Get _just one_ value from Ecto query

With the data structure you use in select's expression argument you can specify what type of data structure the query will return for a row. I've used [] and %{} and %Something{} but you can also specify that each row is just one value without using a data structure at all.

Combine that with Repo.one to just return one row and you can just get the specific value you are looking for without any destructuring.

age = 
  User
  |> where(id: 42)
  |> select([u], u.age)
  |> Repo.one()