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igmarin/elixir-phoenix-skills

Curated library of 38 atomic skills, 7 personas, and 1 orchestrator for Elixir and Phoenix development. Organized by category: fundamentals, phoenix, database, testing, auth, infrastructure, quality, security, integrations, tooling, frameworks, personas, and orchestration. Covers core Elixir patterns, Phoenix LiveView, Ecto, OTP, Oban, testing, security, deployment, real-time, and modern tooling (Req, Swoosh, Cachex, Broadway, Ash).

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SKILL.mdskills/tooling/mix-tasks-generators/

name:
mix-tasks-generators
type:
atomic
tags:
atomic
license:
MIT
description:
MANDATORY when creating custom Mix tasks or using Phoenix generators. Invoke before defining custom Mix task modules with argument parsing and subcommands, scaffolding resources with phx.gen.live or phx.gen.context, generating authentication systems with phx.gen.auth, configuring dependencies and aliases in mix.exs, or writing tests for custom tasks. Covers Mix.Tasks module creation, generator patterns, and Mix project configuration. Trigger words: Mix task, custom task, phx.gen, generators, mix.exs, project configuration, phx.gen.live, phx.gen.auth, scaffold, seed data, ecto.setup, mix help, Mix.Project, OptionParser, @shortdoc, preferred_cli_env, alias, mix run, generator, phx.gen.html, phx.gen.context, phx.gen.json, phx.gen.channel.
metadata:
{"user-invocable":"true","version":"1.0.0"}

Mix Tasks & Generators

RULES — Follow these with no exceptions

  1. Always call Mix.Task.run("app.start") first — tasks that access the database or Repo need the app started
  2. Create custom tasks for project-specific workflows — don't override standard Mix tasks
  3. Register preferred_cli_env in mix.exs — set environment for custom tasks (dev/test/prod)
  4. Use transactions for data modifications — wrap Repo.insert_all, Repo.delete_all in Repo.transaction()
  5. Test custom tasks with Mix.Project.in_project/4 — ensure tasks work correctly in isolation
  6. Follow Mix.Tasks.Namespace.TaskName naming — file path must match: lib/mix/tasks/namespace.task_name.ex

End-to-End Workflow

Follow this sequence when creating a custom Mix task:

  1. Create file — create lib/mix/tasks/<namespace>.<task_name>.ex
  2. Define module — use defmodule Mix.Tasks.MyApp.TaskName do use Mix.Task
  3. Add @shortdoc — one-line description for mix help
  4. Implement run/1 — parse args with OptionParser.parse/2 if needed
  5. Start app — call Mix.Task.run("app.start") if using Repo
  6. Implement logic — use transactions for data modifications
  7. Add to mix.exs — register preferred_cli_env if needed
  8. Test — use Mix.Project.in_project/4 test helper
  9. Verify — run mix help | grep task_name to confirm registration

Phoenix Generators

# JSON context and schema (full CRUD with tests)
mix phx.gen.json Accounts User users email:string name:string --web API

# LiveView CRUD with Enum field
mix phx.gen.live Blog Post posts title:string body:text status:enum:draft:published:archived

# LiveView for existing table
mix phx.gen.live Blog Post posts --table existing_posts

# Context (logic layer only)
mix phx.gen.context Accounts User users email:string password_hash:string

# Channel
mix phx.gen.channel Room

# HTML (no LiveView)
mix phx.gen.html Blog Post posts title:string body:text

# Authentication system (accounts context, user schema, session plumbing)
mix phx.gen.auth Accounts User users --web Admin

# Context with existing schema
mix phx.gen.context Blog Post posts --table posts --app MyApp

Custom Mix Tasks

Basic Task with Transaction Safety

# lib/mix/tasks/my_app.seed_data.ex
defmodule Mix.Tasks.MyApp.SeedData do
  use Mix.Task

  @shortdoc "Seeds the database with sample data"

  @impl Mix.Task
  def run(_args) do
    Mix.Task.run("app.start")

    case MyApp.Repo.transaction(fn -> MyApp.Seeds.run() end) do
      {:ok, _} ->
        count = MyApp.Repo.aggregate(MyApp.User, :count)
        Mix.shell().info("Data seeded successfully! (#{count} users in DB)")

      {:error, reason} ->
        Mix.shell().error("Seeding failed, transaction rolled back: #{inspect(reason)}")
        Mix.raise("Seed failed")
    end
  end
end

Task with Arguments and Validation

defmodule Mix.Tasks.MyApp.ImportUsers do
  use Mix.Task

  @shortdoc "Imports users from a CSV file"

  @impl Mix.Task
  def run(args) do
    {opts, _rest, errors} =
      OptionParser.parse(args,
        strict: [file: :string, dry_run: :boolean],
        aliases: [f: :file, d: :dry_run]
      )

    if Keyword.get(opts, :file) == nil do
      Mix.shell().error("Missing required --file argument")
      Mix.shell().info("\nUsage: mix my_app.import_users --file <path>")
      Mix.raise("Invalid arguments")
    end

    if errors != [] do
      Enum.each(errors, fn {key, value} -> Mix.shell().error("Unknown option: #{key} #{value}") end)
      Mix.raise("Invalid arguments")
    end

