INFO: The Alchemist-Server is in Beta status and the API will most likey change until the first release. Feedback and critic are highly appreciated though.

Alchemist Server

The Alchemist-Server operates as an informant for a specific desired Elixir Mix project and serves with informations as the following:

Completion for Modules and functions.
Documentation lookup for Modules and functions.
Code evaluation and quoted representation of code.
Definition lookup of code.
Listing of all available Mix tasks.
Listing of all available Modules with documentation.

Usage

The server needs to be started inside an Elixir mix project, it can be started in two ways:

Read/Write through `STDIN/STDOUT`

$ cd elixir_project
$ elixir path/to/alchemist-server/run.exs --env=dev

In this mode, when input sent to a running server process it responds by sending information back to the STDOUT.

A request consisting of two parts, the request type and the request arguments.

Example for a completion request:

[type]   [arguments]

COMP { "def", [ context: Elixir, imports: [Enum], aliases: [{MyList, List}] ] }

Read/Write through network socket

$ cd elixir_project
$ elixir path/to/alchemist-server/run.exs --env=dev --listen
ok|localhost:55580

In this mode, when a client connects to the port, it responds by sending information back to the opened connection

Example for a completion request:

$ nc localhost 55580
COMP { "def", [ context: Elixir, imports: [Enum], aliases: [{MyList, List}] ] }

API

Completion

Return a completion list of all the available candidates.

COMP
COMP { "def", [ context: Elixir, imports: [], aliases: [] ] }
COMP { "List.fla", [ context: Elixir, imports: [], aliases: [] ] }

Documentation lookup

Return the documentation.

DOCL { "defmodule", [ context: Elixir, imports: [], aliases: [] ] }
DOCL { "List.flatten/1", [ context: Elixir, imports: [], aliases: [] ] }

Evaluation, Quoted & Macro expand

Evaluation

Return the evaluation result of the code from the file.

EVAL { :eval, 'path/to/file/which/holds/content/to/eval.tmp' }

Quoted

Return the code from the file quoted.

EVAL { :quote, 'path/to/file/which/holds/content/to/quote.tmp' }

Macro expand

Return the code from the file expanded.

EVAL { :expand, 'path/to/file/which/holds/content/to/expand.tmp' }

Return the code from the file expanded once.

EVAL { :expand_once, 'path/to/file/which/holds/content/to/expand_once.tmp' }

Definition lookup

Return the path to the source file which holds the definition.

DEFL  { "List,flatten", [ context: Elixir, imports: [], aliases: [] ] }
DEFL  { "nil,defmacro", [ context: Elixir, imports: [], aliases: [] ] }
DEFL  { "nil,create_file", [ context: Elixir, imports: [Mix.Generator], aliases: [] ] }
DEFL  { "MyList,nil", [ context: Elixir, imports: [], aliases: [{MyList, List}] ] }

Informations

Mix tasks

Return a list of all available mix tasks.

INFO { :type, :mixtasks }

Modules

Return a list of all available modules which has documentation.

INFO { :type, :modules }

Datatype Information

Return information about any datatype.

INFO { :type, :info, List }

Module Or Function/Arity Types Information

Return types for a module or function/arity pair.

INFO { :type, :types, 'List' }
INFO { :type, :types, 'Enum.t' }
INFO { :type, :types, 'Agent.on_start/0' }

Debugging

Return PONG as response, it can be used for purpose of debugging and checking server's availability.

PING

End Markers

Each request type ends with a specific end marker tag to notify that the request is done.

An end tag looks like the following:

END-OF-<REQUEST TYPE>

For example, after the following request an end tag would look like this:

INFO { :type, :modules }
List
String
Enum
.
...
....
END-OF-INFO

msaraiva/alchemist-server