If you're using zerl on the client and plain dist on the server; the question isn't what Zerl can serialize, but what the server will process.
With stock OTP dist, there is no barrier between nodes. Stock OTP runs an rpc server that you can use to send function calls to run, which can include BEAM code to load (or file I/O to do); and even if that's disabled, you can spawn a process to run a function with arguments on a remote node without needing an rpc server at all.
With stock OTP dist, there is no barrier between nodes. Stock OTP runs an rpc server that you can use to send function calls to run, which can include BEAM code to load (or file I/O to do); and even if that's disabled, you can spawn a process to run a function with arguments on a remote node without needing an rpc server at all.