Rails Application Template

A comprehensive Rails application template with modern best practices, testing tools, and development utilities.

Features

Core Stack

• PostgreSQL database
• RSpec for testing
• StandardRB for Ruby linting
• Bootstrap CSS support (with --css=bootstrap)
• Esbuild for JavaScript (with --javascript=esbuild)

Development & Debugging Tools

• pry-rails - Enhanced Rails console
• better_errors + binding_of_caller - Better error pages with REPL
• amazing_print - Pretty-print Ruby objects (replaces deprecated awesome_print)
• bullet - N+1 query detection
• goldiloader - Automatic N+1 prevention
• rack-mini-profiler - Performance profiling

Testing Suite

• RSpec Rails with proper configuration
• Capybara + Selenium for system testing
• Factory Bot for test factories
• Shoulda Matchers for one-liner tests
• Faker for test data generation
• SimpleCov for code coverage reporting
• WebMock for HTTP request stubbing
• action_dispatch-testing-integration-capybara - Enhanced Capybara integration

Code Quality & Linting

• StandardRB + Standard-Rails for Ruby
• Prettier for JavaScript/CSS formatting
• ESLint with Thoughtbot configuration
• Stylelint with Thoughtbot configuration
• erb_lint + better_html for ERB template linting

Documentation & Visualization

• AnnotateRb - Automatic model schema annotations (replaces deprecated annotate gem)
• Rails ERD - Entity relationship diagram generation
• rails_db - Web UI for database browsing

Security & Safety

• Brakeman - Security vulnerability scanning
• bundler-audit - Check for vulnerable gem dependencies
• strong_migrations - Catch unsafe migrations before they run

Environment & Configuration

• dotenv - Environment variable management (replaces dotenv-rails)
• Force SSL in production
• Enhanced production logging
• Optional UUID primary keys

Project Files

• Comprehensive README template
• CONTRIBUTING.md guidelines
• .env.example with common configurations
• .node-version for Node.js version management

Usage

Basic Usage

rails new my_app \
  --database=postgresql \
  --javascript=esbuild \
  --css=bootstrap \
  --skip-test \
  --skip-kamal \
  --skip-rubocop \
  --template=https://raw.githubusercontent.com/firstdraft/rails_application_template/main/template.rb

Recommended Flags

• --database=postgresql - Use PostgreSQL (required)
• --javascript=esbuild - Fast JavaScript bundling
• --css=bootstrap - Bootstrap CSS framework
• --skip-test - Skip Minitest (we use RSpec)
• --skip-rubocop - Skip default RuboCop (we use StandardRB)
• --skip-kamal - Skip Kamal deployment (unless you need it)

Interactive Options

During setup, the template will prompt you for:

• UUID Primary Keys: Choose between standard integers or UUIDs for primary keys

What Gets Configured

Testing

• RSpec with random test order
• Test example persistence for re-running failed tests
• SimpleCov for coverage (run with COVERAGE=true bundle exec rspec)
• WebMock configured with Chrome driver whitelisting
• Factory Bot and Shoulda Matchers support files

Linting

• StandardRB configuration for Ruby
• Prettier, ESLint, and Stylelint for frontend code
• ERB linting with better_html
• All with proper ignore patterns and configurations

Development Tools

• Bullet enabled with console and footer output
• Strong Migrations with sensible timeouts
• AnnotateRb configuration for model annotations
• Rails ERD with Bachman notation

Git Workflow

• Incremental commits after each configuration step
• Clean git history showing the setup progression

Available Commands

After creating your app, these commands are available:

Development

bin/dev                        # Start development server
rails console                  # Enhanced console with Pry

Testing

bundle exec rspec              # Run test suite
COVERAGE=true bundle exec rspec # Run with coverage report

Linting & Formatting

# Ruby
bundle exec standardrb         # Check Ruby code
bundle exec standardrb --fix   # Fix Ruby issues

# JavaScript/CSS
yarn lint                      # Check JS/CSS
yarn fix:prettier              # Fix JS/CSS formatting

# ERB Templates
bundle exec erb_lint --lint-all              # Check ERB
bundle exec erb_lint --lint-all --autocorrect # Fix ERB

Security

bundle exec brakeman           # Security scan
bundle exec bundle-audit check # Check for vulnerable gems

Documentation

bundle exec erd                # Generate ERD diagram
bundle exec annotaterb models  # Update model annotations

Database

Visit /rails_db in development for web UI

Background Jobs

The template uses Rails 8's default Solid Queue for background job processing. For high-volume applications that need Redis-backed processing, see:

• Solid Queue vs Sidekiq Comparison
• Migration Guide from Sidekiq

Deployment

This template creates apps configured for generic production deployment, suitable for:

• Render.com
• Fly.io
• Railway
• Heroku (with minor adjustments)
• Any modern hosting platform

Differences from Original

This is an enhanced version of the original firstdraft template with:

• Updated gems (amazing_print instead of awesome_print, annotaterb instead of annotate, dotenv instead of dotenv-rails)
• Additional testing tools (SimpleCov, WebMock, Shoulda Matchers, Faker)
• Full linting stack (Prettier, ESLint, Stylelint, erb_lint)
• Security tools (bundler-audit, strong_migrations)
• Performance tools (goldiloader, rack-mini-profiler)
• Modern production configuration (generic instead of Heroku-specific)
• Comprehensive documentation

Contributing

Pull requests are welcome! Please ensure any new gems or configurations:

1. Are actively maintained
2. Add clear value for most Rails applications
3. Include appropriate documentation
4. Follow the incremental commit pattern

License

MIT