and App Store Rebellions
News includes growing excitement around Tidewave for Elixir with users sharing success stories and integration tips, preparation for Elixir 1.19's deprecation of regex in module attributes, LiveViewNative launching a new "OTP Interop" organization focused on enabling offline functionality, and a major U.S. court ruling against Apple's App Store policies that opens new payment options for iOS developers, creating opportunities for services like Stripe to offer more competitive alternatives to Apple's 30% commission, and more!
Show Notes online - http://podcast.thinkingelixir.com/253
Elixir Community News
https://paraxial.io/ – Paraxial.io is sponsoring today's show! Sign up for a free trial of Paraxial.io today and mention Thinking Elixir when you schedule a demo for a limited time offer.
https://x.com/ba_wolf/status/1918008345862049820 – Bryant shared on X that Tidewave pairs well with Oban jobs, allowing cursors to run jobs and check status with errors stored in the record.
https://bsky.app/profile/ceolinwill.bsky.social/post/3lo7fc7jy262n – A user found Tidewave for Elixir promising, noting it solved a bug that Claude couldn't by using the package_docs_search tool.
https://bsky.app/profile/petros.software/post/3lohcby7frv22 – Despite the AI revolution, programmers still need to read code, making human-friendly languages like Elixir and Phoenix important choices.
https://bsky.app/profile/zachdaniel.dev/post/3loamzmazlk2s – Tidewave.ai can now be installed through the Ash HQ installer, with Zach Daniel teasing more information in coming weeks.
https://hexdocs.pm/tidewave/tips_and_tricks.html#configure-your-prompts – Tips and tricks documentation for improving your Tidewave experience, including prompt configuration.
https://geekmonkey.org/detecting-deprecated-regex-module-attributes-in-elixir-with-credo/ – Fabian Becker's blog post showing how to create a Credo rule to detect regex module attributes that will be deprecated in Elixir 1.19.
https://github.com/elixir-lang/elixir/pull/14381 – PR explaining the issue with regex module attributes and introducing the workaround for the upcoming Elixir 1.19 deprecation.
https://bsky.app/profile/bcardarella.bsky.social/post/3lo2rsc3th22h – Brian Cardarella shared that LiveViewNative started a new "OTP Interop" GitHub organization to extract work that enables offline mode.
https://github.com/otp-interop – The new OTP Interop GitHub organization housing projects to improve Elixir's interoperability with other platforms.
https://github.com/otp-interop/swift-erlang-actor-system – Project providing Erlang/Elixir integration for Swift Distributed Actors.
https://github.com/otp-interop/elixir_pack – Tool to build Elixir applications for iOS, part of the OTP Interop initiative.
https://bsky.app/profile/bcardarella.bsky.social/post/3lo4shx2cpk2g – LiveViewNative now supports Apple App Store's new allowances for outside transaction services like Stripe.
https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/us-judge-rules-apple-violated-order-reform-app-store-2025-04-30/ – Reuters report on US judge ruling that Apple violated the order to reform its App Store policies.
https://www.pymnts.com/apple/2025/apple-appeals-after-judge-finds-company-disobeyed-ruling/ – Coverage of Apple appealing after judge found the company disobeyed the previous ruling about App Store competition.
https://www.techspot.com/news/107752-court-orders-apple-stop-blocking-competition-app-store.html – Court orders Apple to stop blocking competition in the App Store, forcing changes to payment systems.
https://docs.stripe.com/sdks/ios – Stripe's iOS SDK documentation for building payments into iOS apps, relevant after the App Store ruling.
https://ericmigi.com/blog/apple-restricts-pebble-from-being-awesome-with-iphones – Related post about Apple's history of restrictive practices, in this case with Pebble smartwatches.
Do you have some Elixir news to share? Tell us at @ThinkingElixir or email at show@thinkingelixir.com
Find us online
Message the show - Bluesky
Message the show - X
Message the show on Fediverse - @ThinkingElixir@genserver.social
Email the show - show@thinkingelixir.com
Mark Ericksen on X - @brainlid
Mark Ericksen on Bluesky - @brainlid.bsky.social
Mark Ericksen on Fediverse - @brainlid@genserver.social
David Bernheisel on Bluesky - @david.bernheisel.com
David Bernheisel on Fediverse - @dbern@genserver.social
Sponsored By:Paraxial.io: Paraxial.io is sponsoring today's show! Sign up for a free trial of Paraxial.io today and mention Thinking Elixir when you schedule a demo for a limited time offer.

