Terminal.skills
Skills/phoenix
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phoenix

Phoenix is an Elixir web framework built on the BEAM VM for fault-tolerant, real-time applications. It features LiveView for interactive UIs without JavaScript, channels for WebSockets, and Ecto for database access with compile-time query validation.

#elixir#web#realtime#liveview#websocket#functional
terminal-skillsv1.0.0
Works with:claude-codeopenai-codexgemini-clicursor
Source

Usage

$
✓ Installed phoenix v1.0.0

Getting Started

  1. Install the skill using the command above
  2. Open your AI coding agent (Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, or Cursor)
  3. Reference the skill in your prompt
  4. The AI will use the skill's capabilities automatically

Example Prompts

  • "Review the open pull requests and summarize what needs attention"
  • "Generate a changelog from the last 20 commits on the main branch"

Information

Version
1.0.0
Author
terminal-skills
Category
Development
License
Apache-2.0

Documentation

Phoenix leverages the Erlang VM (BEAM) for massive concurrency and fault tolerance. LiveView enables rich, real-time UIs with server-rendered HTML — no JavaScript framework needed.

Installation

bash
# Install Phoenix and create project
mix archive.install hex phx_new
mix phx.new my_app --database postgres
cd my_app
mix setup   # deps.get + ecto.create + assets

Project Structure

# Phoenix project layout
lib/my_app/
├── application.ex          # OTP supervision tree
├── repo.ex                 # Ecto repo
├── accounts/               # Context module
│   ├── user.ex             # Ecto schema
│   └── accounts.ex         # Business logic
lib/my_app_web/
├── endpoint.ex             # HTTP entry point
├── router.ex               # Routes
├── controllers/            # REST controllers
├── live/                   # LiveView modules
├── components/             # Function components
└── templates/              # HEEx templates

Ecto Schema and Migration

elixir
# lib/my_app/articles/article.ex — Ecto schema
defmodule MyApp.Articles.Article do
  use Ecto.Schema
  import Ecto.Changeset

  schema "articles" do
    field :title, :string
    field :slug, :string
    field :body, :string
    field :published, :boolean, default: false
    belongs_to :author, MyApp.Accounts.User
    timestamps()
  end

  def changeset(article, attrs) do
    article
    |> cast(attrs, [:title, :body, :published])
    |> validate_required([:title, :body])
    |> validate_length(:title, max: 200)
    |> unique_constraint(:slug)
    |> generate_slug()
  end

  defp generate_slug(changeset) do
    case get_change(changeset, :title) do
      nil -> changeset
      title -> put_change(changeset, :slug, Slug.slugify(title))
    end
  end
end
elixir
# priv/repo/migrations/20240101000000_create_articles.exs — migration
defmodule MyApp.Repo.Migrations.CreateArticles do
  use Ecto.Migration

  def change do
    create table(:articles) do
      add :title, :string, null: false, size: 200
      add :slug, :string, null: false
      add :body, :text, null: false
      add :published, :boolean, default: false
      add :author_id, references(:users, on_delete: :delete_all), null: false
      timestamps()
    end

    create unique_index(:articles, [:slug])
  end
end

Context Module

elixir
# lib/my_app/articles/articles.ex — business logic context
defmodule MyApp.Articles do
  import Ecto.Query
  alias MyApp.Repo
  alias MyApp.Articles.Article

  def list_published do
    Article
    |> where(published: true)
    |> order_by(desc: :inserted_at)
    |> preload(:author)
    |> Repo.all()
  end

  def get_article!(id), do: Repo.get!(Article, id) |> Repo.preload(:author)

  def create_article(attrs) do
    %Article{}
    |> Article.changeset(attrs)
    |> Repo.insert()
  end

  def update_article(%Article{} = article, attrs) do
    article
    |> Article.changeset(attrs)
    |> Repo.update()
  end
end

