Repository: github.com/Zixir-lang/Zixir · Created and maintained by Leo Louvar.

Zixir is an immutable AI automation language that bakes workflow orchestration, resource limits, and observability into one runtime—no Airflow + Redis + Prometheus glue. Small, expression-oriented, on a three-tier runtime: Elixir (orchestrator), Zig (engine), Python (specialist).

Zixir is its own language (own grammar and semantics), implemented with Elixir, compiling to Zig, and calling into Python. You write .zixir source; it is not Elixir or Zig syntax. Zixir is immutable by design: variables cannot be reassigned, so code is easier to reason about and less prone to bugs than in mutable-by-default languages.

Who it's for: Developers and teams building AI automation, agentic workflows, and ML pipelines who prefer a single, expression-oriented language and runtime over managing Airflow, K8s, Redis, and custom YAML. Best fit for engineers who like Elixir/FP, want pattern matching and type inference, and need built-in fault tolerance and observability without extra infra.

Problem: Production AI pipelines usually need Airflow, K8s, Redis, Prometheus, custom fault-tolerance code, and YAML.

Solution: One language. Orchestration, checkpointing, resource limits, circuit breakers, and built-in caching (ETS + disk, no Redis) are in the runtime.

Each tier does one job well; together: orchestration, speed, and ecosystem.

Elixir orchestrates and restarts failed workers; Zig runs hot-path code; Python handles ML and data.

Zixir has its own grammar (let, expressions, array/map indexing arr[i] and map["key"], engine.op(args), python "module" "function" (args), literals, binary ops, 25+ built-in functions). Source is parsed in Elixir into a Zixir AST, then either:

• Interpreted — Zixir.eval(source) evaluates the AST in Elixir; engine.* calls run in Zig NIFs, python calls go to Python via a port.
• Compiled — Zixir.Compiler.compile(source) type-checks, optimizes, and emits Zig; the Zig is compiled to a native binary or run JIT.

Your code stays Zixir-only; the runtime is Elixir + Zig (engine/codegen) + Python (libraries).

* Elixir + Zig (build-time) required; no Redis, K8s, or separate DB for workflows.

Bottom line: One language replaces the usual Airflow + Redis + Prometheus stack. Requires Elixir and Zig; once set up, you get orchestration, limits, and observability without 3–5 external services.

flowchart TB
  Source[Zixir source / eval]

  subgraph T1["Tier 1: Elixir - Orchestrator"]
    Intent[Intent / routing]
    Memory[Memory / state]
    Supervisor[Supervision]
  end

  subgraph T2["Tier 2: Zig - Engine"]
    NIF[NIFs]
    Math[Math, parsing, core ops]
  end

  subgraph T3["Tier 3: Python - Specialist"]
    Port[Port bridge]
    Libs[ML, data, scripts]
  end

  Source --> Intent
  Intent --> Memory
  Intent --> Supervisor
  Intent -->|hot path| NIF
  Intent -->|library calls| Port
  NIF --> Math
  Port --> Libs

Zixir Language complete guide — Learn the language from zero to real projects. This is what the complete guide shows:

What's inside

Key features: Progressive learning, 20+ complete examples, 4 real projects, exercises with solutions, visual aids, error-handling focus, AI/automation emphasis.

Guide stats: 40+ pages · 20+ code examples · 4 projects · 6 exercises per chapter · 25+ built-in functions · 22 engine ops · pipe operator, modulo, map indexing, type conversions · full grammar reference.

PDF: A PDF copy is available at docs/Zixir Language complete guide.pdf (same path as the guide, .pdf for download). Website: zixir-lang.github.io/Zixir/Zixir%20Language%20complete%20guide.pdf. To rebuild locally: Node — npx md-to-pdf "docs/Zixir Language complete guide.md" (output is already named with spaces); or pandoc — ./scripts/build-guide-pdf.sh (Unix) or .\scripts\build-guide-pdf.ps1 (Windows; requires pandoc and LaTeX). To enable automatic PDF build on push: create .github/workflows/build-guide-pdf.yml from scripts/build-guide-pdf-workflow.yml (skip the first 3 comment lines).

Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux. Zigler compiles NIFs at mix compile; Python script: priv/python/port_bridge.py.

Optional: MLIR (Phase 4) — For extra optimizations (vectorization, CSE, constant folding) you can add the Beaver dependency on Unix: {:beaver, "~> 0.4"} in mix.exs. Without it, the compiler still runs AST-level optimizations. See docs/MLIR_AND_PYTHON.md. Windows: Beaver/Kinda not supported; use default (no Beaver).

New to Zixir? For step-by-step install of Elixir, Zig, and Python per OS, see SETUP_GUIDE.md.

git clone https://github.com/Zixir-lang/Zixir.git
cd Zixir
git checkout v7.1.0
mix deps.get
mix zig.get   # after deps.get, for Zigler
mix compile
mix phx.server   # start web UI

Then open http://localhost:4000 in your browser.

Use this when you need a clean build, are troubleshooting, or reinstalling:

# 1. Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/Zixir-lang/Zixir.git

# 2. Navigate into the project directory (CRITICAL!)
cd Zixir

# 3. Reset any local changes and fetch tags
git checkout -- .
git fetch origin --tags
git checkout v7.1.0

# 4. Full clean
mix clean
mix deps.clean --all

# 5. Get dependencies FIRST
mix deps.get

# 6. Install Zig
mix zig.get

# 7. Compile
mix compile

# 8. Start server
mix phx.server   # start web UI

Then open http://localhost:4000 in your browser.

For Python specialist: ensure Python is on PATH or set in config; recommend a virtualenv. For VectorDB (nine backends: memory, chroma, pinecone, weaviate, qdrant, milvus, pgvector, redis, azure), see docs/VECTORDB_BACKENDS.md for pip install and setup.

Run Zixir source with eval/1 or run/1:

Zixir.eval("engine.list_sum([1.0, 2.0, 3.0])")
# => {:ok, 6.0}

Zixir.run("let x = 5\nlet y = 5\nx + y")
# => 10

Run a .zixir file (from repo root):

mix zixir.run examples/hello.zixir

Run from any directory: Build a release (mix release), add _build/prod/rel/zixir/bin to PATH, then use zixir_run.sh / zixir_run.bat with a path to a .zixir file. See SETUP_GUIDE.md.

Grammar, types, and standard library: see docs/LANGUAGE.md.

Elixir API: Zixir.run_engine/2 (hot path → Zig NIFs), Zixir.call_python/3 (library calls → Python). Intent/routing: Zixir.Intent. See project_Analysis_for_fork.md for architecture.

mix test

After Setup, run mix zixir.run examples/hello.zixir. Expected: 11.0. For JIT run: mix zixir run examples/enterprise_test.zr (expected: 28.75). Windows: scripts\verify.ps1. If "mix is not recognized", install Elixir and add to PATH.

None at this time.

Note: See PROJECT_ANALYSIS.md for detailed implementation status. For how MLIR (Phase 4) fits with the three-tier runtime and Python, see docs/MLIR_AND_PYTHON.md. To contribute, see CONTRIBUTING.md. For roadmap and use cases, see ROADMAP.md and docs/USE_CASES.md.

Zixir is created and maintained by Leo Louvar. Apache-2.0 — see LICENSE. Contributors: CONTRIBUTORS.md.