May 6, 2025 • 34min
252: Riding the Tidewave of AI-Enhanced Phoenix
News includes Tidewave, a new Phoenix MCP server that helps AI-enabled editors access application runtime, Chris McCord teasing his AI-enabled Phoenix app with LiveView hosted IDE features, a new GitHub Action for submitting Elixir dependencies to enhance security, ExMeralda.chat, a community chatbot for querying Hex packages, updates on Software Mansion's LiveDebugger v0.2.0 coming in May, mix test.interactive for enhanced ExUnit testing workflows, and information about slopsquatting, a new malware technique targeting AI-assisted developers, and more!Template
Show Notes online - http://podcast.thinkingelixir.com/252
Elixir Community News
https://paraxial.io/ – Paraxial.io is sponsoring today's show! Sign up for a free trial of Paraxial.io today and mention Thinking Elixir when you schedule a demo for a limited time offer.
https://youtu.be/vGue4LtqeWg – Introduction video for Tidewave, a Phoenix/Rails MCP server that helps AI-enabled editors access your application's runtime.
https://github.com/hexpm/hexdocs/issues/49 – Hexdocs PR enabling documentation context for Tidewave, allowing AI assistants to access app documentation without manual copying.
https://x.com/chris_mccord/status/1915017804937375896 – Chris McCord teasing his AI-enabled Phoenix app that writes code.
https://x.com/chris_mccord/status/1917002231322116298 – Chris McCord demonstrating an interactive LiveView hosted IDE with realtime terminal support synced across browsers/devices.
https://bsky.app/profile/theerlef.bsky.social/post/3lngay5chys22 – EEF announcement about the "mix-dependency-submission" GitHub Action for submitting Elixir/Mix dependencies.
https://github.com/erlef/mix-dependency-submission – GitHub repo for the mix-dependency-submission tool that calculates dependencies for Mix and submits them to GitHub's API.
https://docs.github.com/en/code-security/supply-chain-security/understanding-your-software-supply-chain/using-the-dependency-submission-api – GitHub documentation about the Dependency Submission API used by the mix-dependency-submission tool.
https://exmeralda.chat/chat/start – ExMeralda.chat, a chatbot for hex.pm packages from bitcrowd.dev, using their Elixir RAG library.
https://bitcrowd.dev/exmeralda-a-community-chatbot-for-hex-packages/ – Blog post explaining ExMeralda, a community chatbot for Hex packages that demonstrates RAG systems with LLMs.
https://www.reddit.com/r/elixir/comments/1k600mu/livedebugger_v020_upcoming_features_part_1/ – Reddit post from Software Mansion about upcoming features in LiveDebugger v0.2.0, expected in early May.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNl-y49Ou7E – Full interview discussing LiveDebugger in more depth.
https://github.com/randycoulman/mix_test_interactive – mix test.interactive - an interactive test runner for ExUnit tests that enhances testing workflows.
https://x.com/jskalc/status/1916824204156035300 – Twitter post highlighting mix test.interactive's features including running tests by names, rerunning on file save, and more.
https://erlef.org/blog/eef/election-2025 – Information about upcoming Erlang Ecosystem Foundation board elections with important dates.
https://andrealeopardi.com/posts/async-tests-in-elixir/ – Andrea Leopardi's blog post about reworking singleton architecture to leverage async tests in ExUnit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrAqMyjbkJQ – ElixirConf US 2024 talk by Jason Stiebs on FLAME (Fleeting Lambda Application for Modular Execution).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62OK9B4yRfg – ElixirConf US 2024 talk by James Isenhart on 'OpenTelemetry: From Desire to Dashboard'
https://gridinsoft.com/blogs/slopsquatting-malware/ – Article about slopsquatting, a new malware technique targeting AI-assisted developers by exploiting AI hallucinations of package names.
Do you have some Elixir news to share? Tell us at @ThinkingElixir or email at show@thinkingelixir.com
Find us online
Message the show - Bluesky
Message the show - X
Message the show on Fediverse - @ThinkingElixir@genserver.social
Email the show - show@thinkingelixir.com
Mark Ericksen on X - @brainlid
Mark Ericksen on Bluesky - @brainlid.bsky.social
Mark Ericksen on Fediverse - @brainlid@genserver.social
David Bernheisel on Bluesky - @david.bernheisel.com
David Bernheisel on Fediverse - @dbern@genserver.social
Sponsored By:Paraxial.io: Paraxial.io is sponsoring today's show! Sign up for a free trial of Paraxial.io today and mention Thinking Elixir when you schedule a demo for a limited time offer.

