Supervisor — Elixir v1.16.3

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# View Source Supervisor behaviour (Elixir v1.16.3)

A behaviour module for implementing supervisors.

A supervisor is a process which supervises other processes, which we refer to as child processes. Supervisors are used to build a hierarchical process structure called a supervision tree. Supervision trees provide fault-tolerance and encapsulate how our applications start and shutdown.

A supervisor may be started directly with a list of child specifications via `start_link/2` or you may define a module-based supervisor that implements the required callbacks. The sections below use `start_link/2` to start supervisors in most examples, but it also includes a specific section on module-based ones.

## Examples

In order to start a supervisor, we need to first define a child process that will be supervised. As an example, we will define a `GenServer`, a generic server, that keeps a counter. Other processes can then send messages to this process to read the counter and bump its value.

> #### Disclaimer

> In practice you would not define a counter as a GenServer. Instead, if you need a counter, you would pass it around as inputs and outputs to the functions that need it. The reason we picked a counter in this example is due to its simplicity, as it allows us to focus on how supervisors work.

    defmodule Counter do
      use GenServer

      def start_link(arg) when is_integer(arg) do
        GenServer.start_link(__MODULE__, arg, name: __MODULE__)
      end

      ## Callbacks

      @impl true
      def init(counter) do
        {:ok, counter}
      end

      @impl true
      def handle_call(:get, _from, counter) do
        {:reply, counter, counter}
      end

      def handle_call({:bump, value}, _from, counter) do
        {:reply, counter, counter + value}
      end
    end

The `Counter` receives an argument on `start_link`. This argument is passed to the `init/1` callback which becomes the initial value of the counter. Our counter handles two operations (known as calls): `:get`, to get the current counter value, and `:bump`, that bumps the counter by the given `value` and returns the old counter.

We can now start a supervisor that will start and supervise our counter process. The first step is to define a list of child specifications that control how each child behaves. Each child specification is a map, as shown below:

    children = [
      # The Counter is a child started via Counter.start_link(0)
      %{
        id: Counter,
        start: {Counter, :start_link, [0]}
      }
    ]

    # Now we start the supervisor with the children and a strategy
    {:ok, pid} = Supervisor.start_link(children, strategy: :one_for_one)

    # After started, we can query the supervisor for information
    Supervisor.count_children(pid)
    #=> %{active: 1, specs: 1, supervisors: 0, workers: 1}

Note that when starting the GenServer, we are registering it with name `Counter` via the `name: __MODULE__` option. This allows us to call it directly and get its value:

    GenServer.call(Counter, :get)
    #=> 0

    GenServer.call(Counter, {:bump, 3})
    #=> 0

    GenServer.call(Counter, :get)
    #=> 3

However, there is a bug in our counter server. If we call `:bump` with a non-numeric value, it is going to crash:

    GenServer.call(Counter, {:bump, "oops"})
    ** (exit) exited in: GenServer.call(Counter, {:bump, "oops"}, 5000)

Luckily, since the server is being supervised by a supervisor, the supervisor will automatically start a new one, reset back to its initial value of `0`:

    GenServer.call(Counter, :get)
    #=> 0

Supervisors support different strategies; in the example above, we have chosen `:one_for_one`. Furthermore, each supervisor can have many workers and/or supervisors as children, with each one having its own configuration (as outlined in the "Child specification" section).

The rest of this document will cover how child processes are specified, how they can be started and stopped, different supervision strategies and more.

## Child specification

The child specification describes how the supervisor starts, shuts down, and restarts child processes.

The child specification is a map containing up to 6 elements. The first two keys in the following list are required, and the remaining ones are optional:

- `:id` - any term used to identify the child specification internally by the supervisor; defaults to the given module. This key is required. For supervisors, in the case of conflicting `:id` values, the supervisor will refuse to initialize and require explicit IDs. This is not the case for dynamic supervisors though.

- `:start` - a tuple with the module-function-args to be invoked to start the child process. This key is required.

