Elixir Wizards

In this episode of Elixir Wizards, hosts Charles Suggs and Emma Whamond sit down with Saša Jurić, Elixir mentor and author of Elixir in Action, to discuss software craftsmanship in the age of AI. As AI coding tools become increasingly capable, Saša argues that the real challenge isn't generating code, it's maintaining quality, clarity, and shared understanding within a codebase.   We explore the difference between correct code and good code, and why code is more than a set of instructions for a machine to execute. Code is also documentation, communication, and a long-term investment that future developers must be able to understand and maintain. Saša shares his concerns about the growing "theater of pull requests," where teams go through the motions of code review without creating meaningful opportunities for learning, feedback, or knowledge sharing.   The hosts and Saša talk about practical ways to work effectively with AI, including taking smaller steps, carefully reviewing AI-generated code, and using AI as a collaborative tool rather than an autonomous developer. Throughout the discussion, Saša challenges the industry's obsession with speed and makes the case that the principles of good software development (incremental progress, clear communication, and human judgment) remain important in the age of AI.   Key Topics Discussed The difference between correct code and good code Code as communication, documentation, and shared understanding The "theater of pull requests" and ineffective review practices How AI is changing software development workflows Using AI as a collaborator rather than a replacement Why smaller, incremental changes lead to better outcomes Human oversight in AI-assisted development Balancing development speed with maintainability Pull request size and review effectiveness Commit history as a tool for storytelling and context The risks of accumulating technical debt faster with AI Testing and validating AI-generated code Refactoring AI-generated solutions for clarity Applying agile principles to AI-assisted workflows The role of experience and judgment in software design Why software craftsmanship still matters in the age of AI   Links mentioned Code Complete by Steve McConnell https://khmerbamboo.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/code-complete-2nd-edition-v413hav.pdf Harness AI for DevOps, Testing, and AppSec https://www.harness.io/ Claude Code https://claude.com/product/claude-code Claude Code GitHub https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code Pull Request for Oban https://github.com/oban-bg/oban/pull/331 SMPP https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_Message_Peer-to-Peer OpenAI Codex https://chatgpt.com/codex/ Opus AI https://opus.ai/ Tidewave https://tidewave.ai/ Credo Static Code Analysis https://github.com/rrrene/credo https://smartlogic.io/podcast/elixir-wizards/s11-e09-static-code-analyzer-elixir-credo-ruby-rubocop/ Link to Sasa’s X post https://x.com/sasajuric/status/2029522378196238503 Saša Jurić “Tell Me A Story” at Goatmire https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOrKfCs-mr0 https://meks.quest/blogs/the-theatre-of-pull-requests-and-code-review Looks Good to Me: Constructive Code Reviews by Adrienne Braganza https://www.manning.com/books/looks-good-to-me Towards Maintainable Elixir: Testing https://medium.com/very-big-things/towards-maintainable-elixir-testing-b32ac0604b99 TDD, Where Did It All Go Wrong (Ian Cooper) https://youtu.be/EZ05e7EMOLMSpecial Guest: Saša Jurić.

In Season 15 episode 3, Charles Suggs sits down with Greg Medland, aka “The Elixir Fixer,” to talk about the current state of hiring and the software jobs market in 2026.   Greg shares what he’s seeing from both sides of the hiring process as an Elixir-focused recruiter, from shifting company expectations to the growing importance of specialization, communication skills, and real-world product thinking. We discuss how the market has changed since the 2021–2022 hiring boom, why things feel more uncertain today, and how developers are adapting to a slower, more competitive landscape.   The conversation also explores how AI is affecting hiring workflows, résumé quality, technical interviews, and even the rise of fraudulent candidates. Greg explains why human relationships and reputation still matter more than ever, especially in smaller ecosystems like Elixir where community connections carry real weight.   Along the way, we talk about what junior developers are up against, why senior engineers with domain expertise continue to stand out, and what developers can do to position themselves more effectively in today’s market. Greg shares practical advice for building a sustainable career, developing a clear professional identity, and navigating a rapidly changing industry.   