Is there a Phoenix equivalent to Rails Console

97
votes

I'm just learning Phoenix and Elixir and I'm coming from Ruby/Rails where I work in the REPL using pry to inspect my database and application state.

I'm trying to figure out how to interact with my database and models in a Phoenix app. I'm aware of iex, but I don't know how to use it inspect my app's database from the repl. Do I need to connect to it with ecto each time from the repl? Is there a rails console equivalent. I've checked the Phoenix docs, Elixir Dose, and the Ecto repo, but can't find what I'm looking for. Am I missing something?

Edit: Based on the answer below I found this section of the ecto docs. Based on this I can do something like ArticlesApi.Repo.all ArticlesApi.Article

3
elixirphoenix-frameworkectoelixir-iex
You can save some typing by aliasing the module names: alias ArticlesApi.{Repo, Article}. Also, keep in mind that you can very conveniently recompile individual modules from your console (r Article), or recompile the whole project using recompile. This allows you to leave an iex session open all the time, keeping aliases active. – hmans

3 Answers

125
votes

You can run iex -S mix to run iex with the dependencies in your current mix project included.. You can read about this at http://elixir-lang.org/getting-started/mix-otp/introduction-to-mix.html

From there you can execute Ecto queries:

iex> MyApp.Repo.all(MyApp.User)

Running iex -S mix phx.server will also start the phoenix server.

27
votes

For runtime debug, (like byebug or debugger or pry in rails), use

require IEx at the top of your model or controller or views file, then type

IEx.pry to wherever you need it to halt at runtime and continue debugging.

Type h for help inside the console

Most importantly, after all that, restart your server with:

iex -S mix phoenix.server

More info: here

5
votes

If you're working in development, use iex -S mix phx.server.

If you need into the console of a deployed release, then go to your release directory and run bin/<name of your app> remote_console to open up a remote shell to your app's console.