
In this episode of Elixir Wizards, hosts Charles Suggs and Emma Whamond sit down with Marek Šuppa, creator of the Missing GitHub Status page, a project that reconstructs GitHub's historical uptime data and reveals discrepancies between official status reporting and the platform's actual reliability.
Marek tells us about his dev journey from open source contributor at DuckDuckGo to machine learning engineer at Cisco-acquired Slido. Then, we discuss GitHub’s evolution from a hosted Git service into a critical developer tool. We cover reliability, transparency, AI-driven platform growth, developer workflows, and the challenges of balancing convenience with resilience.
Along the way, we cover alternative platforms, self-hosted solutions, and whether recent outages are changing how developers think about ownership, dependency, and the future of software collaboration.
Topics Discussed in this Episode:
Why did Mr. Shu create the Missing GitHub Status Page?
GitHub's reported uptime versus developer experiences
How open source contributions shaped Marek's career
The evolution of GitHub from tool to critical infrastructure
Centralization risks in modern software development
Git's distributed roots and today's platform-centric workflows
Developer reactions to GitHub outages
Transparency and accountability in status reporting
AI's impact on developer platforms and infrastructure demands
Microsoft's stewardship of GitHub
Forgejo, Codeberg, and alternative Git hosting platforms
Self-hosted Git solutions and tradeoffs
Network effects and platform lock-in
The social side of software collaboration
Building resilience into developer workflows
What GitHub outages teach us about infrastructure dependency
Links Mentioned:
The Missing GitHub Status Page https://mrshu.github.io/github-statuses/
Slido https://www.slido.com/
https://duckduckgo.com/
The official GitHub Status Page https://www.githubstatus.com/
Statuspage.iohttps://www.atlassian.com/software/statuspage
Zig Leaves GitHub https://ziglang.org/news/migrating-from-github-to-codeberg/
Ghostty Leaves GitHub https://mitchellh.com/writing/ghostty-leaving-github
GitLab https://about.gitlab.com/
Codeberg https://codeberg.org/
https://git.kernel.org/
Forgejo Lightweight Self-Hosting https://forgejo.org/
Former GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke launches Entire https://entire.io/news/former-github-ceo-thomas-dohmke-raises-60-million-seed-round
Update on Spain and LALIGA blocks of the internet https://vercel.com/blog/update-on-spain-and-laliga-blocks-of-the-internet
Jun 4
41 min