Topics discussed in this episode: The current state of the Elixir job market Hiring trends and market shifts since 2021–2022 How AI is changing hiring and recruiting workflows Fraudulent candidates and AI-generated résumés Domain expertise vs. generalist engineering skills Product thinking and customer-focused development What companies are looking for in 2026 Junior developer challenges in the current market Why senior specialists remain in demand Networking and relationship-building in tech Open source contributions and visibility in the Elixir community Standing out in a crowded hiring environment Résumé quality and application strategies The role of personal branding for developers Remote work trends and geographic hiring patterns Technical interview expectations and evaluation changes Startup vs. enterprise hiring differences Human connection in an increasingly automated industry Career resilience and long-term positioning Building a sustainable software engineering career   Links mentioned: Socially Responsible Recruitment https://sr2rec.com/en/ Greg’s LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/elixirfixer/ Greg's email address: greg@sr2rec.com

In the Elixir Wizards season 15 premiere, host Charles Suggs is joined by Holden Oullette, Senior Security Software Engineer at Netflix and maintainer of Sobelow, to talk about how security is evolving in the Elixir ecosystem. We discuss how certain features of the Elixir programming language (like functional patterns and server-side rendering) provide natural immunity against some common vulnerabilities, and what that means as the language continues to grow. Holden shares how tools like Sobelow are adapting and how new technologies like LLMs and Elixir's type system may help to strengthen security practices. We cover supply chain risks, ecosystem-level responsibility and reputation management, and how initiatives like AEGIS are prepping the community for more widespread adoption. We wrap with practical tips for teams to be more security-minded throughout the software development lifecycle without slowing everything down. Key topics discussed in this episode: How Elixir’s design influences secure-by-default development Security tradeoffs between server-side and client-heavy architecture Supply chain risks and what the ecosystem is doing to prepare Static analysis with tools like Sobelow and AST-based pattern matching Where LLMs fit into modern security workflows The role of Elixir’s upcoming type system in improving tooling Securing CI/CD pipelines and production environments Balancing development speed with security requirements Dependency management and vulnerability monitoring The AEGIS Initiative and ecosystem-wide security efforts Links mentioned: Holden’s GitHub https://github.com/houllette Elixir Programming Language https://elixir-lang.org/ Security-focused static analysis for the Phoenix Framework https://github.com/nccgroup/sobelow Code Security for Builders https://semgrep.dev/ Erlang Ecosystems Foundation https://erlef.org/ Phoenix Framework https://www.phoenixframework.org/ WebSockets https://hexdocs.pm/phoenix_live_view/Phoenix.LiveView.Socket.html https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/WebSockets_API Open Worldwide Application Security Project https://owasp.org/ https://github.com/elixir-ecto/ecto Log4j Vulnerability https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/information/log4j-vulnerability-what-everyone-needs-to-know React2Shell Vulnerability https://www.finra.org/guidance/guidance/cybersecurity-advisory-react2shell The Heartbleed Bug https://www.heartbleed.com/ Elixir Type System https://hexdocs.pm/elixir/main/gradual-set-theoretic-types.html Holden Oullette “Securing the Future: A Roadmap to Making Elixir the Safest Language” ElixirConf 2024 https://youtu.be/gpvKxS6sY8Y Aegis Initiative: Supply Chain Security & Compliance Initiative https://security.erlef.org/aegis/ OIDC Tokens https://openid.net/ Anthropic’s Claude Mythos & Cybersecurity https://red.anthropic.com/2026/mythos-preview/ Igniter Code Generation Framework https://github.com/ash-project/igniter https://smartlogic.io/podcast/elixir-wizards/s13-e01-igniter-code-generation-zach-daniel/ Secure-by-default open source software https://www.chainguard.dev/ https://www.docker.com/ https://github.com/dependabot https://docs.aws.amazon.com/apigatewayv2/latest/api-reference/apis-apiid-models.html https://nixos.org/ https://smartlogic.io/podcast/elixir-wizards/s14-e08-nix-for-elixir-apps/ https://fedoraproject.org/ https://kubernetes.io/ https://netflix.github.io/chaosmonkey/ https://netflixtechblog.com/all?topic=chaos-monkeySpecial Guest: Holden Oullette.

