The following instructions allow a user to go from zero to hero with Gigalixir, Phoenix, and Elixir Releases. This guide uses the latest versions:
Last updated/tested on 2025-05-09.
Prerequisites
This guide utilizes these tools:
With these tools set up, let’s get started!
Install Erlang, Elixir, and Node
Use ASDF and NVM to install the versions we want.
asdf install erlang 27.3.4
asdf install elixir 1.18.3-otp-27
asdf install nodejs 24.0.1
Now set the versions as active.
asdf set erlang 27.3.4
asdf set elixir 1.18.3-otp-27
asdf set nodejs 24.0.1
# For asdf < 0.16, use `asdf local` instead of `asdf set`
Install Phoenix Framework
Install hex
mix local.hex
Get the latest version of Phoenix and install it.
mix archive.install hex phx_new
Create a new phoenix application
Create the phoenix application, in this case releases_example is the name of the application.
You will probably want use some other name.
mix phx.new releases_example --install
Now move into the new project directory and make it a git repository.
cd releases_example
git init
git add .
git commit -m "initial commit: mix phx.new"
Set the versions for the buildpacks to use
Gigalixir uses a buildpack system.
By default the buildpacks support a .tool-versions file which asdf generates.
Let’s create the file and add it to git.
asdf set erlang 27.3.4
asdf set elixir 1.18.3-otp-27
asdf set nodejs 24.0.1
# For asdf < 0.16, use `asdf local` instead of `asdf set`
git add -f .tool-versions
git commit -m "set elixir, erlang, and node version"
Not using ASDF?
You can create the .tool-versions file manually with
this format.
Create the gigalixir app and database
The default phoenix application is going to require a DATABASE_URL. In the below example, we create a free tier database. If you plan to use this application for production, consider the [standard tier database].
gigalixir create
gigalixir pg:create --free
If you created your app in our console, you can link it to your local git repository with gigalixir git:remote APP_NAME.
Push to gigalixir and prosper
We are ready to deploy.
git push -u gigalixir main
You can monitor the deployment using gigalixir ps. If you run into issues, check gigalixir logs.
As always, if you hit any issues, we’re one email away to help. Just write us at Gigalixir Support.