Engineering With Ruby on Rails : Digest #10
Curated and handpicked Ruby on Rails blogs.
Introduction
This week in Ruby and Rails: explore the satirical Passive Queue gem that never runs jobs, learn to build multi-step Rails forms without extra gems, and see a 15-minute tutorial for a blog using BrutRB. Plus, discover how Ruby’s .. range operator simplifies ActiveRecord queries, how Rails 8 saves millions in development costs, and how AI tools assist—but don’t replace—Rails refactoring.
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Announcing Passive Queue: The Rails Background Job System That Transcends Processing
Passive Queue is a satirical Ruby gem and ActiveJob adapter that accepts background jobs but never executes them, promoting "zero execution, infinite Zen." Created by Maciej Mensfeld, it humorously critiques the obsession with background processing performance by offering a queue system with 0 ms latency, infinite throughput, and zero failure — all by doing nothing. It comes with a real-time dashboard, CLI, and full Rails integration, and is positioned as the perfect solution for developers seeking peace of mind through deliberate inaction.
https://mensfeld.pl/2025/07/passive-queue-zero-execution-infinite-zen/
Add a multi-step form/wizard to your Rails app
The article shows how to build a flexible multi-step form in Rails without using gems like Wicked. It uses a plain Ruby form object with ActiveModel::Model, modular step definitions, partials for each step, and minimal JavaScript (via Stimulus) for navigation—creating a clean, customizable wizard-style onboarding flow.
https://railsdesigner.com/multistep-forms/
Build a blog in 15ish Minutes with BrutRB
Author showcasing how to rapidly create a simple, fully tested Ruby web app using the new BrutRB framework—via Docker—with built‑in observability and minimal configuration. It's a whirlwind tutorial that covers app creation, routing, forms, models, tests, and monitoring, all in roughly 15 minutes, offering source code and even a video option for follow‑along learning.
https://naildrivin5.com/blog/2025/07/23/build-a-blog-in-15ish-minutes-with-brutrb.html
🔍 Understanding Ruby’s .. Range Operator in ActiveRecord Queries
This article explains how Ruby’s inclusive range operator (..), introduced in Rails 7, makes ActiveRecord queries cleaner and more expressive. It allows developers to easily query records within a range—such as dates or numbers—by writing concise code like where(start_at: ..cutoff) for “up to a cutoff date” or where(start_at: start..end) for a full range. This approach improves readability, reduces boilerplate, and aligns with idiomatic Ruby, generating simple SQL-like <= or BETWEEN behind-the-scenes.
Save Millions in Development Costs with Ruby on Rails
Ruby on Rails enables companies to dramatically cut software development costs by embracing Convention over Configuration and DRY principles to minimize boilerplate, accelerate delivery through scaffolding, migrations, and thousands of reusable gems—all backed by an open-source MIT license ecosystem.
Rails 8 (released in 2024) further boosts efficiency with features like YJIT performance improvements and streamlined container deployments via Kamar.
These advantages enable faster time‑to‑market, reduced labor overhead, low maintenance, and scalable infrastructure, as demonstrated by real-world success stories like Basecamp, Shopify, and Zendesk—making Rails a strategic choice for startups and enterprises alike
https://www.railscarma.com/blog/save-millions-in-development-costs-with-ruby-on-rails/
AI in Focus: Refactoring Rails with AI tools
Authors explore how AI coding assistants—specifically GitHub Copilot using LLMs like Claude 3.5 Sonnet and GPT‑4o—performed when applied to a large, legacy Rails class in their internal Hub app, using concepts from their “Rails AntiPatterns” book.
The AI tools successfully identified issues like fat‑model anti‑patterns, Law of Demeter violations, and enum usage, and even helped propose module extraction and composition-based refactoring. However, limitations emerged: slow test execution, context loss, over‑enthusiastic code modifications, and test breakage.
The team concluded that currently AI is most effective for analysis and suggestions (“ask” mode) rather than full automated refactoring, emphasizing that human oversight remains essential for complex Rails clean‑up tasks
https://thoughtbot.com/blog/ai-in-focus:refactoring-rails