- `:restart` - an atom that defines when a terminated child process should be restarted (see the "Restart values" section below). This key is optional and defaults to `:permanent`.

- `:shutdown` - an integer or atom that defines how a child process should be terminated (see the "Shutdown values" section below). This key is optional and defaults to `5_000` if the type is `:worker` or `:infinity` if the type is `:supervisor`.

- `:type` - specifies that the child process is a `:worker` or a `:supervisor`. This key is optional and defaults to `:worker`.

- `:modules` - a list of modules used by hot code upgrade mechanisms to determine which processes are using certain modules. It is typically set to the callback module of behaviours like `GenServer`, `Supervisor`, and such. It is set automatically based on the `:start` value and it is rarely changed in practice.

- `:significant` - a boolean indicating if the child process should be considered significant with regard to automatic shutdown. Only `:transient` and `:temporary` child processes can be marked as significant. This key is optional and defaults to `false`. See section "Automatic shutdown" below for more details.

Let's understand what the `:shutdown` and `:restart` options control.

### Shutdown values (:shutdown)

The following shutdown values are supported in the `:shutdown` option:

- `:brutal_kill` - the child process is unconditionally and immediately terminated using `Process.exit(child, :kill)`.

- any integer >= 0 - the amount of time in milliseconds that the supervisor will wait for its children to terminate after emitting a `Process.exit(child, :shutdown)` signal. If the child process is not trapping exits, the initial `:shutdown` signal will terminate the child process immediately. If the child process is trapping exits, it has the given amount of time to terminate. If it doesn't terminate within the specified time, the child process is unconditionally terminated by the supervisor via `Process.exit(child, :kill)`.

- `:infinity` - works as an integer except the supervisor will wait indefinitely for the child to terminate. If the child process is a supervisor, the recommended value is `:infinity` to give the supervisor and its children enough time to shut down. This option can be used with regular workers but doing so is discouraged and requires extreme care. If not used carefully, the child process will never terminate, preventing your application from terminating as well.

### Restart values (:restart)

The `:restart` option controls what the supervisor should consider to be a successful termination or not. If the termination is successful, the supervisor won't restart the child. If the child process crashed, the supervisor will start a new one.

The following restart values are supported in the `:restart` option:

- `:permanent` - the child process is always restarted.

- `:temporary` - the child process is never restarted, regardless of the supervision strategy: any termination (even abnormal) is considered successful.

- `:transient` - the child process is restarted only if it terminates abnormally, i.e., with an exit reason other than `:normal`, `:shutdown`, or `{:shutdown, term}`.

For a more complete understanding of the exit reasons and their impact, see the "Exit reasons and restarts" section.

## `child_spec/1` function

When starting a supervisor, we may pass a list of child specifications. Those specifications are maps that tell how the supervisor should start, stop and restart each of its children:

    %{
      id: Counter,
      start: {Counter, :start_link, [0]}
    }

The map above defines a child with `:id` of `Counter` that is started by calling `Counter.start_link(0)`.

However, defining the child specification for each child as a map can be quite error prone, as we may change the `Counter` implementation and forget to update its specification. That's why Elixir allows you to pass a tuple with the module name and the `start_link` argument instead of the specification:

    children = [
      {Counter, 0}
    ]

The supervisor will then invoke `Counter.child_spec(0)` to retrieve a child specification. Now the `Counter` module is responsible for building its own specification, for example, we could write:

    def child_spec(arg) do
      %{
        id: Counter,
        start: {Counter, :start_link, [arg]}
      }
    end

Then the supervisor will call `Counter.start_link(arg)` to start the child process. This flow is summarized in the diagram below. Caller is a process which spawns the Supervisor process. The Supervisor then proceeds to call your code (Module) to spawn its child process:

    sequenceDiagram
        participant C as Caller (Process)
        participant S as Supervisor (Process)
        participant M as Module (Code)

        note right of C: child is a {module, arg} specification
        C->>+S: Supervisor.start_link([child])
        S-->>+M: module.child_spec(arg)
        M-->>-S: %{id: term, start: {module, :start_link, [arg]}}
        S-->>+M: module.start_link(arg)
        M->>M: Spawns child process (child_pid)
        M-->>-S: {:ok, child_pid} | :ignore | {:error, reason}
        S->>-C: {:ok, supervisor_pid} | {:error, reason}