In this episode of Elixir Wizards, host Sundi Myint chats with SmartLogic engineers and fellow Wizards Dan Ivovich and Charles Suggs about the practical tooling that surrounds Elixir in a consultancy setting. We dig into how standardized dev environments, sensible scaffolding, and clear observability help teams ship quickly across many client projects without turning every app into a snowflake. Join us for a grounded tour of what’s working for us today (and what we’ve retired), plus how we evaluate new tech (including AI) through a pragmatic, Elixir-first lens. Key topics discussed in this episode: Standardizing across projects: why consistent environments matter in consultancy work Nix (and flakes) for reproducible dev setups and faster onboarding Igniter to scaffold common patterns (auth, config, workflows) without boilerplate drift Deployment approaches: OTP releases, runtime config, and Ansible playbooks Frontend pipeline evolution: from Brunch/Webpack to esbuild + Tailwind Observability in practice: Prometheus metrics and Grafana dashboards Handling time-series and sensor data When Explorer can be the database Picking the right tool: Elixir where it shines, integrations where it counts Using AI with intention: code exploration, prototypes, and guardrails for IP/security Keeping quality high across multiple codebases: tests, telemetry, and sensible conventions Reducing context-switching costs with shared patterns and playbooks Links mentioned: http://smartlogic.io https://nix.dev/ https://github.com/ash-project/igniter Elixir Wizards S13E01 Igniter with Zach Daniel https://youtu.be/WM9iQlQSF_g https://github.com/elixir-explorer/explorer Elixir Wizards S14E09 Explorer with Chris Grainger https://youtu.be/OqJDsCF0El0 Elixir Wizards S14E08 Nix with Norbert (Nobbz) Melzer https://youtu.be/yymUcgy4OAk https://jqlang.org/ https://github.com/BurntSushi/ripgrep https://github.com/resources/articles/devops/ci-cd https://prometheus.io/ https://capistranorb.com/ https://ansible.com/  https://hexdocs.pm/phoenix/releases.html https://brunch.io/ https://webpack.js.org/loaders/css-loader/ https://tailwindcss.com/ https://sass-lang.com/dart-sass/ https://grafana.com/ https://pragprog.com/titles/passweather/build-a-weather-station-with-elixir-and-nerves/ https://www.datadoghq.com/ https://sqlite.org/ Elixir Wizards S14E06 SDUI at Cars.com with Zack Kayser https://youtu.be/nloRcgngT_k https://github.com/features/copilot https://openai.com/codex/ https://www.anthropic.com/claude-code YouTube Video: Vibe Coding TEDCO's RFP https://youtu.be/i1ncgXZJHZs Blog: https://smartlogic.io/blog/how-i-used-ai-to-vibe-code-a-website-called-for-in-tedco-rfp/ Blog: https://smartlogic.io/blog/from-vibe-to-viable-turning-ai-built-prototypes-into-market-ready-mvps/ https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/eragon-by-christopher-paolini/246801 https://tidewave.ai/ !! We Want to Hear Your Thoughts *!!* Have questions, comments, or topics you'd like us to discuss in our season recap episode? Share your thoughts with us here: https://forms.gle/Vm7mcYRFDgsqqpDC9

In this episode, Elixir Wizard Charles Suggs sits down with Victor Björklund to map out the landscape of Python integration in Elixir applications. From HTTP APIs and external services to embedded runtimes like ErlPort, PythonX, and the Venomous library, we evaluate each approach’s impact on performance, coupling, and developer experience. Victor draws on real-world examples like Scrapy-based web scraping and the Swedish BankID authentication to illustrate best practices for error handling, process pooling, and effective telemetry across the BEAM boundary. We also tackle the practical side of deployment: packaging Python dependencies in Mix releases, mocking Python calls in tests, and deploying multi-language apps with confidence. Wrapping up, Victor shares his wishlist for even tighter interop (think multiple Python interpreter instances per VM) and offers low-risk entry points, like automating monthly reports, for teams ready to explore the power of Python’s ecosystem within Elixir. Key topics discussed in this episode: Integration methods: HTTP APIs, ports, ErlPort, PythonX, Venomous Performance vs. coupling trade-offs across interop patterns Managing the Global Interpreter Lock (GIL) with process pools Leveraging mature Python libraries (Scrapy, BankID, etc.) Error handling strategies across BEAM↔Python boundaries Testing mixed-language systems: mocks and integration tests Packaging and deploying Python alongside Elixir releases Monitoring and telemetry for multi-language pipelines Functional programming advantages in Elixir workflows Tool selection guidance by project requirements Future possibilities: multiple Python interpreters in one VM Community resources for Python–Elixir interop help Links mentioned: jawdropping.io https://cplusplus.com/ https://www.python.org/ https://react.dev/ https://nodejs.org/en https://erlport.org/ https://hexdocs.pm/pythonx/Pythonx.html https://pyrlang.github.io/Pyrlang/ Python GIL (Global Interpreter Lock): https://realpython.com/python-gil/ https://github.com/devinus/poolboy https://hexdocs.pm/venomous/Venomous.html Try-catch https://syntaxdb.com/ref/python/try-catch https://www.scrapy.org/ https://www.bankid.com/en/ https://www.phoenixframework.org/ https://www.tzeyiing.com/posts/using-a-hunky-poolboy-to-manage-your-python-erlport-processes-in-elixir/ https://medium.com/stuart-engineering/how-we-use-python-within-elixir-486eb4d266f9 https://x.com/bjorklundvictor https://victorbjorklund.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/victorbjorklund/ hello@victorbjorklund.com

