Step 1: Change to your home directory

Mac or Linux

Type this in the terminal:

cd ~

cd ~ sets our home directory to our current directory.

Step 2: Create an Elixirbridge directory

To keep things organized, we’ll want all of the elixirbridge files in their own directory. Type this in the terminal:

mkdir elixirbridge

mkdir stands for make directory (folder). We’ve now made a folder called elixirbridge.

Step 3:

Change to your new elixirbridge directory. Type this in the terminal:

cd elixirbridge

Step 4: Create a new Phoenix app

Type this in the terminal:

mix phx.new test_app

The command’s output is a list of the files it creates, which will be fairly long. We’ll go into detail about what these files are later.

phoenix app output

Then it will ask you to fetch and install dependencies, type Y to do this. If there’s an error at this point, grab a volunteer to help you.

Change into the project directory:

cd test_app

Now type this into the terminal:

which node

You should see something like this in your terminal:

/usr/local/bin/npm

If you do see this, move on to Step 7: Create the Database. Otherwise, type the following into your terminal:

brew install node

Step 5: Get Dependencies

Type the following into your terminal:

mix deps.get
  • On Windows, you may need to add the line to your mix.exs file
      {:plug_cowboy, "~> 1.0"}

Step 6: Install npm and node

cd assets && npm install && node node_modules/brunch/bin/brunch build

cd ../

Step 7: Create the database

Type this in a terminal:

mix ecto.create

Then, type this in a terminal:

mix phx.server

If the Phoenix server starts up with no errors, you’re golden! It’ll look something like this:

[info] Running TestApp.Endpoint with Cowboy using http://localhost:4000
21 Aug 13:06:41 - info: compiled 6 files into 2 files, copied 3 in 958ms

In your browser, open localhost:4000. You should see a page like this:

Hit Ctrl c twice to stop the server.