Luckily for us, `use GenServer` already defines a `Counter.child_spec/1` exactly like above, so you don't need to write the definition above yourself. If you want to customize the automatically generated `child_spec/1` function, you can pass the options directly to `use GenServer`:

    use GenServer, restart: :transient

Finally, note it is also possible to simply pass the `Counter` module as a child:

    children = [
      Counter
    ]

When only the module name is given, it is equivalent to `{Counter, []}`, which in our case would be invalid, which is why we always pass the initial counter explicitly.

By replacing the child specification with `{Counter, 0}`, we keep it encapsulated in the `Counter` module. We could now share our `Counter` implementation with other developers and they can add it directly to their supervision tree without worrying about the low-level details of the counter.

Overall, a child specification can be one of the following:

- a map representing the child specification itself - as outlined in the "Child specification" section

- a tuple with a module as first element and the start argument as second - such as `{Counter, 0}`. In this case, `Counter.child_spec(0)` is called to retrieve the child specification

- a module - such as `Counter`. In this case, `Counter.child_spec([])` would be called, which is invalid for the counter, but it is useful in many other cases, especially when you want to pass a list of options to the child process

If you need to convert a `{module, arg}` tuple or a module child specification to a child specification or modify a child specification itself, you can use the `Supervisor.child_spec/2` function. For example, to run the counter with a different `:id` and a `:shutdown` value of 10 seconds (10_000 milliseconds):

    children = [
      Supervisor.child_spec({Counter, 0}, id: MyCounter, shutdown: 10_000)
    ]

## Supervisor strategies and options

So far we have started the supervisor passing a single child as a tuple as well as a strategy called `:one_for_one`:

    children = [
      {Counter, 0}
    ]

    Supervisor.start_link(children, strategy: :one_for_one)

The first argument given to `start_link/2` is a list of child specifications as defined in the "child_spec/1" section above.

The second argument is a keyword list of options:

- `:strategy` - the supervision strategy option. It can be either `:one_for_one`, `:rest_for_one` or `:one_for_all`. Required. See the "Strategies" section.

- `:max_restarts` - the maximum number of restarts allowed in a time frame. Defaults to `3`.

- `:max_seconds` - the time frame in which `:max_restarts` applies. Defaults to `5`.

- `:auto_shutdown` - the automatic shutdown option. It can be `:never`, `:any_significant`, or `:all_significant`. Optional. See the "Automatic shutdown" section.

- `:name` - a name to register the supervisor process. Supported values are explained in the "Name registration" section in the documentation for `GenServer`. Optional.

### Strategies

Supervisors support different supervision strategies (through the `:strategy` option, as seen above):

- `:one_for_one` - if a child process terminates, only that process is restarted.

- `:one_for_all` - if a child process terminates, all other child processes are terminated and then all child processes (including the terminated one) are restarted.

- `:rest_for_one` - if a child process terminates, the terminated child process and the rest of the children started after it, are terminated and restarted.

In the above, process termination refers to unsuccessful termination, which is determined by the `:restart` option.

To efficiently supervise children started dynamically, see `DynamicSupervisor`.

### Automatic shutdown

Supervisors have the ability to automatically shut themselves down when child processes marked as `:significant` exit.

Supervisors support different automatic shutdown options (through the `:auto_shutdown` option, as seen above):

- `:never` - this is the default, automatic shutdown is disabled.

- `:any_significant` - if any significant child process exits, the supervisor will automatically shut down its children, then itself.

- `:all_significant` - when all significant child processes have exited, the supervisor will automatically shut down its children, then itself.

