A behaviour module for implementing the server of a client-server relation.

A GenServer is a process like any other Elixir process and it can be used to keep state, execute code asynchronously and so on. The advantage of using a generic server process (GenServer) implemented using this module is that it will have a standard set of interface functions and include functionality for tracing and error reporting. It will also fit into a supervision tree.

Example

The GenServer behaviour abstracts the common client-server interaction. Developers are only required to implement the callbacks and functionality they are interested in.

Let's start with a code example and then explore the available callbacks. Imagine we want a GenServer that works like a stack, allowing us to push and pop items:

defmodule Stack do
  use GenServer

  # Callbacks

  @impl true
  def init(stack) do
    {:ok, stack}
  end

  @impl true
  def handle_call(:pop, _from, [head | tail]) do
    {:reply, head, tail}
  end

  @impl true
  def handle_cast({:push, item}, state) do
    {:noreply, [item | state]}
  end
end

# Start the server
{:ok, pid} = GenServer.start_link(Stack, [:hello])

# This is the client
GenServer.call(pid, :pop)
#=> :hello

GenServer.cast(pid, {:push, :world})
#=> :ok

GenServer.call(pid, :pop)
#=> :world

We start our Stack by calling start_link/2, passing the module with the server implementation and its initial argument (a list representing the stack containing the item :hello). We can primarily interact with the server by sending two types of messages. call messages expect a reply from the server (and are therefore synchronous) while cast messages do not.

Every time you do a GenServer.call/3, the client will send a message that must be handled by the handle_call/3 callback in the GenServer. A cast/2 message must be handled by handle_cast/2. There are 7 possible callbacks to be implemented when you use a GenServer. The only required callback is init/1.

Client / Server APIs

Although in the example above we have used GenServer.start_link/3 and friends to directly start and communicate with the server, most of the time we don't call the GenServer functions directly. Instead, we wrap the calls in new functions representing the public API of the server.

Here is a better implementation of our Stack module:

defmodule Stack do
  use GenServer

  # Client

  def start_link(default) when is_list(default) do
    GenServer.start_link(__MODULE__, default)
  end

  def push(pid, item) do
    GenServer.cast(pid, {:push, item})
  end

  def pop(pid) do
    GenServer.call(pid, :pop)
  end

  # Server (callbacks)

  @impl true
  def init(stack) do
    {:ok, stack}
  end

  @impl true
  def handle_call(:pop, _from, [head | tail]) do
    {:reply, head, tail}
  end

  @impl true
  def handle_cast({:push, item}, state) do
    {:noreply, [item | state]}
  end
end

In practice, it is common to have both server and client functions in the same module. If the server and/or client implementations are growing complex, you may want to have them in different modules.

How to supervise

A GenServer is most commonly started under a supervision tree. When we invoke use GenServer, it automatically defines a child_spec/1 function that allows us to start the Stack directly under a supervisor. To start a default stack of [:hello] under a supervisor, one may do:

children = [
  {Stack, [:hello]}
]

Supervisor.start_link(children, strategy: :one_for_all)

Note you can also start it simply as Stack, which is the same as {Stack, []}:

children = [
  Stack # The same as {Stack, []}
]

Supervisor.start_link(children, strategy: :one_for_all)

In both cases, Stack.start_link/1 is alwaus invoked.

use GenServer also accepts a list of options which configures the child specification and therefore how it runs under a supervisor. The generated child_spec/1 can be customized with the following options:

• :id - the child specification identifier, defaults to the current module
• :start - how to start the child process (defaults to calling __MODULE__.start_link/1)
• :restart - when the child should be restarted, defaults to :permanent
• :shutdown - how to shut down the child, either immediately or by giving it time to shut down

For example:

use GenServer, restart: :transient, shutdown: 10_000

See the "Child specification" section in the Supervisor module for more detailed information. The @doc annotation immediately preceding use GenServer will be attached to the generated child_spec/1 function.

Name registration

Both start_link/3 and start/3 support the GenServer to register a name on start via the :name option. Registered names are also automatically cleaned up on termination. The supported values are:

• an atom - the GenServer is registered locally with the given name using Process.register/2.

• {:global, term} - the GenServer is registered globally with the given term using the functions in the :global module.

• {:via, module, term} - the GenServer is registered with the given mechanism and name. The :via option expects a module that exports register_name/2, unregister_name/1, whereis_name/1 and send/2. One such example is the :global module which uses these functions for keeping the list of names of processes and their associated PIDs that are available globally for a network of Elixir nodes. Elixir also ships with a local, decentralized and scalable registry called Registry for locally storing names that are generated dynamically.

For example, we could start and register our Stack server locally as follows:

# Start the server and register it locally with name MyStack
{:ok, _} = GenServer.start_link(Stack, [:hello], name: MyStack)

# Now messages can be sent directly to MyStack
GenServer.call(MyStack, :pop)
#=> :hello

Once the server is started, the remaining functions in this module (call/3, cast/2, and friends) will also accept an atom, or any {:global, ...} or {:via, ...} tuples. In general, the following formats are supported:

• a PID
• an atom if the server is locally registered
• {atom, node} if the server is locally registered at another node
• {:global, term} if the server is globally registered
• {:via, module, name} if the server is registered through an alternative registry

If there is an interest to register dynamic names locally, do not use atoms, as atoms are never garbage-collected and therefore dynamically generated atoms won't be garbage-collected. For such cases, you can set up your own local registry by using the Registry module.

