matteing / stack

My stack for new products.

Stack

This is my boilerplate for new Elixir/Phoenix-based applications. It includes a fully functional authentication system, integration with Next.js and common utilities like a mailer and API routes.

I optimize for developer happiness and forward-looking (yet rock-solid) technology. The setup is structured as a monorepo for ease of development.

Quick start

export FOLDER=folder; git --git-dir=/dev/null clone --depth=1 https://github.com/matteing/stack $FOLDER; cd $FOLDER; make install; rm -rf .git

Methodology

I'm in the process of writing an article detailing my methodology to building new software. Stay tuned.

Structure

• .vscode: project-specific editor configuration
• app: NextJS, Tailwind, Next-Auth boilerplate
• server: Phoenix boilerplate with additional components
• .buildpacks: PaaS deployment using heroku-buildpack-monorepo
• Makefile: management scripts

Installation

To setup this boilerplate:

• Install the boilerplate by running make install
• Run make dev to start the development servers

Now you can visit localhost:3000 and localhost:4000 from your browser.

Deploying

Deploying this repo is usually as simple as deploying any other Node or Elixir app, with a couple of caveats related mostly to the monorepo structure.

1. Create a two PaaS apps: one for the frontend and another for the API.
2. Set the APP_BASE environment variable depending on the PaaS app.
3. Deploy, the monorepo buildpack will take care of setting the PaaS container root.

For more deployment guides, please check the Phoenix deployment guides.

Why this stack?

I like React. I've tried to go back to the good ol' days of server rendered multi-page apps, but React just spoiled me.

In terms of the API, Phoenix is the next logical step up from my previous stack (Django). Elixir is a very pleasaant language and the first-class support for realtime is awesome. You don't always need it, but when you do, you know you won't have major issues.

Deploying/scaling realtime Django was a big pain in the past and I don't want to go through that again. Elixir is concurrent and realtime by nature and that makes it dope.