Only `:transient` and `:temporary` child processes can be marked as significant, and this configuration affects the behavior. Significant `:transient` child processes must exit normally for automatic shutdown to be considered, where `:temporary` child processes may exit for any reason.

### Name registration

A supervisor is bound to the same name registration rules as a `GenServer`. Read more about these rules in the documentation for `GenServer`.

## Module-based supervisors

In the example so far, the supervisor was started by passing the supervision structure to `start_link/2`. However, supervisors can also be created by explicitly defining a supervision module:

    defmodule MyApp.Supervisor do
      # Automatically defines child_spec/1
      use Supervisor

      def start_link(init_arg) do
        Supervisor.start_link(__MODULE__, init_arg, name: __MODULE__)
      end

      @impl true
      def init(_init_arg) do
        children = [
          {Counter, 0}
        ]

        Supervisor.init(children, strategy: :one_for_one)
      end
    end

The difference between the two approaches is that a module-based supervisor gives you more direct control over how the supervisor is initialized. Instead of calling `Supervisor.start_link/2` with a list of child specifications that are implicitly initialized for us, we must explicitly initialize the children by calling `Supervisor.init/2` inside its `init/1` callback. `Supervisor.init/2` accepts the same `:strategy`, `:max_restarts`, and `:max_seconds` options as `start_link/2`.

> #### `use Supervisor`

> When you `use Supervisor`, the `Supervisor` module will set `@behaviour Supervisor` and define a `child_spec/1` function, so your module can be used as a child in a supervision tree.

`use Supervisor` also defines a `child_spec/1` function which allows us to run `MyApp.Supervisor` as a child of another supervisor or at the top of your supervision tree as:

    children = [
      MyApp.Supervisor
    ]

    Supervisor.start_link(children, strategy: :one_for_one)

A general guideline is to use the supervisor without a callback module only at the top of your supervision tree, generally in the `Application.start/2` callback. We recommend using module-based supervisors for any other supervisor in your application, so they can run as a child of another supervisor in the tree. The `child_spec/1` generated automatically by `Supervisor` can be customized with the following options:

- `:id` - the child specification identifier, defaults to the current module
- `:restart` - when the supervisor should be restarted, defaults to `:permanent`

The `@doc` annotation immediately preceding `use Supervisor` will be attached to the generated `child_spec/1` function.

## Start and shutdown

When the supervisor starts, it traverses all child specifications and then starts each child in the order they are defined. This is done by calling the function defined under the `:start` key in the child specification and typically defaults to `start_link/1`.

The `start_link/1` (or a custom) is then called for each child process. The `start_link/1` function must return `{:ok, pid}` where `pid` is the process identifier of a new process that is linked to the supervisor. The child process usually starts its work by executing the `init/1` callback. Generally speaking, the `init` callback is where we initialize and configure the child process.

The shutdown process happens in reverse order.

When a supervisor shuts down, it terminates all children in the opposite order they are listed. The termination happens by sending a shutdown exit signal, via `Process.exit(child_pid, :shutdown)`, to the child process and then awaiting for a time interval for the child process to terminate. This interval defaults to 5000 milliseconds. If the child process does not terminate in this interval, the supervisor abruptly terminates the child with reason `:kill`. The shutdown time can be configured in the child specification which is fully detailed in the next section.

If the child process is not trapping exits, it will shutdown immediately when it receives the first exit signal. If the child process is trapping exits, then the `terminate` callback is invoked, and the child process must terminate in a reasonable time interval before being abruptly terminated by the supervisor.

In other words, if it is important that a process cleans after itself when your application or the supervision tree is shutting down, then this process must trap exits and its child specification should specify the proper `:shutdown` value, ensuring it terminates within a reasonable interval.

## Exit reasons and restarts

A supervisor restarts a child process depending on its `:restart` configuration. For example, when `:restart` is set to `:transient`, the supervisor does not restart the child in case it exits with reason `:normal`, `:shutdown` or `{:shutdown, term}`.

