Web Apps in Erlang Are Actually Simple

Erlang is known for telecom systems, distributed databases, and extreme fault tolerance.

But simple web apps? Not really. In this talk, we challenge the idea that building web applications in Erlang is complicated or overly academic. Using Nova, we’ll show how straightforward it can be to build a modern web app — with routing, templates, and JSON APIs — without fighting the framework or drowning in OTP abstractions.

Then we’ll look at what makes Erlang fundamentally different from most web platforms: every request runs in its own lightweight process. Crashes are isolated. Concurrency is the default. Fault tolerance isn’t bolted on — it’s the foundation.

Just processes, isolation, and supervision. If you’ve ever felt that web development on the BEAM is “too much OTP” or too heavy for everyday applications, this talk aims to change your perspective. Web apps in Erlang are not only possible. They’re actually simple.