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.
May 28
55 min

In Elixir Wizards S15E04, Charles Suggs and Emma Whamond are joined by Somtochi Onyekwere, a software engineer at Fly.io and contributor to the Corrosion distributed database project, to talk about distributed systems, infrastructure resilience, and the growing fragility of centralized cloud platforms.
We discuss what recent outages across major providers reveal about modern infrastructure and why more teams are starting to rethink assumptions around reliability, failover, and system design. Somtochi explains how Fly.io approaches geographic distribution, eventual consistency, and replication across nodes, along with the trade-offs that come with building systems this way.
The conversation explores CRDTs (Conflict-free Replicated Data Types), consensus, split-brain prevention, and what actually happens when distributed systems fail in production. We also talk about testing strategies, rollback planning, property-based testing tools, and how teams can reduce blast radius when things inevitably go wrong.
Along the way, we discuss AI infrastructure, sandboxing AI agents, and how newer workloads may add pressure to already centralized systems. The episode closes with practical advice for developers who want to build more resilient applications without over-complicating their architecture.
Topics Discussed in this Episode:
Corrosion and distributed database replication
Centralized cloud fragility and recent outage patterns
Distributed systems versus traditional cloud architectures
Multi-region deployment strategies for Phoenix applications
CRDTs and conflict resolution in distributed systems
Eventual consistency versus strict consistency tradeoffs
Consensus, leader election, and split-brain prevention
Testing failover and recovery scenarios
Property-based testing and Antithesis
Rollback planning for database schema migrations
Reducing blast radius through system isolation
Health checks and blue-green deployment strategies
Fly Proxy request routing and replay behavior
Cross-region synchronization and replication challenges
Single points of failure inside “redundant” systems
Backup restoration testing and disaster recovery planning
Network partitions and failure handling in production
Infrastructure monitoring and operational visibility
AI infrastructure workloads and operational strain
Sandboxing and securing AI agents
Sprites and AI workflows at Fly.io
Latency improvements from geographic distribution
Distributed systems tradeoffs in real-world environments
Transitive dependency failures across cloud providers
Practical resilience strategies for modern engineering teams
Links Mentioned:
https://fly.io
https://github.com/superfly/corrosion
https://docs.gitops.weaveworks.org/
FluxCD https://fluxcd.io/
Fly.io Stateful Sandbox Environments https://sprites.dev/
Cloudflare Workers AI Inference Platform https://www.cloudflare.com/products/workers-ai/
“An AI Agent Just Destroyed Our Production Data. It Confessed in Writing” Twitter post from PocketOS founder: https://x.com/lifeof_jer/status/2048103471019434248
Oct 2025 AWS Outage https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/oct/24/amazon-reveals-cause-of-aws-outage
Dec 2025 Cloudflare Outage https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/dec/05/another-cloudflare-outage-takes-down-websites-linkedin-zoom
July 2025 Crowdstrike Outage https://www.ibm.com/think/news/recent-crowdstrike-outage-what-you-should-know
March 2026 Stryker Cyber Attack https://www.stryker.com/us/en/about/news/2026/a-message-to-our-customers-03-2026.html
https://aws.amazon.com/
https://cloud.google.com/
https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us
https://fly.io/docs/elixir/
CRDTs!! https://smartlogic.io/podcast/elixir-wizards/s13-e03-local-first-liveview-svelte-pwa/
https://antithesis.com/docs/resources/property_based_testing/
https://hex.pm/packages/proper
May 21
46 min

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: [email protected]
May 14
50 min

In Season 15 episode 2, Elixir Wizards Sundi Myint and Charles Suggs chat with Micah Cooper to talk about distributed systems, data replication, and what it actually looks like to build these ideas in Elixir.
Micah shares his journey from Ruby to Elixir and walks us through Visor, a library he’s building based on the Viewstamps replication algorithm. Inspired by systems like TigerBeetle, Visor explores how you can replicate state across nodes using GenServers, giving you fault tolerance and recovery without relying entirely on traditional database patterns.
We talk about the difference between distributed systems and data replication, where things tend to get misunderstood, and what changes when you start thinking about state this way. The conversation also touches on event sourcing, tradeoffs in system design, and how Elixir’s distributed model makes some of these concepts more approachable than you might expect.
Along the way, we talk about building for curiosity, experimenting with new ideas, and how projects like this push the ecosystem forward.
Topics discussed in this episode:
Building Visor and working with the Viewstamps replication model
Replicating GenServer state across nodes
Distributed systems vs. data replication
Lessons from TigerBeetle and financial system design
Event sourcing challenges and tradeoffs
Rethinking database-first architectures
Snapshotting, recovery, and fault tolerance
The role of Elixir’s distributed model
Experimentation, learning, and building for curiosity
Links mentioned:
Micah’s GitHub https://github.com/mrmicahcooper
Micah’s GitLab https://gitlab.com/mrmicahcooper
The Visor repository: https://gitlab.com/mrmicahcooper/visor
Visor Hex Package https://hex.pm/packages/visor
Ruby on Rails https://rubyonrails.org/
Phoenix LiveView Framework https://www.phoenixframework.org/
Zig Programming Language https://ziglang.org/
TigerBeetle https://tigerbeetle.com/
TigerBeetle internal docs https://github.com/tigerbeetle/tigerbeetle/tree/main/docs/internals
The BEAM https://www.erlang-solutions.com/blog/the-beam-erlangs-virtual-machine/
GenServer https://hexdocs.pm/elixir/GenServer.html
Apache Kafka https://github.com/apache/kafka
RabbitMQ https://www.rabbitmq.com/
Redpanda https://www.redpanda.com/
SQL https://www.ibm.com/think/topics/structured-query-language
Kubernetes https://kubernetes.io/
YAML https://yaml.org/
Nomad Workload Orchestrator https://developer.hashicorp.com/nomad
Flutter https://flutter.dev/
Commanded https://hexdocs.pm/commanded/Commanded.html
Go Programming Language https://go.dev/
Clojure Programming Language https://clojure.org/
Nebulex https://hexdocs.pm/nebulex/Nebulex.html
Mnesia https://www.erlang.org/doc/apps/mnesia/mnesia.html
Cachex https://hexdocs.pm/cachex/Cachex.html
libgraph https://hexdocs.pm/libgraph/Graph.html
Horde https://hexdocs.pm/horde/Horde.Registry.html
NocFree split keyboard https://www.nocfree.com/
Micah’s LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/micah-cooper-4a737560/
May 7
47 min