Those exits also impact logging. By default, behaviours such as GenServers do not emit error logs when the exit reason is `:normal`, `:shutdown` or `{:shutdown, term}`.

So one may ask: which exit reason should I choose? There are three options:

- `:normal` - in such cases, the exit won't be logged, there is no restart in transient mode, and linked processes do not exit

- `:shutdown` or `{:shutdown, term}` - in such cases, the exit won't be logged, there is no restart in transient mode, and linked processes exit with the same reason unless they're trapping exits

- any other term - in such cases, the exit will be logged, there are restarts in transient mode, and linked processes exit with the same reason unless they're trapping exits

Generally speaking, if you are exiting for expected reasons, you want to use `:shutdown` or `{:shutdown, term}`.

Note that the supervisor that reaches maximum restart intensity will exit with `:shutdown` reason. In this case the supervisor will only be restarted if its child specification was defined with the `:restart` option set to `:permanent` (the default).

# Summary

## Types

auto_shutdown()

Supported automatic shutdown options.

child()

A child process.

child_spec()

The supervisor child specification.

init_option()

Options given to `start_link/2` and `init/1`.

module_spec()

A module-based child spec.

name()

The supervisor name.

on_start()

Return values of `start_link/2` and `start_link/3`.

on_start_child()

Return values of `start_child/2`.

option()

Option values used by the `start_link/2` and `start_link/3` functions.

restart()

Supported restart options.

shutdown()

Supported shutdown options.

strategy()

Supported strategies.

sup_flags()

The supervisor flags returned on init.

supervisor()

The supervisor reference.

type()

Type of a supervised child.

## Callbacks

init(init_arg)

Callback invoked to start the supervisor and during hot code upgrades.

## Functions

child_spec(module_or_map, overrides)

Builds and overrides a child specification.

count_children(supervisor)

Returns a map containing count values for the given supervisor.

delete_child(supervisor, child_id)

Deletes the child specification identified by `child_id`.

init(children, options)

Receives a list of child specifications to initialize and a set of `options`.

restart_child(supervisor, child_id)

Restarts a child process identified by `child_id`.

start_child(supervisor, child_spec)

Adds a child specification to `supervisor` and starts that child.

start_link(children, options)

Starts a supervisor with the given children.

start_link(module, init_arg, options \\ [])

Starts a module-based supervisor process with the given `module` and `init_arg`.

stop(supervisor, reason \\ :normal, timeout \\ :infinity)

Synchronously stops the given supervisor with the given `reason`.

terminate_child(supervisor, child_id)

Terminates the given child identified by `child_id`.

which_children(supervisor)

Returns a list with information about all children of the given supervisor.

# Types

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# auto_shutdown()

View Source

    @type auto_shutdown() :: :never | :any_significant | :all_significant

Supported automatic shutdown options.

Link to this type

# child()

View Source

    @type child() :: pid() | :undefined

A child process.

It can be a PID when the child process was started, or `:undefined` when the child was created by a dynamic supervisor.

Link to this type

# child_spec()

View Source

    @type child_spec() :: %{
      :id => atom() | term(),
      :start => {module(), function_name :: atom(), args :: [term()]},
      optional(:restart) => restart(),
      optional(:shutdown) => shutdown(),
      optional(:type) => type(),
      optional(:modules) => [module()] | :dynamic,
      optional(:significant) => boolean()
    }

The supervisor child specification.

It defines how the supervisor should start, stop and restart each of its children.

Link to this type

# init_option()

View Source

    @type init_option() ::
      {:strategy, strategy()}
      | {:max_restarts, non_neg_integer()}
      | {:max_seconds, pos_integer()}
      | {:auto_shutdown, auto_shutdown()}

Options given to `start_link/2` and `init/1`.

Link to this type

# module_spec()

View Source (since 1.16.0)

    @type module_spec() :: {module(), args :: term()} | module()

A module-based child spec.

This is a form of child spec that you can pass to functions such as `child_spec/2`, `start_child/2`, and `start_link/2`, in addition to the normalized `child_spec/0`.

