This is a short post on how to create an empty Phoenix application using the Phoenix framework, which is a popular web development framework in the Elixir ecosystem similar to Ruby on Rails. By following the steps outlined below, you will set up a new Phoenix project directory and initialize it for further development.

Let's first check if you have hex installed on our machine. Hex is used to manage dependencies for Elixir projects and allows you to easily fetch and use external libraries and packages in your Elixir applications. You can run the following command in your terminal:

mix hex.info

If Hex is installed, this command will display information about the installed Hex version, the path to the Hex executable, and other relevant details. If Hex is not installed, you will likely see an error message indicating that the command mix hex.info is not recognized.

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Install Hex and Phoenix:

   Ensure that you have Hex and Phoenix installed on your system by running the following commands:

    mix local.hex
    mix archive.install hex phx_new
   

   By installing Hex locally with mix local.hex, you ensure that your Elixir projects have access to the Hex package manager, enabling you to efficiently manage dependencies and integrate external libraries into your Elixir codebase.

   When you run mix archive.install hex phx_new, the Phoenix archive containing the phx_new mix task is fetched from the Hex package manager and installed on your system.

   After running this command, you will be able to use the mix phx.new command to generate new Phoenix projects in your Elixir environment.

2. Create a New Phoenix Project:

   To create a new Phoenix project named phone_app, run the following command:

    mix phx.new my_app
   

3. Fetch and Install Dependencies:

   After creating the project, navigate to the project directory (my_app) and fetch the project dependencies by running:

    cd my_app
    mix deps.get
   

4. Create the Database:

   Initialize the database for the Phoenix application by running:

    mix ecto.create
   

5. Run Tests:

   Verify that the project setup is correct by running the tests:

    mix test
   

6. Start the Phoenix Server:

   Once the setup is complete and the tests pass, start the Phoenix server to run the application:

    mix phx.server
   

By following these steps, you will have successfully created an empty Phoenix application and set it up for further development. This provides a solid foundation for building web applications using the Phoenix framework in the Elixir programming language.