ERLANG ECOSYSTEM FOUNDATIONSupporting BEAM Community |
The EEF is all of us
With summer wrapped up and vacations in the mirror, the EEF has been making meaningful progress across projects, security, and community advocacy. From advancing core tools like rebar4, Expert, and Nx, to establishing a top-ranked CNA and shipping signed releases, we are strengthening the foundation that our ecosystem relies on. These efforts are already improving developer experience, security posture, and industry trust—while opening clear opportunities for sponsors to accelerate what’s next.
Projects
The EEF is leaning into an active role helping central ecosystem projects achieve sustainability and security through awareness and organizing community funding. The projects below are just a sample of publicly active or announced activity. If there are projects important to you or your business there are ways to help them succeed. For more information contact support@erlef.org.
rebar4 - The Kickstarter “From Rebar3 to Rebar4: Integrating with Erlang/OTP” is making strong progress, already exceeding its initial funding goal. The EEF is supporting this work financially because rebar4 promises to fully integrate with OTP across all BEAM languages, resolve legacy dependency issues, and improve developer experience and compatibility within the overall toolchain.
Expert - the next generation Elixir language server is now public alpha. Made possible by fly.io, tauspace and river, this has now become an official EEF project. There is much to do and you can be a part of it. To get started, email sponsor+expert@erlef.org. Add your company to the sponsor list in this major rework of the Elixir developer experience.
Nx - Advancing Nx to 1.0 with seed funding from Dashbit with goals of better custom call handling, improved interoperability with NumPy/Torchx/EXLA, parallel execution of defn functions and stabilizing Nx.Defn.Graph splitting. Nx can only continue to evolve with community feedback and support. If you are a significant user of Nx, please consider sponsoring development by emailing sponsor+nx@erlef.org.
The Ægis security initiative continues to strengthen the Erlang Ecosystem and its rich variety of languages like Elixir and Gleam, preparing both maintainers and manufacturers for today’s security challenges and tomorrow’s regulatory requirements. As part of this initiative, Jonatan Männchen was hired as the Foundation’s first CISO to lead ecosystem-wide security efforts.
In 2025, the EEF launched our own CNA, now ranked at the top of the global scoreboard, providing authoritative CVEs and coordinating vulnerability disclosure for BEAM projects. Alongside this, we achieved OpenChain certification for Erlang and Elixir, rolled out PURL support to make SBOMs unambiguous, piloted OpenVEX for machine-readable vulnerability impact statements, and delivered signed binaries and provenance attestations for releases. Together these steps reduce the compliance burden, improve auditability, and create a stronger foundation for long-term sustainability.
Looking ahead, we are bringing signed OTP builds, complete with provenance, to all major platforms, integrating CNA vulnerability data directly into Hex.pm, and expanding CNA education so that maintainers can handle incidents predictably and responsibly. These improvements will have a tangible outcome for consumers of open source in the ecosystem: faster triage, more reliable updates, and greater assurance in the safety of the software supply chain.
In the longer term, the roadmap includes establishing stewardship models, setting a common SBOM baseline across BEAM tooling, and advancing to CRA- and NIST-aligned secure development practices. With the support of sponsors and contributors, this work ensures that the technologies in our ecosystem remain not only innovative but also trustworthy and sustainable for industry adoption. To stay on this trajectory—and to accelerate meaningful progress—we depend on additional funding and new sponsors stepping in.
Conferences
ElixirConfUS (Orlando)
Summit — Dan Janowski of the EEF organized a pre-conference summit to prioritize ecosystem health and growth. Discussions centered on expanding Elixir into new markets through curated, searchable case studies; exploring next steps in web technology and standards (including projects like Hologram); and improving documentation and developer onboarding with tools such as DeepWiki. There was also strong interest in rebooting community efforts like ElixirBridge and ElixirCamps to broaden access and diversity, as well as introducing Elixir to younger learners through workshops and fun programming sessions.
Security Talk — At ElixirConf US and Goatmire, EEF CISO Jonatan Männchen presented Navigating a Security Disaster, sharing practical steps maintainers can take to move from panic to clarity when vulnerabilities surface. With the EEF now operating a working CNA, the focus is on encouraging authors to use it—so that maintainers aren’t left panicking or reacting incorrectly, but can instead respond with clarity and confidence. This series will continue at Code BEAM EU, helping ensure that consumers of open source in our ecosystem can rely on timely, well-handled security fixes.
Advocacy Talk — At ElixirConf US and Goatmire, and soon at Code BEAM EU, Daniel Janowski presented on the activities of the EEF and why community participation is essential for sustainability and security. His talk emphasized that the Foundation is part of every Elixir programmer’s identity—“your foundation, representing you”—while highlighting ongoing projects and funding needs. This advocacy has already helped bring new sponsors on board, strengthening the support base for the ecosystem.
Goatmire (Varberg, Sweden)
Around 150 Elixir practitioners and enthusiasts converged on Varberg, Sweden to be entranced, educated and forever changed by two days of stage performances and community experience. Organized and MC’ed with enthusiasm and the vision of Lars Wikman. The EEF is proud to be a sponsor of this gathering that sets a new standard for events in our ecosystem.
Goatmire offered reprise performances by Jonatan Männchen and Daniel Janowski on Security and Advocacy, spreading the knowledge and word of our efforts and to engage the community.
More to come
The conference season isn’t slowing down—there are plenty of opportunities ahead to connect with the community:
- Erlang Workshop in Singapore, October 12
- CodeBEAM Europe in Berlin, November 5-6
- ExMex Conf in Austin, November 6-7
And that’s not all—more events are always being added. Check the EEF calendar to stay up to date.
Outlook
Fiscal Host - The EEF is preparing to take on the role of a fiscal host, helping coordinate and channel funding to maintain projects across the Erlang Ecosystem. By providing the necessary infrastructure, we can make it easier for companies and individuals to support the libraries and tools they depend on, ensuring they remain maintained, secure, and sustainable over the long term. This step also moves us closer to establishing the Foundation as a recognized steward for critical projects in the ecosystem.
Sponsorship
We’re thrilled to welcome and highlight some of our sponsors helping drive the EEF mission forward:
Shiguredo — Founded in 2013 in Tokyo, Shiguredo develops WebRTC-based server software for real-time audio, video, and data. Their flagship product, Sora, is implemented entirely in Erlang/OTP, powering interactive meetings, large-scale broadcasts, and low-latency streaming with reliable, scalable infrastructure.
DNSimple — Delivering simple and secure automation for domain registration, primary DNS hosting, SSL certificates, and more. Reliable DNS hosting and Domain name management for one domain or 100,000.
MarketCircle — Makers of Daylite, a CRM built using Elixir and the Ash framework. Their product demonstrates how Elixir is delivering polished, business-oriented desktop/web tools used in real work contexts across planning, customer management, and productivity.
We’ve taken on more involved work than ever before—from advancing security and compliance to supporting critical projects across the Erlang Ecosystem. This progress requires additional funding, not only to sustain the current momentum but also to deliver on specific projects that strengthen the ecosystem’s long-term health. The work we are doing is not abstract or distant. It impacts what we all experience and depend on every day. Be an integral part of the success and sustainability of our ecosystem. If your company already sponsors the EEF, consider broadening your support. If you’re not yet a sponsor, now is the perfect time to join. To discuss becoming a pivotal part of the EEF mission, please contact sponsorship@erlef.org.