    Mix.Task.run("app.start")

    file = Keyword.get(opts, :file)
    dry_run? = Keyword.get(opts, :dry_run, false)
    if dry_run?, do: Mix.shell().info("Dry run mode - no changes will be made")

    before_count = MyApp.Repo.aggregate(MyApp.User, :count)

    case MyApp.Repo.transaction(fn ->
           MyApp.UserImporter.import_from_csv(file, dry_run: dry_run?)
         end) do
      {:ok, {:ok, count}} ->
        after_count = MyApp.Repo.aggregate(MyApp.User, :count)
        Mix.shell().info("Imported #{count} users (total: #{after_count}, was: #{before_count})")

      {:ok, {:error, reason}} ->
        Mix.shell().error("Import validation failed: #{reason}")
        Mix.raise("Import failed")

      {:error, reason} ->
        Mix.shell().error("Import failed, transaction rolled back: #{inspect(reason)}")
        Mix.raise("Import failed")
    end
  end
end

# Usage: mix my_app.import_users --file=users.csv --dry-run

Task with Subcommands

defmodule Mix.Tasks.MyApp.Migrate do
  use Mix.Task

  @shortdoc "Runs database migrations"

  @impl Mix.Task
  def run(["up"]),     do: Mix.Task.run("ecto.migrate")
  def run(["down"]),   do: Mix.Task.run("ecto.rollback")
  def run(["status"]), do: Mix.Task.run("ecto.migrations")
  def run(_) do
    Mix.shell().info("""
    Usage:
      mix my_app.migrate up      - Run migrations
      mix my_app.migrate down    - Rollback last migration
      mix my_app.migrate status  - Show migration status
    """)
  end
end

Custom Generators

# lib/mix/tasks/my_app.gen.service.ex
defmodule Mix.Tasks.MyApp.Gen.Service do
  use Mix.Task
  use Mix.Generator

  @shortdoc "Generates a service module"

  @impl Mix.Task
  def run([name]) do
    module_name = Macro.camelize(name)
    file_path = "lib/my_app/services/#{name}.ex"
    create_file(file_path, service_template(module_name: module_name))
    Mix.shell().info("Created service: #{file_path}")
  end

  embed_template(:service, """
  defmodule MyApp.Services.<%= @module_name %> do
    @moduledoc \"\"\"
    Service module for <%= @module_name %> operations.
    \"\"\"

    def call(params) do
      {:ok, params}
    end
  end
  """)
end

# Usage: mix my_app.gen.service send_email
# Creates: lib/my_app/services/send_email.ex

Mix Project Configuration

Aliases

# mix.exs
defp aliases do
  [
    setup: ["deps.get", "ecto.setup"],
    "ecto.setup": ["ecto.create", "ecto.migrate", "run priv/repo/seeds.exs"],
    "ecto.reset": ["ecto.drop", "ecto.setup"],
    test: ["ecto.create --quiet", "ecto.migrate --quiet", "test"],
    "assets.deploy": ["esbuild default --minify", "phx.digest"]
  ]
end

Registering Custom Tasks

def project do
  [
    app: :my_app,
    version: "0.1.0",
    elixir: "~> 1.15",
    start_permanent: Mix.env() == :prod,
    deps: deps(),
    aliases: aliases(),
    preferred_cli_env: [
      "my_app.seed_data": :dev,
      "my_app.import_users": :dev
    ]
  ]
end

Testing Custom Tasks

defmodule Mix.Tasks.MyApp.SeedDataTest do
  use ExUnit.Case

  setup do
    MyApp.Repo.delete_all(MyApp.User)
    :ok
  end

  test "seeds data successfully" do
    Mix.Project.in_project(:my_app, ".", fn _ ->
      Mix.Tasks.MyApp.SeedData.run([])
      assert MyApp.Repo.aggregate(MyApp.User, :count) > 0
    end)
  end

  test "seeds expected count" do
    Mix.Project.in_project(:my_app, ".", fn _ ->
      Mix.Tasks.MyApp.SeedData.run([])
      assert MyApp.Repo.aggregate(MyApp.User, :count) == 10
    end)
  end
end

Common Task Patterns

PatternKey Steps
Database Reset (my_app.reset)Chain ecto.dropecto.createecto.migrate → seed via Mix.Task.run/1
Health Check (my_app.health_check)app.start → run named checks (DB, cache, HTTP) → report pass/fail → Mix.raise/1 on any failure
Cleanup (my_app.cleanup)Parse --dry-run flag → query expired records → report count → conditionally Repo.delete_all/1

All follow the same skeleton: parse opts → app.start → transact → report.


Task Output Formatting

Mix.shell().info("Starting task...")
Mix.shell().info("✓ Success")
Mix.shell().error("✗ Failed")

# Progress reporting for long operations
records
|> Enum.with_index()
|> Enum.each(fn {record, index} ->
  process_record(record)
  if rem(index, 100) == 0, do: Mix.shell().info("  Processed #{index + 1}/#{total} records")
end)

skills

tooling

mix-tasks-generators

README.md

tile.json