Getting Started with PhoenixGenApiTui

PhoenixGenApiTui is a terminal-based interactive explorer for PhoenixGenApi applications. Navigate your services, function configs, call flows, cluster topology, rate limits, and runtime health — without leaving the terminal.

Installation

Add phoenix_gen_api_tui to your dependencies:

def deps do
  [
    {:phoenix_gen_api_tui, "~> 0.1.0"}
  ]
end

For development-only exploration, restrict to :dev:

{:phoenix_gen_api_tui, "~> 0.1.0", only: :dev}

Quick Start

Start your application and open IEx:

iex -S mix

Then launch the TUI:

iex> PhoenixGenApiTui.ui()

UI Layout

╭─ 🔥 PhoenixGenApi TUI Explorer  │  UserService ───────────────────────╮
╰────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯
╭─ Search ─────────────╮ ╭─ user_service ───────────────────────────────╮
│ / search...          │ │ Functions │ Call Flows │ Cluster │ Health │.. │
╰──────────────────────╯ ╰──────────────────────────────────────────────╯
╭─ Navigation 2s · 3f ─╮ ╭──────────────────────────────────────────────╮
│ ▶ ◆ user_service (2)  │ │ Request Type  Version  Response  Nodes       │
│     ├ get_user        │ │ get_user      1.0.0     sync      [node1]   │
│     └ create_user     │ │ create_user   1.0.0     sync      [node1]   │
│   ◆ blog_service (1)  │ │                                              │
╰──────────────────────╯ ╰──────────────────────────────────────────────╯
╭────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯
│ j/k navigate  ⏎ select  h/l panels  Tab tabs  / search  r refresh  q   │
╰────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

How It Works

PhoenixGenApiTui reads runtime configuration from your running PhoenixGenApi application:

iex> PhoenixGenApiTui.ui()
  → PhoenixGenApiTui.Introspection.load()
  → PhoenixGenApi.ConfigDb.get_all_functions()
  → PhoenixGenApi.Diagnostics.list_call_flows()
  → PhoenixGenApi.Diagnostics.cluster_view()
  → PhoenixGenApi.Diagnostics.health_check()
  → PhoenixGenApi.Diagnostics.statistics()
  → PhoenixGenApi.RateLimiter.get_configured_limits()
  → Pre-loaded into navigable state struct
  → ExRatatui.App renders it (local, SSH, or distributed)

No database connection is needed. The tool reads the shape of your running system, not its data.

Data Caching

The explorer caches introspection data with a 30-second TTL to avoid excessive RPC calls. Press r at any time to force a refresh. The header shows a status indicator:

● — All subsystems loaded successfully
⚠ — Some subsystems unavailable (partial data)
○ — Connection error