A module-based child spec can be:

- a module — the supervisor calls `module.child_spec([])` to retrieve the child specification

- a two-element tuple in the shape of `{module, arg}` — the supervisor calls `module.child_spec(arg)` to retrieve the child specification

Link to this type

# name()

View Source

    @type name() :: atom() | {:global, term()} | {:via, module(), term()}

The supervisor name.

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# on_start()

View Source

    @type on_start() ::
      {:ok, pid()}
      | :ignore
      | {:error, {:already_started, pid()} | {:shutdown, term()} | term()}

Return values of `start_link/2` and `start_link/3`.

Link to this type

# on_start_child()

View Source

    @type on_start_child() ::
      {:ok, child()}
      | {:ok, child(), info :: term()}
      | {:error, {:already_started, child()} | :already_present | term()}

Return values of `start_child/2`.

Link to this type

# option()

View Source

    @type option() :: {:name, name()}

Option values used by the `start_link/2` and `start_link/3` functions.

Link to this type

# restart()

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    @type restart() :: :permanent | :transient | :temporary

Supported restart options.

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# shutdown()

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    @type shutdown() :: timeout() | :brutal_kill

Supported shutdown options.

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# strategy()

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    @type strategy() :: :one_for_one | :one_for_all | :rest_for_one

Supported strategies.

Link to this type

# sup_flags()

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    @type sup_flags() :: %{
      strategy: strategy(),
      intensity: non_neg_integer(),
      period: pos_integer(),
      auto_shutdown: auto_shutdown()
    }

The supervisor flags returned on init.

Link to this type

# supervisor()

View Source

    @type supervisor() :: pid() | name() | {atom(), node()}

The supervisor reference.

Link to this type

# type()

View Source

    @type type() :: :worker | :supervisor

Type of a supervised child.

Whether the supervised child is a worker or a supervisor.

# Callbacks

Link to this callback

# init(init_arg)

View Source

    @callback init(init_arg :: term()) ::
      {:ok,
       {sup_flags(),
        [child_spec() | (old_erlang_child_spec :: :supervisor.child_spec())]}}
      | :ignore

Callback invoked to start the supervisor and during hot code upgrades.

Developers typically invoke `Supervisor.init/2` at the end of their init callback to return the proper supervision flags.

# Functions

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# child_spec(module_or_map, overrides)

View Source

    @spec child_spec(
      child_spec() | module_spec(),
      keyword()
    ) :: child_spec()

Builds and overrides a child specification.

Similar to `start_link/2` and `init/2`, it expects a module, `{module, arg}`, or a child specification.

If a two-element tuple in the shape of `{module, arg}` is given, the child specification is retrieved by calling `module.child_spec(arg)`.

If a module is given, the child specification is retrieved by calling `module.child_spec([])`.

After the child specification is retrieved, the fields on `overrides` are directly applied to the child spec. If `overrides` has keys that do not map to any child specification field, an error is raised.

See the "Child specification" section in the module documentation for all of the available keys for overriding.

## Examples

This function is often used to set an `:id` option when the same module needs to be started multiple times in the supervision tree:

    Supervisor.child_spec({Agent, fn -> :ok end}, id: {Agent, 1})
    #=> %{id: {Agent, 1},
    #=>   start: {Agent, :start_link, [fn -> :ok end]}}

Link to this function

# count_children(supervisor)

View Source

    @spec count_children(supervisor()) :: %{
      specs: non_neg_integer(),
      active: non_neg_integer(),
      supervisors: non_neg_integer(),
      workers: non_neg_integer()
    }

Returns a map containing count values for the given supervisor.

The map contains the following keys:

- `:specs` - the total count of children, dead or alive

- `:active` - the count of all actively running child processes managed by this supervisor

- `:supervisors` - the count of all supervisors whether or not these child supervisors are still alive

- `:workers` - the count of all workers, whether or not these child workers are still alive

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# delete_child(supervisor, child_id)

View Source

    @spec delete_child(supervisor(), term()) :: :ok | {:error, error}
    when error: :not_found | :running | :restarting

Deletes the child specification identified by `child_id`.