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.
Apr 30
41 min

Today, the Elixir Wizards wrap up Season 14 “Enter the Elixirverse.” Dan, Charles, and Sundi look back at some common themes: Elixir plays well with others, bridges easily to access languages and tools, and remains a powerful technology for data flow, concurrency, and developer experience. We revisit the popular topics of the year, from types and tooling to AI orchestration and reproducible dev environments, and share what we’re excited to explore next.
We also invite your questions and takeaways to help shape future seasons and conference conversations. Season 14 doubles as a handy primer for anyone curious about how Elixir integrates across the stack.
Key topics discussed in this episode:
Lessons from a season of interoperability
Set-theoretic types and what new compiler warnings unlock
AI in practice: LLM orchestration, fallbacks, and real-world use
SDUI and GraphQL patterns for shipping UI across web/iOS/Android
Dataframes in Elixir with Explorer for analytics workflows
Python interoperability (ErlPort, PythonX) and when to reach for it
Reproducible dev environments with Nix and friends
Performance paths: Rustler and Zig for native extensions
Bluetooth & Nerves: Blue Heron and hardware integrations
DevEx upgrades: LiveView, build pipelines, and standard project setup
Observability and ops: Prometheus/Grafana and sensible deployments
Community feedback, conferences, and what’s on deck for next season
### Links mentioned in this episode:
Cars.com
S14E06 SDUI at Scale with Elixir https://youtu.be/nloRcgngT_k?si=g4Zd4N1s56Ronrtw
https://hexdocs.pm/phoenix_live_view/Phoenix.LiveView.html
https://wordpress.com/
https://elixir-lang.org/
S14E01 Zigler: Zig NIFs for Elixir https://youtu.be/hSAvWxh26TU?si=d5_5tVuZbNw0KCfT
https://ziglang.org/
https://hexdocs.pm/zigler/Zig.html
https://github.com/blue-heron/blue_heron
https://github.com/elixir-explorer/explorer
S14E08 Nix for Elixir Apps https://youtu.be/yymUcgy4OAk?si=BRgTlc2VK5bsIhIf
https://nixos.org/
https://nix.dev/
S14E07 Set Theoretic Types in Elixir https://youtu.be/qMmEnXcHxL4?si=Ux2lebiwEp3mc_0e
S14E10 Python in Elixir Apps https://youtu.be/SpVLrrWkRqE?si=ld3oQVXVlWHpo7eV
https://www.python.org/
https://hexdocs.pm/pythonx/
https://github.com/Pyrlang/Pyrlang
https://github.com/erlport/erlport
S14E03 LangChain: LLM Integration for Elixir https://youtu.be/OwFaljL3Ptc?si=A0sDs2dzJ0UoE2PY
https://github.com/brainlid/langchain
S14E04 Nx & Machine Learning in Elixir https://youtu.be/Ju64kAMLlkw?si=zdVnkBTTLHvIZNBm
S14E05 Rustler: Bridging Elixir and Rust https://youtu.be/2RBw7B9OfwE?si=aRVYOyxxW8fTmoRA
https://github.com/rusterlium/rustler
Season 3: Working with Elixir https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTDLmInI9YaDbhMRpGuYpboVNbp1Fl9PD&si=hbe7qt4gRUfrMtpj
S14E11 Vibe Coding the LoopedIn Crochet App https://youtu.be/DX0SjmPE92g?si=zCBPjS1huRDIeVeP
Season 5: Adopting Elixir
YouTubeLaunchisode and Outlaws Takeover with Chris Keathley, Amos King, and Anna Neyzberg
S13E01 Igniter: Elixir Code Generation https://youtu.be/WM9iQlQSF_g?si=e0CAiML2qC2SxmdL
Season 8: Elixir in a Polyglot Environment https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTDLmInI9YaAPlvMd-RDp6LWFjI67wOGN&si=YCI7WLA8qozD57iw
!! We Want to Hear Your Thoughts *!!*
Have questions, comments, or topics you'd like us to discuss on the podcast?
Share your thoughts with us here: https://forms.gle/Vm7mcYRFDgsqqpDC9
Aug 28, 2025
33 min

