Distillery is a release manager for Elixir applications, designed to package apps into self-contained, deployable artifacts. It automates the process of building OTP releases, handling steps like compilation, dependency bundling, and generating start/stop scripts. Releases built with Distillery include everything needed to run an Elixir app in production, even on machines without Elixir or Erlang installed. It also supports features like configuration providers, hot upgrades, and customizable release pipelines. By managing environment-specific settings, it simplifies deploying the same app to different systems without manual reconfiguration. Distillery has historically been a key tool for production Elixir deployments before Elixir added built-in release functionality, and it remains valuable for teams seeking flexibility in their deployment workflows.
Features
- Packages Elixir applications into self-contained OTP releases
- Generates single deployable artifacts without external dependencies
- Uses Mix project metadata to assemble dependencies automatically
- Supports release variant management (environments, configurations)
- Eliminates requirement for local Elixir/Erlang installation in production
- Historically a replacement for tools like Exrm and relx
Project Samples