The corresponding child process must not be running; use `terminate_child/2` to terminate it if it's running.

If successful, this function returns `:ok`. This function may return an error with an appropriate error tuple if the `child_id` is not found, or if the current process is running or being restarted.

Link to this function

# init(children, options)

View Source (since 1.5.0)

    @spec init(
      [
        child_spec()
        | module_spec()
        | (old_erlang_child_spec :: :supervisor.child_spec())
      ],
      [
        init_option()
      ]
    ) ::
      {:ok,
       {sup_flags(),
        [child_spec() | (old_erlang_child_spec :: :supervisor.child_spec())]}}

Receives a list of child specifications to initialize and a set of `options`.

This is typically invoked at the end of the `init/1` callback of module-based supervisors. See the sections "Supervisor strategies and options" and "Module-based supervisors" in the module documentation for more information.

This function returns a tuple containing the supervisor flags and child specifications.

## Examples

    def init(_init_arg) do
      children = [
        {Counter, 0}
      ]

      Supervisor.init(children, strategy: :one_for_one)
    end

## Options

- `:strategy` - the supervision strategy option. It can be either `:one_for_one`, `:rest_for_one`, or `:one_for_all`

- `:max_restarts` - the maximum number of restarts allowed in a time frame. Defaults to `3`.

- `:max_seconds` - the time frame in seconds in which `:max_restarts` applies. Defaults to `5`.

- `:auto_shutdown` - the automatic shutdown option. It can be either `:never`, `:any_significant`, or `:all_significant`

The `:strategy` option is required and by default a maximum of 3 restarts is allowed within 5 seconds. Check the `Supervisor` module for a detailed description of the available strategies.

Link to this function

# restart_child(supervisor, child_id)

View Source

    @spec restart_child(supervisor(), term()) ::
      {:ok, child()} | {:ok, child(), term()} | {:error, error}
    when error: :not_found | :running | :restarting | term()

Restarts a child process identified by `child_id`.

The child specification must exist and the corresponding child process must not be running.

Note that for temporary children, the child specification is automatically deleted when the child terminates, and thus it is not possible to restart such children.

If the child process start function returns `{:ok, child}` or `{:ok, child, info}`, the PID is added to the supervisor and this function returns the same value.

If the child process start function returns `:ignore`, the PID remains set to `:undefined` and this function returns `{:ok, :undefined}`.

This function may return an error with an appropriate error tuple if the `child_id` is not found, or if the current process is running or being restarted.

If the child process start function returns an error tuple or an erroneous value, or if it fails, this function returns `{:error, error}`.

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# start_child(supervisor, child_spec)

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    @spec start_child(
      supervisor(),
      child_spec()
      | module_spec()
      | (old_erlang_child_spec :: :supervisor.child_spec())
    ) :: on_start_child()

Adds a child specification to `supervisor` and starts that child.

`child_spec` should be a valid child specification. The child process will be started as defined in the child specification.

If a child specification with the specified ID already exists, `child_spec` is discarded and this function returns an error with `:already_started` or `:already_present` if the corresponding child process is running or not, respectively.

If the child process start function returns `{:ok, child}` or `{:ok, child, info}`, then child specification and PID are added to the supervisor and this function returns the same value.

If the child process start function returns `:ignore`, the child specification is added to the supervisor, the PID is set to `:undefined` and this function returns `{:ok, :undefined}`.

If the child process start function returns an error tuple or an erroneous value, or if it fails, the child specification is discarded and this function returns `{:error, error}` where `error` is a term containing information about the error and child specification.