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
Aug 14, 2025
47 min

Today, co-founders Kimberly Erni and Pei Pei Wang join the Elixir Wizards to discuss their crochet app, LoopedIn. Recognizing a gap in the market for a more user-friendly and interactive crochet pattern experience, they're building an app that makes following patterns easier and more enjoyable for crocheters of all skill levels.
They're building features such as step-by-step guidance, video tutorials, and the ability to upload and convert PDF patterns into an interactive format. Kimberly explains how she's leveraging AI tools to vibe code in Elixir and LiveView.
They highlight the challenges and successes they encountered while creating a Progressive Web App (PWA) that integrates AI-powered features. They also discuss their user research and testing process, which involved gathering feedback from the crochet community to prioritize features and improve the app's UX.
Kimberly and Pei Pei share their thoughts on the potential of AI in the tech industry and how it has assisted them in the development and iteration process. They emphasize the importance of understanding the code generated by AI and the need for proper testing and verification. They offer advice to others looking to create passion projects, stressing the value of finding a partner with complementary skills and shared enthusiasm for the project.
Topics discussed in this episode:
Discovering a niche: why crochet patterns need a digital makeover
Core LoopedIn features: interactive steps, video help, PDF conversion
Building a PWA with Elixir & Phoenix LiveView for cross-platform reach
Offline support and caching strategies for on-the-go crafting
AI-driven pattern parsing: benefits and pitfalls of generated code
User research: gathering feedback from beginner to expert crocheters
Agile iterations: testing, prioritizing features, and shipping quickly
Balancing “vibe coding” with quality assurance and proper test coverage
Partnership dynamics: complementary skills and shared passion
Monetization approaches for a niche, community-driven app
Roadmap highlights: expanded social features, advanced AI tooling, and more
Lessons learned: documentation gaps, performance tuning, and UX trade-offs
Advice for side projects: start small, validate with users, and iterate
Links mentioned:
Amigurumis
https://www.amigurumi.com/
https://pragmaticstudio.com/phoenix-liveview
https://grox.io/about-product/liveview
Creating a Local First LiveView App https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcafwf14SDo
https://capacitorjs.com/docs
https://flutter.dev/
https://passion.place/
https://cursor.com/
https://claude.ai/
https://nerves-project.org/
https://crochetapp.web.app/
https://www.figma.com/
Little Red Book App https://www.xiaohongshu.com/
!! Try the LoopedIn app here 👉 https://looped-in.gigalixirapp.com *!!*
Add it to your phone like an app:
Open the link in Safari
Tap the Share button (square with arrow)
Tap Add to Home Screen
Tap Add
Then you can open it like a regular app! 🎉 Leave a comment if you try it!
!! 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
Aug 7, 2025
39 min

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/
[email protected]
Jul 31, 2025
35 min
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