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    • Ash
      • Get Started
      • Philosophy
      • Why Ash
      • Extending Resources
    • AshPostgres
      • Get Started With Postgres
    • AshSqlite
      • Get Started With Sqlite
    • AshPhoenix
      • Getting Started With Ash And Phoenix
    • AshGraphql
      • Getting Started With Graphql
    • AshJsonApi
      • Getting Started With Json Api
    • AshAuthentication
      • Auth0 Quickstart
      • Getting Started With Authentication
      • Github Quickstart
      • Magic Links Quickstart
    • AshAuthenticationPhoenix
      • Getting Started With Ash Authentication Phoenix
      • Use Ash Authentication With Liveview
    • AshStateMachine
      • Get Started With State Machines
    • AshCSV
      • Get Started With Csv
    • Reactor
      • Getting Started With Reactor
    • Spark
      • Get Started With Spark
    • Ash
      • Actions
      • Aggregates
      • Atomics
      • Attributes
      • Bulk Actions
      • Calculations
      • Code Interface
      • Constraints
      • Development Utilities
      • Embedded Resources
      • Expressions
      • Flows
      • Glossary
      • Identities
      • Managing Relationships
      • Manual Actions
      • Monitoring
      • Multitenancy
      • Notifiers
      • Pagination
      • Phoenix
      • Policies
      • Pub Sub
      • Relationships
      • Security
      • Store Context In Process
      • Testing
      • Timeouts
      • Validations
    • AshPostgres
      • Migrations And Tasks
      • Polymorphic Resources
      • Postgres Expressions
      • References
      • Schema Based Multitenancy
    • AshSqlite
      • Migrations And Tasks
      • Polymorphic Resources
      • References
      • Sqlite Expressions
    • AshPhoenix
      • Working With Phoenix
    • AshGraphql
      • Graphql Generation
      • Modifying The Resolution
      • Relay
    • AshJsonApi
      • Open Api
      • Relationships
    • AshAuthentication
      • Custom Strategy
      • Policies On Authentication Resources
      • Upgrading
    • Ash
      • Contribute
      • Define Idiomatic Actions
      • Defining Manual Relationships
      • Handle Errors
      • Structure Your Project
      • Upgrade
      • Use Without Data Layers
      • Validate Changes
    • AshPostgres
      • Join Manual Relationships
      • Test With Postgres
      • Using Fragments
    • AshSqlite
      • Join Manual Relationships
      • Test With Sqlite
      • Using Fragments
    • AshGraphql
      • Authorize With Graphql
      • Handle Errors
      • Use Enums With Graphql
      • Use Json With Graphql
      • Use Subscriptions With Graphql
      • Use Unions With Graphql
    • Spark
      • Writing Extensions
    • AshGraphql
      • Monitoring
    • AshArchival
      • Archival
      • Unarchiving
    • Ash
      • Get Started
      • Philosophy
      • Why Ash
      • Extending Resources
    • AshPostgres
      • Get Started With Postgres
    • AshSqlite
      • Get Started With Sqlite
    • AshPhoenix
      • Getting Started With Ash And Phoenix
    • AshGraphql
      • Getting Started With Graphql
    • AshJsonApi
      • Getting Started With Json Api
    • AshAuthentication
      • Auth0 Quickstart
      • Getting Started With Authentication
      • Github Quickstart
      • Magic Links Quickstart
    • AshAuthenticationPhoenix
      • Getting Started With Ash Authentication Phoenix
      • Use Ash Authentication With Liveview
    • AshStateMachine
      • Get Started With State Machines
    • AshCSV
      • Get Started With Csv
    • Reactor
      • Getting Started With Reactor
    • Spark
      • Get Started With Spark
    • Ash
      • Actions
      • Aggregates
      • Atomics
      • Attributes
      • Bulk Actions
      • Calculations
      • Code Interface
      • Constraints
      • Development Utilities
      • Embedded Resources
      • Expressions
      • Flows
      • Glossary
      • Identities
      • Managing Relationships
      • Manual Actions
      • Monitoring
      • Multitenancy
      • Notifiers
      • Pagination
      • Phoenix
      • Policies
      • Pub Sub
      • Relationships
      • Security
      • Store Context In Process
      • Testing
      • Timeouts
      • Validations
    • AshPostgres
      • Migrations And Tasks
      • Polymorphic Resources
      • Postgres Expressions
      • References
      • Schema Based Multitenancy
    • AshSqlite
      • Migrations And Tasks
      • Polymorphic Resources
      • References
      • Sqlite Expressions
    • AshPhoenix
      • Working With Phoenix
    • AshGraphql
      • Graphql Generation
      • Modifying The Resolution
      • Relay
    • AshJsonApi
      • Open Api
      • Relationships
    • AshAuthentication
      • Custom Strategy
      • Policies On Authentication Resources
      • Upgrading
    • Ash
      • Contribute
      • Define Idiomatic Actions
      • Defining Manual Relationships
      • Handle Errors
      • Structure Your Project
      • Upgrade
      • Use Without Data Layers
      • Validate Changes
    • AshPostgres
      • Join Manual Relationships
      • Test With Postgres
      • Using Fragments
    • AshSqlite
      • Join Manual Relationships
      • Test With Sqlite
      • Using Fragments
    • AshGraphql
      • Authorize With Graphql
      • Handle Errors
      • Use Enums With Graphql
      • Use Json With Graphql
      • Use Subscriptions With Graphql
      • Use Unions With Graphql
    • Spark
      • Writing Extensions
    • AshGraphql
      • Monitoring
    • AshArchival
      • Archival
      • Unarchiving
View this guide on GitHub View this guide on Hex

Philosophy

Table of Contents

  1. Anything, not Everything
  2. Declarative, Introspectable, Derivable
  3. Pragmatism First
  4. Community

The philosophy behind Ash allows us to build an extremely flexible and powerful set of tools, without locking users into specific choices at any level. The framework acts as a spinal cord for your application, with extension points at every level to allow for custom behavior. What follows are the core tenets behind Ash Framework.

Anything, not Everything

“Anything, not Everything” means building a framework capable of doing anything, not providing a framework that already does everything. The first is possible, the second is not. Our primary goal is to provide a framework that unlocks potential, and frees developers to work on the things that make their application special.

To this end, there are many prebuilt extensions to use, but there is also a rich suite of tools to build your own extensions. In this way, you can make the framework work for you, instead of struggling to fit your application to a strictly prescribed pattern. Use as much of Ash as you can, and leverage the amazing Elixir ecosystem for everything else.

Declarative, Introspectable, Derivable

The real superpower behind Ash is the declarative design pattern. All behavior is driven by explicit, static declarations. A resource, for example, is really just a configuration file. On its own it does nothing. It is provided to code that reads that configuration and acts accordingly.

You can read more about some simple declarative design patterns outside of the context of Ash Framework in An Incremental Approach to Declarative Design .

Pragmatism First

While Ash does have lofty goals and a roadmap, the priority for development is always what the current users of Ash need or are having trouble with. We focus on simple, pragmatic, and integrated solutions that meld well with the rest of the framework.

A high priority is placed on ensuring that our users don’t experience feature whip-lash due to poorly thought out implementations, and that any breaking changes (a rare occurrence) have a clean and simple upgrade path. This is something made much easier by the declarative pattern.

Community

The Ash community comes together and collaborates to make sure that we can all build our software quickly, effectively and in a way that will age gracefully. We have a strict code of conduct, and love working with people of any experience level or background. To experience this first-hand, participate on ElixirForum or join our discord !

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