Router

elixir
# lib/my_app_web/router.ex — routing
defmodule MyAppWeb.Router do
  use MyAppWeb, :router

  pipeline :browser do
    plug :accepts, ["html"]
    plug :fetch_session
    plug :fetch_live_flash
    plug :put_root_layout, html: {MyAppWeb.Layouts, :root}
    plug :protect_from_forgery
    plug :put_secure_browser_headers
  end

  pipeline :api do
    plug :accepts, ["json"]
  end

  scope "/", MyAppWeb do
    pipe_through :browser
    live "/articles", ArticleLive.Index, :index
    live "/articles/:slug", ArticleLive.Show, :show
  end

  scope "/api", MyAppWeb.API do
    pipe_through :api
    resources "/articles", ArticleController, only: [:index, :show, :create]
  end
end

LiveView

elixir
# lib/my_app_web/live/article_live/index.ex — LiveView for article list
defmodule MyAppWeb.ArticleLive.Index do
  use MyAppWeb, :live_view

  alias MyApp.Articles

  @impl true
  def mount(_params, _session, socket) do
    articles = Articles.list_published()
    {:ok, assign(socket, articles: articles, search: "")}
  end

  @impl true
  def handle_event("search", %{"query" => query}, socket) do
    articles = Articles.search(query)
    {:noreply, assign(socket, articles: articles, search: query)}
  end
end
heex
<!-- lib/my_app_web/live/article_live/index.html.heex — LiveView template -->
<div>
  <h1>Articles</h1>
  <form phx-change="search" phx-debounce="300">
    <input type="text" name="query" value={@search} placeholder="Search..." />
  </form>
  <div :for={article <- @articles}>
    <h2><.link navigate={~p"/articles/#{article.slug}"}><%= article.title %></.link></h2>
    <p>By <%= article.author.name %></p>
  </div>
</div>

JSON Controller

elixir
# lib/my_app_web/controllers/api/article_controller.ex — API controller
defmodule MyAppWeb.API.ArticleController do
  use MyAppWeb, :controller
  alias MyApp.Articles

  def index(conn, _params) do
    articles = Articles.list_published()
    json(conn, %{data: Enum.map(articles, &article_json/1)})
  end

  def create(conn, %{"article" => params}) do
    case Articles.create_article(params) do
      {:ok, article} -> conn |> put_status(:created) |> json(%{data: article_json(article)})
      {:error, changeset} -> conn |> put_status(422) |> json(%{errors: format_errors(changeset)})
    end
  end

  defp article_json(a), do: %{id: a.id, title: a.title, slug: a.slug}
end

Channels (Real-time)

elixir
# lib/my_app_web/channels/room_channel.ex — WebSocket channel
defmodule MyAppWeb.RoomChannel do
  use MyAppWeb, :channel

  def join("room:" <> room_id, _params, socket) do
    {:ok, assign(socket, :room_id, room_id)}
  end

  def handle_in("message", %{"body" => body}, socket) do
    broadcast!(socket, "message", %{body: body, user: socket.assigns.user_id})
    {:noreply, socket}
  end
end

Testing

elixir
# test/my_app/articles_test.exs — context test
defmodule MyApp.ArticlesTest do
  use MyApp.DataCase
  alias MyApp.Articles

  test "create_article/1 with valid data" do
    attrs = %{title: "Test", body: "Content", author_id: user_fixture().id}
    assert {:ok, article} = Articles.create_article(attrs)
    assert article.title == "Test"
  end
end

Key Commands

bash
# Common Mix commands
mix phx.gen.live Articles Article articles title:string body:text
mix ecto.migrate
mix phx.routes          # Show all routes
mix test
mix phx.server          # Start dev server
iex -S mix phx.server   # Start with REPL

Key Patterns

  • Organize business logic in Context modules — controllers/LiveViews delegate to contexts
  • Use changesets for all data validation — they compose and return descriptive errors
  • Use preload explicitly — Ecto never lazy-loads to prevent N+1
  • LiveView handle_event replaces most JavaScript interactivity
  • Use PubSub (Phoenix.PubSub.broadcast) for real-time updates across LiveView processes
  • Use Ecto.Multi for transactions spanning multiple operations