In this episode of Elixir Wizards, Dan Ivovich and Charles Suggs sit down with Norbert “NobbZ” Melzer to discuss how Nix enables reproducible builds, consistent development environments, and reliable deployments for Elixir projects. Norbert shares his journey from Ruby to Elixir, contrasts Nix with NixOS, and walks us through flakes, nix-shell workflows, sandboxed builds, and rollback capabilities. Along the way, we cover real-world tips for managing Hex authentication, integrating Nix into CI/CD, wrapping Mix releases in Docker, and avoiding common pitfalls, such as flake performance traps. Whether you’re spinning up your first dev shell or rolling out a production release on NixOS, you’ll come away with a clear, gradual adoption path and pointers to the community mentors and resources that can help you succeed. Key topics discussed in this episode: Reproducible, sandboxed builds vs. traditional package managers Nix flakes for locked dependency graphs and version pinning nix-shell: creating consistent development environments across teams Rollback and immutable deployment strategies with Nix/NixOS Integrating Nix with the Elixir toolchain: Hex, Mix, and CI/CD pipelines Flakes vs. standard shells: when and how to transition Handling private Hex repositories and authentication in Nix Cross-platform support (macOS/Darwin, Linux variants) Channels, overlays, and overrides for customizing builds Dockerizing Elixir releases using Nix-based images Home Manager for personal environment configuration Security patching workflows in a Nix-managed infrastructure Common pitfalls: flake performance, sandbox workarounds, and symlink behavior Community resources and the importance of human mentorship Links mentioned: https://jobrad-loop.com/ https://nixos.org/ https://nix.dev/ https://nix.dev/manual/nix/2.18/command-ref/nix-shell https://github.com/nix-darwin/nix-darwin https://asdf-vm.com/ https://go.dev/ https://docs.redhat.com/en/documentation/red_hat_enterprise_linux/8/html/packaging_and_distributing_software/introduction-to-rpm_packaging-and-distributing-software Nix Flake templates for Elixir https://github.com/jurraca/elixir-templates https://www.docker.com/ https://www.sudo.ws/ https://ubuntu.com/ https://archlinux.org/ Nobbz’s blog https://blog.nobbz.dev/blog/ https://ayats.org/blog/nix-workflow @nobbz.dev on BlueSky @NobbZ1981 on Twitter https://www.linkedin.com/in/norbert-melzer/ https://youtu.be/HbtbdLolHeM?si=6M7fulTQZmuWGGCM (talk on CodeBEAM)

Zack Kayser, Staff Software Engineer at cars.com, joins Elixir Wizards Sundi Myint and Charles Suggs to discuss how Cars.com adopted a server-driven UI (SDUI) architecture powered by Elixir and GraphQL to deliver consistent, updatable interfaces across web, iOS, and Android. We explore why SDUI matters for feature velocity, how a mature design system and schema planning make it feasible, and what it takes, culturally and technically, to move UI logic from client code into a unified backend. Key topics discussed in this episode: SDUI fundamentals and how it differs from traditional server-side rendering GraphQL as the single source of truth for UI components and layouts Defining abstract UI components on the server to eliminate duplicate logic Leveraging a robust design system as the foundation for SDUI success API-first development and cross-team coordination for schema changes Mock data strategies for early UI feedback without breaking clients Handling breaking changes and hot-fix deployments via server-side updates Enabling flexible layouts and A/B testing through server-controlled ordering Balancing server-driven vs. client-managed UI Iterative SDUI rollout versus “big-bang” migrations in large codebases Using type specs and Dialyxir for clear cross-team communication Integration testing at the GraphQL layer to catch UI regressions early Quality engineering’s role in validating server-driven interfaces Production rollback strategies across web and native platforms Considerations for greenfield projects adopting SDUI from day one Zack and Ethan's upcoming Instrumenting Elixir Apps book Links mentioned: https://cars.com https://github.com/absinthe-graphql/absinthe Telemetry & Observability for Elixir Apps Ep: https://youtu.be/1V2xEPqqCso https://www.phoenixframework.org/blog/phoenix-liveview-1.0-released https://hexdocs.pm/phoenix_live_view/assigns-eex.html https://graphql.org/ https://tailwindcss.com/ https://github.com/jeremyjh/dialyxir https://github.com/rrrene/credo GraphQL Schema https://graphql.org/learn/schema/ SwiftUI https://developer.apple.com/documentation/swiftui/  Kotlin https://kotlinlang.org/ https://medium.com/airbnb-engineering/a-deep-dive-into-airbnbs-server-driven-ui-system-842244c5f5 Zack’s Twitter: https://x.com/kayserzl/ Zack’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zack-kayser-93b96b88 Special Guest: Zack Kayser.

