CRDTs and the BEAM - Building Conflict-Free Distributed Systems with Elixir

Explore how Conflict-free Replicated Datatypes (CRDTs) integrate with the BEAM ecosystem in this 28-minute conference talk from Code BEAM America 2025. Learn how CRDTs enable distributed, peer-to-peer workflows where users can generate data without conflicts, and discover the innovative approach of wrapping Yjs (a CRDT implementation) inside a NIF to push business logic down into clients. Understand how this architecture pairs effectively with the BEAM by managing CRDTs inside stateful processes, transforming fundamentally imperative data structures into functional ones. See how Phoenix is leveraged for pubsub functionality and LiveView integration to create screen.garden, a collaboration and sync platform for Obsidian. Gain insights into implementing fine-grained synchronization between servers and multiple devices while eliminating conflicts and downtime concerns through this real-world application of CRDT technology in the Elixir ecosystem.