OTP Usage Rules

GenServer Best Practices

• Keep state simple and serializable
• Handle all expected messages explicitly
• Use handle_continue/2 for post-init work
• Implement proper cleanup in terminate/2 when necessary

Process Communication

• Use GenServer.call/3 for synchronous requests expecting replies
• Use GenServer.cast/2 for fire-and-forget messages.
• When in doubt, use call over cast, to ensure back-pressure
• Set appropriate timeouts for call/3 operations

Fault Tolerance

• Set up processes such that they can handle crashing and being restarted by supervisors
• Use :max_restarts and :max_seconds to prevent restart loops

Task and Async

• Use Task.Supervisor for better fault tolerance
• Handle task failures with Task.yield/2 or Task.shutdown/2
• Set appropriate task timeouts
• Use Task.async_stream/3 for concurrent enumeration with back-pressure