Today on Elixir Wizards, hosts Sundi Myint and Charles Suggs catch up with Sean Moriarity, co-creator of the Nx project and author of Machine Learning in Elixir. Sean reflects on his transition from the military to a civilian job building large language models (LLMs) for software. He explains how the Elixir ML landscape has evolved since the rise of ChatGPT, shifting from building native model implementations toward orchestrating best-in-class tools. We discuss the pragmatics of adding ML to Elixir apps: when to start with out-of-the-box LLMs vs. rolling your own, how to hook into Python-based libraries, and how to tap Elixir’s distributed computing for scalable workloads. Sean closes with advice for developers embarking on Elixir ML projects, from picking motivating use cases to experimenting with domain-specific languages for AI-driven workflows. Key topics discussed in this episode: The evolution of the Nx (Numerical Elixir) project and what's new with ML in Elixir Treating Elixir as an orchestration layer for external ML tools When to rely on off-the-shelf LLMs vs. custom models Strategies for integrating Elixir with Python-based ML libraries Leveraging Elixir’s distributed computing strengths for ML tasks Starting ML projects with existing data considerations Synthetic data generation using large language models Exploring DSLs to streamline AI-powered business logic Balancing custom frameworks and service-based approaches in production Pragmatic advice for getting started with ML in Elixir Links mentioned: https://hexdocs.pm/nx/intro-to-nx.html https://pragprog.com/titles/smelixir/machine-learning-in-elixir/ https://magic.dev/ https://smartlogic.io/podcast/elixir-wizards/s10-e10-sean-moriarity-machine-learning-elixir/ Pragmatic Bookshelf: https://pragprog.com/ ONNX Runtime Bindings for Elixir: https://github.com/elixir-nx/ortex https://github.com/elixir-nx/bumblebee Silero Voice Activity Detector: https://github.com/snakers4/silero-vad Paulo Valente Graph Splitting Article: https://dockyard.com/blog/2024/11/06/2024/nx-sharding-update-part-1 Thomas Millar's Twitter https://x.com/thmsmlr https://github.com/thmsmlr/instructor_ex https://phoenix.new/ https://tidewave.ai/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BERT_(language_model) Talk: PyTorch: Fast Differentiable Dynamic Graphs in Python by Soumith Chintala https://hexdocs.pm/axon/Axon.html https://hexdocs.pm/exla/EXLA.html VLM (Vision Language Models Explained): https://huggingface.co/blog/vlms https://github.com/ggml-org/llama.cpp Vector Search in Elixir: https://github.com/elixir-nx/hnswlib https://www.amplified.ai/ Llama 4 https://mistral.ai/ Mistral Open-Source LLMs: https://mistral.ai/ https://github.com/openai/whisper Elixir Wizards Season 5: Adopting Elixir https://smartlogic.io/podcast/elixir-wizards/season-five https://docs.ray.io/en/latest/ray-overview/index.html https://hexdocs.pm/flame/FLAME.html https://firecracker-microvm.github.io/ https://fly.io/ https://kubernetes.io/ WireGuard VPNs https://www.wireguard.com/ https://hexdocs.pm/phoenixpubsub/Phoenix.PubSub.html https://www.manning.com/books/deep-learning-with-python Code BEAM 2025 Keynote: Designing LLM Native Systems - Sean Moriarity Ash Framework https://ash-hq.org/ Sean’s Twitter: https://x.com/seanmoriarity Sean’s Personal Blog: https://seanmoriarity.com/ Erlang Ecosystems Foundation Slack: https://erlef.org/slack-invite/erlef Elixir Forum https://elixirforum.com/ Sean’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sean-m-ba231a149/Special Guest: Sean Moriarity.