Apr 29, 2025 • 42min
251: SSH Vulnerability and Cookies are Changing
A critical vulnerability in Erlang/OTP's SSH raises alarms about potential risks for Elixir applications. Innovations like Oban Pro's new 'Cascade Mode' feature offer exciting tools for collaborative storytelling. The podcast discusses NERVS device security, stressing timely updates and risk assessment tools. Also highlighted are emerging AI integrations in development, including cost-effective solutions over traditional hiring. The open-sourcing of Semaphore CI sparks interest, alongside advancements in web security techniques, shaping the future of the tech landscape.

Apr 22, 2025 • 14min
250: EEF Elections and Security
The discussion kicks off with important updates on EEF board elections and key dates for candidacy and voting. There’s buzz around ElixirConf US 2025 and ElixirConf EU with details on the speaker lineup. Gleam's new version is set to enhance software security through better visibility into dependencies. The Elixir Secure Coding Training is finding a stable home with the EEF, promising better guidance for developers. Plus, insights on recent security vulnerabilities in the Ash framework and upcoming Phoenix features keep the excitement going!

Apr 15, 2025 • 50min
249: LiveDebugger: Peering Inside a LiveView
Krzysztof Nalepa, a software engineer at Software Mansion and the creator of LiveDebugger, joins the discussion to share insights on debugging LiveView states. He reveals the origins of LiveDebugger and its potential upcoming features. The talk also covers the latest in Phoenix 1.8, including new security enhancements and the exciting concept of ‘scopes’ for better data management. Listeners will appreciate the community-focused initiatives, like the Elixir Secure Coding Training and the importance of collaboration in the development sphere.

Apr 8, 2025 • 58min
248: Security Insights with Paraxial
Michael Lubas, founder of Paraxial.io, shares deep insights into securing Elixir applications. He delves into the critical elements of conducting security audits and the importance of automated versus manual testing in identifying vulnerabilities. The conversation touches on the latest features of Paraxial's software, emphasizing its integration with CI/CD processes. Lubas also discusses the significance of effective communication in security findings and the rising threats in cybersecurity, offering valuable advice for developers in the Elixir community.

Apr 1, 2025 • 20min
247: Phoenix's DaisyUI Facelift
The podcast dives into the controversial integration of DaisyUI into the Phoenix framework, sparking lively community debates. There’s an exploration of the EEF Security Working Group's roadmap aimed at bolstering ecosystem security. Listeners will also discover advancements in Elixir and Erlang tools, including the latest Erlang OTP release and enhancements for faster compilation of dependencies. Plus, the intriguing backstory behind the quirky name 'Goatmire' adds a unique twist to the technical insights shared!

Mar 25, 2025 • 33min
246: Dark Mode Debugger and Its RAG Time
Discover the latest with Plug's dark mode support for debugging, enhancing developer comfort. Learn about co-located hooks to streamline code organization in Phoenix applications. Explore a new RAG library that optimizes AI interactions and document management. Check out Pinchflat, an Elixir-based YouTube downloader, and Autumn, a syntax highlighter that integrates with Markdown. Dive into hardware integration with Phoenix and the new Vite Plus JavaScript toolchain designed to unify development efforts.

