TalibEx

NIF wrapper for TA-Lib (Technical Analysis Library).

Precompiled binaries are provided for macOS and Linux (x86_64 and aarch64), so most users do not need TA-Lib or a C compiler installed.

Installation

Add talib_ex_nif to your list of dependencies in mix.exs:

def deps do
  [
    {:talib_ex_nif, "~> 0.6.4"}
  ]
end

A precompiled NIF will be downloaded automatically. If no precompiled binary is available for your platform, it falls back to compiling from source (requires TA-Lib and a C compiler).

Usage

TalibEx.sma(values: [1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0], time_period: 3)
#=> {:ok, [:nan, :nan, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0]}

TalibEx.rsi(values: [44.0, 44.25, 44.5, 43.75, 44.5, 44.25, 43.5], time_period: 5)
#=> {:ok, [:nan, :nan, :nan, :nan, :nan, 47.37, 30.77]}

TalibEx.bbands(values: [1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0], time_period: 3, deviations_up: 2.0, deviations_down: 2.0)
#=> {:ok, upper_band, middle_band, lower_band}

All 161 TA-Lib functions are supported, including momentum indicators, overlap studies, volatility, volume, candlestick patterns, and math operators.

Building from source

If the precompiled binary is not available, the build requires TA-Lib headers and library installed on your system.

macOS

brew install ta-lib

Linux (Ubuntu/Debian)

sudo apt-get install gcc build-essential wget
wget https://github.com/TA-Lib/ta-lib/releases/download/v0.6.4/ta-lib-0.6.4-src.tar.gz
tar xzf ta-lib-0.6.4-src.tar.gz
cd ta-lib-0.6.4
./configure --prefix=/usr
make
sudo make install

Development

Architecture

All C and Elixir source files for the NIF bindings are code-generated from TA-Lib's introspection API. The source of truth is the installed TA-Lib library itself.

Hand-written files:

• c_src/util.c, c_src/util.h — shared NIF helpers
• lib/executer.ex — parameter loading and function dispatch
• lib/mix/tasks/talib.ex — mix task that generates C and Elixir code from FunctionDef

Generated files (committed, regenerated via make -C tools generate):

• c_src/func_*.c, c_src/funcs.h, c_src/talib.c — NIF C code
• lib/nif.ex — NIF function stubs
• lib/talib_ex.ex — public Elixir API module
• lib/mix/tasks/function_def.ex — function metadata extracted from TA-Lib

Code generation

The tools/ directory contains a standalone pipeline that introspects TA-Lib and regenerates all code:

# Full pipeline: introspect ta-lib -> JSON -> FunctionDef -> C/Elixir code
make -C tools generate

This runs three steps:

1. tools/talib_introspect.c — a C program that uses TA-Lib's abstract API (TA_ForEachFunc, TA_GetFuncInfo, etc.) to dump all function metadata as JSON
2. tools/generate_function_def.exs — an Elixir script that reads the JSON and generates lib/mix/tasks/function_def.ex
3. mix talib — reads FunctionDef.mapping() and generates the C source files, NIF module, and public API module

When TA-Lib updates

brew upgrade ta-lib          # or install new version
make -C tools generate       # regenerate everything
mix compile                  # build the NIF

Precompiled binaries

Precompiled NIFs are built via GitHub Actions on tag pushes (v*). The CI workflow:

1. Builds TA-Lib from source with --enable-static --disable-shared for each target
2. Statically links TA-Lib into the NIF (users need zero native dependencies)
3. Uploads tarballs to a GitHub Release
4. Generates a checksum file for hex.pm publishing

Supported targets: macOS arm64, macOS x86_64, Linux x86_64, Linux aarch64.

License

MIT