Connor Rigby joins the Elixir Wizards to talk about Blue Heron BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) support for Elixir apps. Blue Heron implements the BLE specs in pure Elixir, leveraging binary pattern matching and concurrent message processing to handle Bluetooth protocols. Unlike most solutions that require C ports or NIFs, Blue Heron runs entirely in user space, so it works seamlessly in both Nerves-based embedded projects and (eventually) desktop Elixir applications. We discuss how Nerves development differs from building Phoenix apps. Connor shares challenges he's experienced with hardware compatibility, where some chips only partially implement the spec, and he discusses the surprisingly deep (but sometimes incomplete) world of BLE device profiles. His tip for anyone entering the BLE space: read the official spec instead of trusting secondhand blog posts. Tools like Nerves LiveBook give you hands-on examples, so you can get a BLE prototype running on a Raspberry Pi and your phone in no time. Key topics discussed in this episode: Blue Heron origins and “bird” naming convention BLE vs. Bluetooth Classic: core differences Pure Elixir implementation—no C dependencies Binary pattern matching for packet parsing Hardware transport options: UART, SPI, USB, SDIO GenServer patterns in Nerves vs. Phoenix Linux requirement and power-consumption trade-offs GATT (Generic Attribute Table) implementation patterns SQLite integration for Nerves apps Hardware chip quirks and spec compliance Manufacturer-specific commands and workarounds BLE device profiles and spec gaps Security Management Profile (SMP) for encryption Device connection and pairing workflows Web vs. embedded development differences Where to get started: hardware recommendations and docs Links mentioned: https://github.com/ConnorRigby/ https://github.com/blue-heron/ https://nerves-project.org/ BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluetooth_Low_Energy https://developer.apple.com/ibeacon/ https://learnyousomeerlang.com/building-otp-applications Linux https://www.linux.org/ HCI (Host Controller Interface) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Host_controller_interface Circuits UART Library https://hexdocs.pm/circuits_uart/readme.html SPI (Serial Peripheral Interface) https://github.com/elixir-circuits/circuits_spi SDIO (Secure Digital Input Output https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SDIO Raspberry Pi https://www.raspberrypi.com/ Coral SoM Dev Board https://coral.ai/products/dev-board/ BeagleBone Single-Board Linux Computer https://www.beagleboard.org/boards/beaglebone-black https://www.bluetooth.com/bluetooth-resources/intro-to-bluetooth-gap-gatt/ Genservers https://hexdocs.pm/elixir/1.12/GenServer.html https://hexdocs.pm/ecto/Ecto.html https://github.com/elixir-sqlite/ecto_sqlite3 https://github.com/nerves-livebook/nerves_livebookSpecial Guest: Connor Rigby.

For the Season 13 finale, Elixir Wizards Dan and Charles are joined by Spin42 Engineers Marc Lainez, Thibault Poncelet, and Loïc Vigneron to discuss their work retrofitting a 2007 VW Polo and creating an Open Vehicle Control System (OVCS). Using Elixir, Nerves, and Raspberry Pis, the team is reimagining vehicle technology to extend the lifespan of older cars and reduce waste—all while making the process approachable and open source. The Spin42 team shares the technical details behind OVCS and how they use Elixir and Nerves to interact with the CAN bus and build a Vehicle Management System (VMS) to coordinate various vehicle components. They dive into the challenges of reverse engineering CAN messages, designing a distributed architecture with Elixir processes, and ensuring safety with fail-safe modes and emergency shutoffs. Beyond the technical, the team discusses their motivation for the project—upgrading older vehicles with modern features to keep them on the road, building an open-source platform to share their findings with others, and above all-- to just have fun. They explore potential applications for OVCS in boats, construction equipment, and other vehicles, while reflecting on the hurdles of certifying the system for road use. If you’ve ever wondered how Elixir and Nerves can drive innovation beyond software, this episode is packed with insights into automotive computing, hardware development, and the collaborative potential of open-source projects. Topics Discussed in this Episode: Retrofitting a 2007 VW Polo with electric engines and modern tech Building an open-source Vehicle Control System (OVCS) using Elixir and Nerves Leveraging Elixir to interact with the CAN bus and parse proprietary messages Designing a Vehicle Management System (VMS) to coordinate vehicle components Developing custom hardware for CAN communication Creating a YAML-based DSL for CAN message and frame descriptions Building a distributed architecture using Elixir processes Ensuring safety with fail-safe modes and emergency shutoffs Using Flutter and Nerves to build a custom infotainment system Exploring autonomous driving features with a ROS2 bridge Developing remote control functionality with a Mavlink transmitter Testing OVCS features at scale with a Traxxas RC car (OVCS Mini) Challenges of certifying OVCS for road use and meeting regulatory requirements Encouraging community contributions to expand OVCS functionality Balancing open-source projects with contract work to sustain development The fun and fulfillment of experimenting with Elixir beyond traditional applications Links mentioned: https://www.spin42.com/ https://nerves-project.org/ Quadcopter https://github.com/Spin42/elicopter https://github.com/linux-can/can-utils https://docs.kernel.org/networking/can.html https://github.com/open-vehicle-control-system/cantastic https://github.com/commaai/opendbc https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAN_bus#CAN_FD https://comma.ai/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAN_FD https://webkit.org/wpe/ https://docs.nvidia.com/jetson/archives/r35.4.1/DeveloperGuide/text/SD/WindowingSystems/WestonWayland.html https://buildroot.org/ https://vuejs.org/ https://flutter.dev/ https://github.com/smartrent/elixir_flutter_embedder https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/raspberry-pi-5/ The Rabbit Pickup https://www.hemmings.com/stories/value-guide-1980-83-volkswagen-pickup https://www.expresslrs.org/software/mavlink https://industrial-training-master.readthedocs.io/en/melodic/_source/session7/ROS1-ROS2-bridge.html https://github.com/ros2/rcl https://github.com/open-vehicle-control-system/traxxas Contact Marc, Thibault, and Loïc: info@spin42.comSpecial Guests: Loïc Vigneron, Marc Lainez, and Thibault Poncelet.