Mar 18, 2025 • 1h 15min
245: Supply Chain Security and SBoMs
News includes a new library called phoenix_sync for real-time sync in Postgres-backed Phoenix applications, Peter Solnica released a Text Parser for extracting structured data from text, a useful tip on finding Hex package versions locally with mix hex.info, Wasmex updated to v0.10 with WebAssembly component support, and Chrome introduces a new browser feature similar to LiveView.JS. We also talked with Alistair Woodman and Jonatan Männchen from the EEF about Jonatan's role as CISO, the Security Working Group, and their work on OpenChain compliance for supply-chain security, Software Bill of Materials (SBoMs), and what these initiatives mean for the Elixir community, and more!
Show Notes online - http://podcast.thinkingelixir.com/245
Elixir Community News
https://gigalixir.com/thinking – Gigalixir is sponsoring the show, offering 20% off standard tier prices for a year with promo code "Thinking".
https://github.com/electric-sql/phoenix_sync – New library called phoenix_sync providing real-time sync for Postgres-backed Phoenix applications.
https://hexdocs.pm/phoenix_sync/readme.html – Documentation for phoenix_sync, a solution for building modern, real-time apps with local-first/sync in Elixir.
https://github.com/josevalim/sync – José Valim's original proof of concept repo that was promptly archived.
https://electric-sql.com/ – Electric SQL's platform that syncs subsets of Postgres data into local apps and services, allowing data to be available offline and in-sync.
https://solnic.dev/posts/announcing-textparser-for-elixir/ – Peter Solnica released TextParser, a library for extracting interesting parts of text like hashtags and links.
https://hexdocs.pm/text_parser/readme.html – Documentation for the Text Parser library that helps parse text into structured data.
https://www.elixirstreams.com/tips/mix-hex-info – Elixir stream tip on using mix hex.info to find the latest package version for a Hex package locally, without needing to search on hex.pm or GitHub.
https://github.com/phoenixframework/tailwind/blob/main/README.md#updating-from-tailwind-v3-to-v4 – Guide for upgrading Tailwind to V4 in existing Phoenix applications using Tailwind's automatic upgrade helper.
https://gleam.run/news/hello-echo-hello-git/ – Gleam 1.9.0 release with searchability on hexdocs, Echo debug printing for improved debugging, and ability to depend on Git-hosted dependencies.
https://d-gate.io/blog/everything-i-was-lied-to-about-node-came-true-with-elixir – Blog post discussing how promises made about NodeJS actually came true with Elixir.
https://hexdocs.pm/wasmex/Wasmex.Components.html – Wasmex updated to v0.10 with support for WebAssembly components, enabling applications and components to work together regardless of original programming language.
https://ashweekly.substack.com/p/ash-weekly-issue-8 – AshWeekly Issue 8 covering AshOps with mix task capabilities for CRUD operations and BeaconCMS being included in the Ash HQ installer script.
https://developer.chrome.com/blog/command-and-commandfor – Chrome update brings new browser feature with commandfor and command attributes, similar to Phoenix LiveView.JS but native to browsers.
https://codebeamstockholm.com/ – Code BEAM Lite announced for Stockholm on June 2, 2025 with keynote speaker Björn Gustavsson, the "B" in BEAM.
https://alchemyconf.com/ – AlchemyConf coming up March 31-April 3 in Braga, Portugal. Use discount code THINKINGELIXIR for 10% off.
https://www.gigcityelixir.com/ – GigCity Elixir and NervesConf on May 8-10, 2025 in Chattanooga, TN, USA.
https://www.elixirconf.eu/ – ElixirConf EU on May 15-16, 2025 in Kraków & Virtual.
https://goatmire.com/#tickets – Goatmire tickets are on sale now for the conference on September 10-12, 2025 in Varberg, Sweden.
Do you have some Elixir news to share? Tell us at @ThinkingElixir or email at show@thinkingelixir.com
Discussion Resources
https://elixir-lang.org/blog/2025/02/26/elixir-openchain-certification/
https://cna.erlef.org/ – EEF CVE Numbering Authority
https://erlangforums.com/t/security-working-group-minutes/3451/22
https://podcast.thinkingelixir.com/220 – previous interview with Alistair
https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/cyber-resilience-act – CRA - Cyber Resilience Act
https://www.cisa.gov/ – CISA US Government Agency
https://www.cisa.gov/sbom – Software Bill of Materials
https://oss-review-toolkit.org/ort/ – Desire to integrate with tooling outside the Elixir ecosystem like OSS Review Toolkit
https://github.com/voltone/rebar3_sbom
https://cve.mitre.org/
https://openssf.org/projects/guac/
https://erlef.github.io/security-wg/security_vulnerability_disclosure/ – EEF Security WG Vulnerability Disclosure Guide
Guest Information
https://x.com/maennchen_ – Jonatan on Twitter/X
https://bsky.app/profile/maennchen.dev – Jonatan on Bluesky
https://github.com/maennchen/ – Jonatan on Github
https://maennchen.dev – Jonatan's Blog
https://www.linkedin.com/in/alistair-woodman-51934433 – Alistair Woodman on LinkedIn
awoodman@erlef.org
https://github.com/ahw59/ – Alistair on Github
http://erlef.org/ – Erlang Ecosystem Foundation Website
Find us online
Message the show - Bluesky
Message the show - X
Message the show on Fediverse - @ThinkingElixir@genserver.social
Email the show - show@thinkingelixir.com
Mark Ericksen on X - @brainlid
Mark Ericksen on Bluesky - @brainlid.bsky.social
Mark Ericksen on Fediverse - @brainlid@genserver.social
David Bernheisel on Bluesky - @david.bernheisel.com
David Bernheisel on Fediverse - @dbern@genserver.social
Sponsored By:Gigalixir: Today’s Thinking Elixir show is brought to you by our friends at Gigalixir, the premier deployment platform for Elixir and Phoenix projects. Use the promo code “Thinking” during signup to get 20% off the standard tier prices for an entire year. Or, visit https://gigalixir.com/thinking to sign up and get 20% off your first year. Promo Code: Thinking