Getting Started

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This guide walks through adding Squirrelix to a Mix project, writing your first query, and generating typed Elixir modules.

Add the dependency

Squirrelix is a codegen Mix tool — keep it out of production. Postgrex stays a runtime dependency because generated modules call it:

def deps do
  [
    {:squirr_elix, "~> 0.5.0", only: [:dev, :test], runtime: false},
    {:postgrex, "~> 0.22"}
  ]
end

Include :test so mix squirrelix.check works in CI (MIX_ENV=test). Use runtime: false so Squirrelix is not started with your application.

Then run:

mix deps.get

Project layout

Squirrelix discovers queries under lib/, test/, and dev/ in directories named sql/:

my_app/
├── lib/
│   └── my_app/
│       └── accounts/
│           ├── sql/
│           │   └── find_user.sql
│           └── sql.ex              # generated
├── mix.exs
└── squirr_elix.exs                # optional metadata file

Each sql/ directory maps to one generated module. The module name is derived from your app name and the path under lib/:

SQL directoryGenerated module
lib/my_app/sql/MyApp.SQL
lib/my_app/accounts/sql/MyApp.Accounts.SQL
test/support/sql/Support.SQL (under test)

The generated file is always named sql.ex and lives in the parent of the sql/ directory.

Write a query

Create one SQL statement per file. Use leading comments for documentation:

-- lib/my_app/accounts/sql/find_user.sql
-- Find a user by primary key.
select
  id,
  name,
  email
from
  users
where
  id = $1

The filename (find_user.sql) becomes the function name (find_user/2 — conn plus one parameter).

Generate code

Point Squirrelix at a database that has your schema applied (migrations run):

mix squirrelix.gen --infer --database my_app_dev

Squirrelix connects to Postgres, prepares each query, and reads parameter and column types from Postgrex metadata.

Set connection details via DATABASE_URL, PG* environment variables, or flags:

export DATABASE_URL=postgres://postgres@localhost/my_app_dev
mix squirrelix.gen --infer

# or:
export PGHOST=localhost
export PGDATABASE=my_app_dev
export PGUSER=postgres

mix squirrelix.gen --infer

Or pass a URL:

mix squirrelix.gen --infer --url postgres://postgres@localhost/my_app_dev

With a metadata file

If you cannot connect to Postgres during generation, provide types manually in squirr_elix.exs:

%{
  "lib/my_app/accounts/sql/find_user.sql" => [
    params: [:integer],
    returns: [
      %{name: "id", type: :integer, nullable?: false},
      %{name: "name", type: :string, nullable?: false},
      %{name: "email", type: :string, nullable?: true}
    ]
  ]
}
mix squirrelix.gen

See Configuration for the full metadata format.

Watch while editing

To regenerate whenever a discovered .sql file changes:

mix squirrelix.gen --watch
mix squirrelix.gen --infer --watch

Watch uses the same metadata / --infer connection options as a one-shot generate. Press Ctrl-C to stop. See Configuration for details.

Use the generated module

After generation, call functions from the generated module with a Postgrex connection:

alias MyApp.Accounts.SQL

defmodule MyApp.Accounts do
  def find_user(conn, id) do
    SQL.find_user(conn, id)
  end
end

Row queries return a list of maps:

[%{id: 1, name: "Ada", email: "ada@example.com"}] = SQL.find_user(conn, 1)

Command queries (no returned rows) return :ok:

:ok = SQL.delete_user(conn, 1)

Soft companions return ok/error tuples instead of raising. Soft commands include the affected-row count:

{:ok, [%{id: 1, name: "Ada"}]} = SQL.find_user_ok(conn, 1)
{:ok, 1} = SQL.delete_user_ok(conn, 1)
{:error, %Postgrex.Error{}} = SQL.find_user_ok(conn, -1)

Keep generated code in sync

Run the check task in CI to catch stale generated files:

mix squirrelix.check --infer --database my_app_dev

If SQL changed but sql.ex was not regenerated, the check fails with an OutdatedFile error. Fix it by running mix squirrelix.gen again and committing the updated sql.ex.

Next steps