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# start_link(children, options)

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    @spec start_link(
      [
        child_spec()
        | module_spec()
        | (old_erlang_child_spec :: :supervisor.child_spec())
      ],
      [
        option() | init_option()
      ]
    ) ::
      {:ok, pid()}
      | {:error, {:already_started, pid()} | {:shutdown, term()} | term()}

    @spec start_link(module(), term()) :: on_start()

Starts a supervisor with the given children.

`children` is a list of the following forms:

- a child specification (see `child_spec/0`)

- a module, where the supervisor calls `module.child_spec([])` to retrieve the child specification (see `module_spec/0`)

- a `{module, arg}` tuple, where the supervisor calls `module.child_spec(arg)` to retrieve the child specification (see `module_spec/0`)

- a (old) Erlang-style child specification (see `:supervisor.child_spec()`)

A strategy is required to be provided through the `:strategy` option. See "Supervisor strategies and options" for examples and other options.

The options can also be used to register a supervisor name. The supported values are described under the "Name registration" section in the `GenServer` module docs.

If the supervisor and all child processes are successfully spawned (if the start function of each child process returns `{:ok, child}`, `{:ok, child, info}`, or `:ignore`), this function returns `{:ok, pid}`, where `pid` is the PID of the supervisor. If the supervisor is given a name and a process with the specified name already exists, the function returns `{:error, {:already_started, pid}}`, where `pid` is the PID of that process.

If the start function of any of the child processes fails or returns an error tuple or an erroneous value, the supervisor first terminates with reason `:shutdown` all the child processes that have already been started, and then terminates itself and returns `{:error, {:shutdown, reason}}`.

Note that a supervisor started with this function is linked to the parent process and exits not only on crashes but also if the parent process exits with `:normal` reason.

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# start_link(module, init_arg, options \\ [])

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    @spec start_link(module(), term(), [option()]) :: on_start()

Starts a module-based supervisor process with the given `module` and `init_arg`.

To start the supervisor, the `init/1` callback will be invoked in the given `module`, with `init_arg` as its argument. The `init/1` callback must return a supervisor specification which can be created with the help of the `init/2` function.

If the `init/1` callback returns `:ignore`, this function returns `:ignore` as well and the supervisor terminates with reason `:normal`. If it fails or returns an incorrect value, this function returns `{:error, term}` where `term` is a term with information about the error, and the supervisor terminates with reason `term`.

The `:name` option can also be given in order to register a supervisor name, the supported values are described in the "Name registration" section in the `GenServer` module docs.

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# stop(supervisor, reason \\ :normal, timeout \\ :infinity)

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    @spec stop(supervisor(), reason :: term(), timeout()) :: :ok

Synchronously stops the given supervisor with the given `reason`.

It returns `:ok` if the supervisor terminates with the given reason. If it terminates with another reason, the call exits.

This function keeps OTP semantics regarding error reporting. If the reason is any other than `:normal`, `:shutdown` or `{:shutdown, _}`, an error report is logged.

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# terminate_child(supervisor, child_id)

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    @spec terminate_child(supervisor(), term()) :: :ok | {:error, :not_found}

Terminates the given child identified by `child_id`.

The process is terminated, if there's one. The child specification is kept unless the child is temporary.

A non-temporary child process may later be restarted by the supervisor. The child process can also be restarted explicitly by calling `restart_child/2`. Use `delete_child/2` to remove the child specification.

If successful, this function returns `:ok`. If there is no child specification for the given child ID, this function returns `{:error, :not_found}`.

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# which_children(supervisor)

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    @spec which_children(supervisor()) :: [
      {term() | :undefined, child() | :restarting, :worker | :supervisor,
       [module()] | :dynamic}
    ]

Returns a list with information about all children of the given supervisor.

Note that calling this function when supervising a large number of children under low memory conditions can cause an out of memory exception.

This function returns a list of `{id, child, type, modules}` tuples, where:

- `id` - as defined in the child specification

- `child` - the PID of the corresponding child process, `:restarting` if the process is about to be restarted, or `:undefined` if there is no such process

- `type` - `:worker` or `:supervisor`, as specified by the child specification

- `modules` - as specified by the child specification