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Gleam (programming language)

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Gleam is a general-purpose, concurrent, functional high-level programming language that compiles to Erlang or JavaScript source code.[2][7][8]

Gleam
Lucy, the starfish mascot for Gleam[1]
ParadigmMulti-paradigm: functional, concurrent[2]
Designed byLouis Pilfold
DeveloperLouis Pilfold
First appearedJune 13, 2016; 9 years ago (2016-06-13)
Stable release
1.12.0[3] Edit this on Wikidata / 5 August 2025
Typing disciplineType-safe, static, inferred[2]
Memory managementGarbage collected
Implementation languageRust
OSFreeBSD, Linux, macOS, OpenBSD, Windows[4]
LicenseApache License 2.0[5]
Filename extensions.gleam
Websitegleam.run
Influenced by
[6]

Gleam is a statically-typed language,[9] which is different from the most popular languages that run on Erlang’s virtual machine BEAM, Erlang and Elixir. Gleam has its own type-safe implementation of OTP, Erlang's actor framework.[10] Packages are provided using the Hex package manager, and an index for finding packages written for Gleam is available.[11]

History

The first numbered version of Gleam was released on April 15, 2019.[12] Compiling to JavaScript was introduced with version v0.16.[13]

In 2023 the Erlang Ecosystem Foundation funded the creation of a course for learning Gleam on the learning platform Exercism.[14]

Version v1.0.0 was released on March 4, 2024.[15]

In April 2025, Thoughtworks added Gleam to its Technology Radar in the Assess ring (languages & frameworks worth exploring). [16]

Adoption

Gleam has seen some adoption in recent years.[17] According to a blog post, the language creators have placed strong emphasis on developer experience (DX), which has contributed to its appeal.[18][better source needed]

Although it compiles to run on the BEAM virtual machine, most new Gleam users do not have a background in Erlang nor Elixir, two older BEAM languages.[19] In 2025, Louis Pilfold reported on results from the 2024 developer survey, which received 841 responses.[19] Pilfold concluded that Gleam developers "overwhelmingly come from other ecosystems other than Erlang and Elixir".[19] The core team also reported on Gleam's efforts to expand the BEAM ecosystem in a keynote talk at Code BEAM Europe 2024.[20]

Developers have cited Gleam’s simplicity, static typing, and user-friendly tooling as reasons for adoption.[citation needed] The developer behind Nestful described their motivations for rewriting the project in Gleam as driven by its clarity and ease of use.[21] There is a community-maintained list of companies using Gleam in production.[22]

In 2025, Gleam appeared for the first time in the Stack Overflow Developer Survey, where it was the 2nd "most admired" language, with 70% of users currently using the language wanting to continue working with it.[17] 1.1% of developer respondents reported doing "extensive development work" in the language over the past year.[17]

Features

Gleam includes the following features, many common to other functional programming languages:[8][23]

Example

A "Hello, World!" example: 

import gleam/io

pub fn main() {
  io.println("hello, world!")
}

Gleam supports tail call optimization:[24] 

pub fn factorial(x: Int) -> Int {
  // The public function calls the private tail recursive function
  factorial_loop(x, 1)
}

fn factorial_loop(x: Int, accumulator: Int) -> Int {
  case x {
    1 -> accumulator

    // The last thing this function does is call itself
    _ -> factorial_loop(x - 1, accumulator * x)
  }
}

Implementation

Gleam's toolchain is implemented in the Rust programming language.[25] The toolchain is a single native binary executable which contains the compiler, build tool, package manager, source code formatter, and language server.[citation needed] A WebAssembly binary containing the Gleam compiler is also available, enabling Gleam code to be compiled within a web browser.[citation needed]

References

  1. ^ "gleam-lang/gleam Issues – New logo and mascot #2551". GitHub.
  2. ^ a b c "Gleam Homepage". 2024.
  3. ^ "Release 1.12.0". August 5, 2025. Retrieved August 14, 2025.
  4. ^ "Installing Gleam". 2024.
  5. ^ "Gleam License File". GitHub. December 5, 2021.
  6. ^ Pilfold, Louis (February 7, 2024). "Gleam: Past, Present, Future!". Fosdem 2024 – via YouTube.
  7. ^ Krill, Paul (March 5, 2024). "Gleam language available in first stable release". InfoWorld. Retrieved March 26, 2024.
  8. ^ a b Eastman, David (June 22, 2024). "Introduction to Gleam, a New Functional Programming Language". The New Stack. Retrieved July 29, 2024.
  9. ^ De Simone, Sergio (March 16, 2024). "Erlang-Runtime Statically-Typed Functional Language Gleam Reaches 1.0". InfoQ. Retrieved March 26, 2024.
  10. ^ Getting to know Actors in Gleam – Raúl Chouza. Code BEAM America. March 27, 2024. Retrieved May 6, 2024 – via YouTube.
  11. ^ "Introducing the Gleam package index – Gleam". gleam.run. Retrieved May 7, 2024.
  12. ^ "Hello, Gleam! – Gleam". gleam.run. Retrieved May 6, 2024.
  13. ^ "v0.16 – Gleam compiles to JavaScript! – Gleam". gleam.run. Retrieved May 7, 2024.
  14. ^ Alistair, Woodman (December 2023). "Erlang Ecosystem Foundation Annual General Meeting 2023 Chair's Report".
  15. ^ "Gleam version 1 – Gleam". gleam.run. Retrieved May 7, 2024.
  16. ^ "Thoughtworks Technology Radar, Gleam". 2025.
  17. ^ a b c "Technology | 2025 Stack Overflow Developer Survey". survey.stackoverflow.co. Retrieved August 9, 2025.
  18. ^ Why Gleam Is Good
  19. ^ a b c Pilfold, Louis. "Developer Survey 2024 Results". gleam.run. Retrieved August 9, 2025.
  20. ^ Code Sync (October 28, 2024). Keynote: Gleam's Journey on the BEAM - Hayleigh Thompson & Louis Pilfold | Code BEAM Europe 2024. Retrieved August 9, 2025 – via YouTube.
  21. ^ Nestful. "Why I Rewrote Nestful in Gleam". blog.nestful.app. Retrieved August 9, 2025.
  22. ^ Harris-Holt, Isaac (July 31, 2025), isaacharrisholt/gleam-in-production, retrieved August 9, 2025
  23. ^ Sharma, Gaurav (June 25, 2024). "Meet GLEAM: A new programming language for developers".
  24. ^ "Tail Calls". The Gleam Language Tour. Retrieved March 26, 2024.
  25. ^ "gleam-lang/gleam". Gleam. May 6, 2024. Retrieved May 6, 2024.
 

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