Zack Kayser and Ethan Gunderson, Software Engineers at Cars Commerce, join the Elixir Wizards to share their expertise on telemetry and observability in large-scale systems. Drawing from their experience at Cars.com—a platform handling high traffic and concurrent users—they discuss the technical and organizational challenges of scaling applications, managing microservices, and implementing effective observability practices. The conversation highlights the pivotal role observability plays in diagnosing incidents, anticipating system behavior, and asking unplanned questions of a system. Zack and Ethan explore tracing, spans, and the unique challenges introduced by LiveView deployments and WebSocket connections. They also discuss the benefits of OpenTelemetry as a vendor-agnostic instrumentation tool, the significance of Elixir’s telemetry library, and practical steps for developers starting their observability journey. Additionally, Zack and Ethan introduce their upcoming book, Instrumenting Elixir Applications, which will offer guidance on integrating telemetry and tracing into Elixir projects. Topics Discussed: Cars.com’s transition to Elixir and scaling solutions The role of observability in large-scale systems Uncovering insights by asking unplanned system questions Managing high-traffic and concurrent users with Elixir Diagnosing incidents and preventing recurrence using telemetry Balancing data collection with storage constraints Sampling strategies for large data volumes Tracing and spans in observability LiveView’s influence on deployments and WebSocket behavior Mitigating downstream effects of socket reconnections Contextual debugging for system behavior insights Observability strategies for small vs. large-scale apps OpenTelemetry for vendor-agnostic instrumentation Leveraging OpenTelemetry contrib libraries for easy setup Elixir’s telemetry library as an ecosystem cornerstone Tracing as the first step in observability Differentiating observability from business analytics Profiling with OpenTelemetry Erlang project tools The value of profiling for performance insights Making observability tools accessible and impactful for developers Links Mentioned https://www.carscommerce.inc/ https://www.cars.com/ https://hexdocs.pm/telemetry/readme.html https://kubernetes.io/ https://github.com/ninenines/cowboy https://hexdocs.pm/bandit/Bandit.html https://hexdocs.pm/broadway/Broadway.html https://hexdocs.pm/oban/Oban.html https://www.dynatrace.com/ https://www.jaegertracing.io/ https://newrelic.com/ https://www.datadoghq.com/ https://www.honeycomb.io/ https://fly.io/phoenix-files/how-phoenix-liveview-form-auto-recovery-works/ https://www.elastic.co/ https://opentelemetry.io/ https://opentelemetry.io/docs/languages/erlang/ https://opentelemetry.io/docs/concepts/signals/traces/ https://opentelemetry.io/docs/specs/otel/logs/ https://github.com/runfinch/finch https://hexdocs.pm/telemetry_metrics/Telemetry.Metrics.html https://opentelemetry.io/blog/2024/state-profiling https://www.instrumentingelixir.com/ https://prometheus.io/ https://www.datadoghq.com/dg/monitor/ts/statsd/ https://x.com/kayserzl https://github.com/zkayser https://bsky.app/profile/ethangunderson.com  https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contribSpecial Guests: Ethan Gunderson and Zack Kayser.

