elixir-phoenix-deploy

Elixir/Phoenix Deployment Reference

Quick reference for deploying Elixir/Phoenix applications.

Iron Laws — Never Violate These

1. Config at runtime, not compile time — Secrets in config.exs get baked into the release binary. Use runtime.exs with env vars so secrets are resolved at boot
2. Graceful shutdown ≥ 60 seconds — Shorter timeouts kill in-flight requests and WebSocket connections mid-operation, causing data loss for users
3. Health checks required — Without startup/liveness/readiness endpoints, orchestrators can't distinguish a booting node from a dead one, leading to cascading restarts
4. SSL verification for database — Skipping verify: :verify_peer allows MITM attacks between your app and database; production data traverses the connection
5. No CPU limits — The BEAM scheduler assumes it owns all cores; cgroups CPU limits cause scheduler collapse where the VM thinks it has more cores than it can use, leading to latency spikes

Quick Configuration

runtime.exs (Essential)

if config_env() == :prod do
  database_url = System.get_env("DATABASE_URL") || raise "DATABASE_URL is required"
  secret_key_base = System.get_env("SECRET_KEY_BASE") || raise "SECRET_KEY_BASE is required"
  host = System.get_env("PHX_HOST") || raise "PHX_HOST is required"

  config :my_app, MyApp.Repo,
    url: database_url,
    pool_size: String.to_integer(System.get_env("POOL_SIZE") || "10"),
    ssl: true,
    ssl_opts: [verify: :verify_peer]

  config :my_app, MyAppWeb.Endpoint,
    url: [host: host, port: 443, scheme: "https"],
    http: [ip: {0, 0, 0, 0}, port: String.to_integer(System.get_env("PORT") || "4000")],
    secret_key_base: secret_key_base,
    server: true
end

Health Check Plug

def call(%{path_info: ["health", "readiness"]} = conn, _opts) do
  case Ecto.Adapters.SQL.query(MyApp.Repo, "SELECT 1", []) do
    {:ok, _} -> send_resp(conn, 200, ~s({"status":"ok"})) |> halt()
    {:error, _} -> send_resp(conn, 503, ~s({"status":"error"})) |> halt()
  end
end