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Elixir doesn't currently have a type system built into the compiler. There is a separate package Dialyzer which does type checking but it would be fair to characterise it as a bolt-on rather than part of the core tooling. Work is now underway[1] to create a type system based on "set-theoretic types" though this is still considered experimental and may never be added to Elixir.

[1] https://elixir-lang.org/blog/2022/10/05/my-future-with-elixi...

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My experience with Dialyzer wasn't great a few years ago. The error messages are often counter-intuitive, to the point where hating dialyzer became a meme at work.

Trying Gleam that also runs on Erlang VM but has static types, a fast compiler with Rust-style elaborate error messages made me hopeful about how much nicer this experience can be when static types are added to Elixir too.

I’ve always found dialyzer errors to be quite straightforward and easy to understand—the challenge is finding where a poor typespec originates in a codebase (or dependency) with poor typespecs.

The type system has moved from the research phase to in development: https://elixir-lang.org/blog/2023/06/22/type-system-updates-...

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