ports
Elixir Ports
Ports are Elixir's mechanism for communicating with external OS programs via stdin/stdout. A Port is not a network port — it is a process-like entity that manages an external OS program, forwarding messages as bytes and delivering responses back to the owning Elixir process.
When to Use This Skill
Activate when:
- Spawning and communicating with external programs or scripts
- Implementing binary protocols over stdin/stdout
- Wrapping a port in a GenServer for lifecycle management
- Deciding between Port, NIF, C Node, or
System.cmd - Handling port crashes, exit status, or monitoring ports
- Working with long-running external processes
Port Fundamentals
Open a port with Port.open/2. The most common name forms are {:spawn, command} and {:spawn_executable, path}.
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