I wrote a new BitTorrent tracker in Elixir
Hello everyone! I'm currently in a journey to learn and improve my Elixir and Go skills (my daily job uses C++) and looking through my backlog for projects to take on I decided Elixir is the perfect language to write a highly-parallel BitTorrent tracker. So I have spent my free time these last 3 months writing one! Now I think it has enough features to present it to the world (and a docker image to give it a quick try). I know some people see trackers as relics of the past now that DHT and PEX are common but I think they still serve a purpose in today's Internet (purely talking about public…
In plain words
This is a BitTorrent tracker written in Elixir, designed to handle highly-parallel workloads. Built by a developer learning Elixir through practical projects, the tracker includes a Docker image for quick deployment. While DHT and PEX have reduced tracker reliance, the creator argues they remain useful for public torrenting and plans ongoing development with additional features. The project aims to advance BitTorrent tracker development beyond existing solutions like OpenTracker.
written from the facts on this page · September 2026
From the sources
In the maker’s words, at launch
Hello everyone! I'm currently in a journey to learn and improve my Elixir and Go skills (my daily job uses C++) and looking through my backlog for projects to take on I decided Elixir is the perfect language to write a highly-parallel BitTorrent tracker. So I have spent my free time these last 3 months writing one! Now I think it has enough features to present it to the world (and a docker image to give it a quick try). I know some people see trackers as relics of the past now that DHT and PEX are common but I think they still serve a purpose in today's Internet (purely talking about public trackers). That said there is not a lot going on in terms of new developments since everyone just throws opentracker in a vps a calls it a day (honorable exceptions: aquatic and torrust). I plan to continue development for the foreseeable future and add some (optional) esoteric features along the way so if anyone currently operates a tracker please give a try and enjoy the lack of crashes. note: only swarm_printout.ex has been vibe coded, the rest has all been written by hand.
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