Justin Tormey, co-founder of Castmagic, joins the Elixir Wizards to discuss building an AI-powered content creation app. Castmagic repurposes audio and video into social media posts, blog articles, newsletters, and more. The tech stack leverages OpenAI and Anthropic LLMs with Elixir as the coordination layer and Phoenix LiveView powering the front end. Justin dives into the technical details of Castmagic, including the integration of JavaScript libraries like ProseMirror and TipTap through LiveSvelte, as well as enabling real-time collaboration with CRDTs and YDoc. He shares the benefits and challenges of using Elixir for rapid development, as well as the trade-offs between custom code and off-the-shelf solutions. The conversation also covers Justin’s entrepreneurial journey, highlighting the advantages of bootstrapping over venture capital, the importance of acquiring early customers, and creative marketing strategies like affiliate programs and software marketplaces. Whether you're an Elixirist exploring machine learning or an aspiring tech founder, tune in to learn more about AI with Elixir, navigating startup challenges, and turning ideas into impactful software. Topics discussed in this episode: Building Castmagic to generate content from audio and video for creators Using AI services like OpenAI and Anthropic for transcription and workflows Elixir as the coordination layer for complex processes Rapid UI development with Phoenix LiveView Integrating rich text editing libraries through LiveSvelte Enabling collaborative editing with CRDTs and YDoc Balancing offline functionality with cloud-based AI tools Challenges of working with external AI services Exploring the future of multimodal AI in product development Bootstrapping vs. venture capital: benefits and challenges Strategies for finding distribution channels and early adopters Creative approaches to marketing, including affiliates and marketplaces Balancing engineering efforts with customer and business needs Practical advice for navigating the early stages of a startup Links mentioned: https://www.castmagic.io/ https://pragprog.com/titles/jaerlang2/programming-erlang-2nd-edition/ https://www.blockchain.com/ https://fly.io/ https://hexdocs.pm/live_svelte/readme.html https://github.com/woutdp/live_svelte https://prosemirror.net/ https://tiptap.dev/ https://docs.yjs.dev/api/y.doc https://hexdocs.pm/polymorphic_embed/readme.html https://github.com/elixir-nx/nx https://github.com/elixir-nx/tokenizers https://github.com/thmsmlr/instructor_ex https://openai.com/ https://www.anthropic.com/ https://getoban.pro/ https://github.com/wojtekmach/req https://ollama.com/ https://x.com/j_tormeySpecial Guest: Justin Tormey.

Today on Elixir Wizards, Owen Bickford, fellow Wizard and creator of the WebauthnComponents library, joins us to talk about building passwordless authentication for Phoenix LiveView applications. Owen walks us through the evolution of authentication—touching on everything from plain text passwords to multi-factor setups—and explains the security flaws and user experience issues each method presents. He describes passkeys, a solution based on the WebAuthn API, which improves security and ease of use. The conversation covers cross-device support for passkeys, the role of password managers in keeping credentials synced, and ideas for enhancing WebauthnComponents, like supporting multiple passkeys per account. Owen invites listeners to contribute to the library’s development on GitHub and emphasizes the role passkeys play in improving app security and user experience. Topics discussed in this episode: Passkeys and the shift toward passwordless authentication WebAuthn API and its role in secure login systems Creating the WebauthnComponents library for Phoenix LiveView History of authentication from basic passwords to multi-factor approaches Security gaps and user experience challenges with traditional methods Asymmetric cryptography’s impact on secure logins Hardware-based credential storage and generation with Trusted Platform Modules Structure and components of the WebAuthn library: dependencies, LiveViews, and Ecto schemas Live components for real-time server-browser interactions Passkeys as a primary or secondary authentication method Key business considerations when choosing authentication methods Cross-device support for passkeys and credential syncing Strategies for passkey recovery if devices are lost Ensuring secure access in unattended environments Elixir’s ecosystem advantages for building authentication systems Simplifying JavaScript complexity within Elixir projects Future-proofing WebAuthn Components for seamless updates Using Igniter to enhance customization and refactoring Developer-friendly tools for secure authentication Inviting community contributions on GitHub and the Elixir forum Plans for telemetry and performance tracking Why adopting passkeys is a win for app security and user experience Links mentioned: https://github.com/liveshowy/webauthn_components https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_(cryptography) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_table https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-factor_authentication https://oauth.net/2/ https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Web_Authentication_API https://www.w3.org/TR/webauthn-3/ https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/tips/windows-hello https://trustedcomputinggroup.org/resource/trusted-platform-module-tpm-summary/ https://hexdocs.pm/phoenix/mix_phx_gen_auth.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public-key_cryptography SSH Protocol (Secure Shell) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Shell https://www.yubico.com/products/yubikey-5-overview/ https://fidoalliance.org/how-fido-works/ https://1password.com/ https://keepassxc.org/ https://hexdocs.pm/ecto_ulid/Ecto.ULID.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universally_unique_identifier https://hexdocs.pm/ecto/Ecto.Schema.html https://hexdocs.pm/sourceror/ https://github.com/ash-project/igniter Forum thread: https://elixirforum.com/t/webauthnlivecomponent-passwordless-auth-for-liveview-apps/49941