Hello, dear reader,

Happy New Year to everyone joining me on this journey, whether you’ve been here for a while or are just hopping on! 🎉✨

What is the Kick-off Template?

Over the past few months, I’ve been diving into Elixir, and it’s been a blast! I started small, working through scripts on Exercism, and eventually reached a point where I felt confident building projects. But then, I ran into the familiar “blank canvas” challenge.

This led me to create the Elixir kick-off template, a template repository designed to help developers quickly set up and develop general-purpose Elixir applications.

Why Another Repository Template?

Sure, there are existing templates out there. But building this template allowed me to learn and craft something tailored to my needs—and share it with the community! 😄

As a developer, I care deeply about improving the developer experience. This template is designed to provide a solid foundation, ensuring everyday project needs are addressed from the start. Instead of stumbling over setup issues, you can focus on building and creating.

What Can You Expect from the Template?

Here’s a non-exhaustive list of what’s currently included and what’s coming soon:

✅  Implemented features:

• Development container: Ensures a stable environment using VS Code.
• CI pipelines: Enforces formatting, checks security issues, and runs test suites.
• ZSH configuration: Ports Git credentials and ZSH settings into the development container.

🚀 Planned features:

• Error reporting with AppSignal.
• Validation for environment variable configurations.

Why Does This Matter?

Starting new projects is exciting but often derailed by repetitive setup tasks. This template addresses these challenges early to help you preserve momentum, whether you’re building side projects or more significant applications.

Is It Ready?

Yes! While still under active development, the template is usable. I’ve already used it to solve Advent of Code problems, and it’s been a great starting point.

What’s Next?

My goal for 2025 is to continue improving this template and reach a 1.0.0 release. This project has been a fun way to grow my Elixir skills, and I hope it can also provide value to other developers.

Check it out here.

Feel free to try it out, share feedback, and contribute if interested. I wish you all a wonderful year ahead!

Kevin