Receiving "regular" messages

The goal of a GenServer is to abstract the "receive" loop for developers, automatically handling system messages, supporting code change, synchronous calls and more. Therefore, you should never call your own "receive" inside the GenServer callbacks as doing so will cause the GenServer to misbehave.

Besides the synchronous and asynchronous communication provided by call/3 and cast/2, "regular" messages sent by functions such as Kernel.send/2, Process.send_after/4 and similar, can be handled inside the handle_info/2 callback.

handle_info/2 can be used in many situations, such as handling monitor DOWN messages sent by Process.monitor/1. Another use case for handle_info/2 is to perform periodic work, with the help of Process.send_after/4:

defmodule MyApp.Periodically do
  use GenServer

  def start_link(_) do
    GenServer.start_link(__MODULE__, %{})
  end

  @impl true
  def init(state) do
    # Schedule work to be performed on start
    schedule_work()

    {:ok, state}
  end

  @impl true
  def handle_info(:work, state) do
    # Do the desired work here
    ...

    # Reschedule once more
    schedule_work()

    {:noreply, state}
  end

  defp schedule_work do
    # In 2 hours
    Process.send_after(self(), :work, 2 * 60 * 60 * 1000)
  end
end

When (not) to use a GenServer

So far, we have learned that a GenServer can be used as a supervised process that handles sync and async calls. It can also handle system messages, such as periodic messages and monitoring events. GenServer processes may also be named.

A GenServer, or a process in general, must be used to model runtime characteristics of your system. A GenServer must never be used for code organization purposes.

In Elixir, code organization is done by modules and functions, processes are not necessary. For example, imagine you are implementing a calculator and you decide to put all the calculator operations behind a GenServer:

def add(a, b) do
  GenServer.call(__MODULE__, {:add, a, b})
end

def handle_call({:add, a, b}, _from, state) do
  {:reply, a + b, state}
end

def handle_call({:subtract, a, b}, _from, state) do
  {:reply, a - b, state}
end

This is an anti-pattern not only because it convolutes the calculator logic but also because you put the calculator logic behind a single process that will potentially become a bottleneck in your system, especially as the number of calls grow. Instead just define the functions directly:

def add(a, b) do
  a + b
end

def subtract(a, b) do
  a - b
end

If you don't need a process, then you don't need a process. Use processes only to model runtime properties, such as mutable state, concurrency and failures, never for code organization.

Debugging with the :sys module

GenServers, as special processes, can be debugged using the :sys module. Through various hooks, this module allows developers to introspect the state of the process and trace system events that happen during its execution, such as received messages, sent replies and state changes.

Let's explore the basic functions from the :sys module used for debugging:

• :sys.get_state/2 - allows retrieval of the state of the process. In the case of a GenServer process, it will be the callback module state, as passed into the callback functions as last argument.
• :sys.get_status/2 - allows retrieval of the status of the process. This status includes the process dictionary, if the process is running or is suspended, the parent PID, the debugger state, and the state of the behaviour module, which includes the callback module state (as returned by :sys.get_state/2). It's possible to change how this status is represented by defining the optional GenServer.format_status/2 callback.
• :sys.trace/3 - prints all the system events to :stdio.
• :sys.statistics/3 - manages collection of process statistics.
• :sys.no_debug/2 - turns off all debug handlers for the given process. It is very important to switch off debugging once we're done. Excessive debug handlers or those that should be turned off, but weren't, can seriously damage the performance of the system.
• :sys.suspend/2 - allows to suspend a process so that it only replies to system messages but no other messages. A suspended process can be reactivated via :sys.resume/2.

Let's see how we could use those functions for debugging the stack server we defined earlier.

iex> {:ok, pid} = Stack.start_link([])
iex> :sys.statistics(pid, true) # turn on collecting process statistics
iex> :sys.trace(pid, true) # turn on event printing
iex> Stack.push(pid, 1)
*DBG* <0.122.0> got cast {push,1}
*DBG* <0.122.0> new state [1]
:ok

iex> :sys.get_state(pid)
[1]

iex> Stack.pop(pid)
*DBG* <0.122.0> got call pop from <0.80.0>
*DBG* <0.122.0> sent 1 to <0.80.0>, new state []
1

iex> :sys.statistics(pid, :get)
{:ok,
 [
   start_time: {{2016, 7, 16}, {12, 29, 41}},
   current_time: {{2016, 7, 16}, {12, 29, 50}},
   reductions: 117,
   messages_in: 2,
   messages_out: 0
 ]}

iex> :sys.no_debug(pid) # turn off all debug handlers
:ok

iex> :sys.get_status(pid)
{:status, #PID<0.122.0>, {:module, :gen_server},
 [
   [
     "$initial_call": {Stack, :init, 1},            # process dictionary
     "$ancestors": [#PID<0.80.0>, #PID<0.51.0>]
   ],
   :running,                                        # :running | :suspended
   #PID<0.80.0>,                                    # parent
   [],                                              # debugger state
   [
     header: 'Status for generic server <0.122.0>', # module status
     data: [
       {'Status', :running},
       {'Parent', #PID<0.80.0>},
       {'Logged events', []}
     ],
     data: [{'State', [1]}]
   ]
 ]}

Learn more

If you wish to find out more about GenServers, the Elixir Getting Started guide provides a tutorial-like introduction. The documentation and links in Erlang can also provide extra insight.

• GenServer - Elixir's Getting Started Guide
• :gen_server module documentation
• gen_server Behaviour - OTP Design Principles
• Clients and Servers - Learn You Some Erlang for Great Good!