6 Best Ruby on Rails Libraries

Table of Contents

Why Libraries Matter in Ruby on Rails

When you’re building a web application, efficiency is key. That’s where Ruby on Rails libraries come into play. These libraries, often called gems, are like pre-built toolkits. They save you time and effort by offering ready-made solutions for common development challenges. From authentication to payment integrations, there’s a gem for almost everything in Rails.

But which ones should you use? Let’s explore some of the most popular and useful Rails libraries, how they work, and why they’re worth your time.

Devise: The King of Authentication

If your app needs user authentication, look no further than Devise. It handles everything—login, logout, registration, password recovery, and even email confirmation.

Why is it so popular?
Devise is flexible and modular. You can pick and choose only the features you need. Plus, its setup process is straightforward.

Here’s a quick example of how to add Devise to your project:

# Add Devise to your Gemfile
gem 'devise'

# Run the install generator
rails generate devise:install

# Create a user model
rails generate devise User

Once set up, your app instantly supports user authentication without writing pages of code.

CanCanCan: Simplified Authorization

While authentication ensures users can log in, authorization controls what they can access. CanCanCan is a powerful gem for handling this with ease.

With CanCanCan, you define permissions in a single Ability file, making your app’s access logic centralized and easy to maintain.

Here’s a simple example:

# Define abilities in app/models/ability.rb
class Ability
  include CanCan::Ability

  def initialize(user)
    if user.admin?
      can :manage, :all
    else
      can :read, Post
      can :update, Post, user_id: user.id
    end
  end
end

In this case, admins can manage everything, while regular users can only read and update their own posts.

Using these rules in your controllers is straightforward:

class PostsController < ApplicationController
  load_and_authorize_resource

  def update
    # Only accessible if the user has update permissions
  end
end

This gem is easy to integrate and ensures your app’s access rules are clean and consistent.

Ransack: Search Like a Pro

Imagine an e-commerce site with thousands of products. Your users need to find specific items quickly. Ransack is a gem that makes implementing advanced search and filtering a breeze.

Here’s a basic implementation:

# In your controller
@q = Product.ransack(params[:q])
@products = @q.result

# In your view
<%= search_form_for @q do |f| %>
  <%= f.label :name_cont, "Search Products" %>
  <%= f.text_field :name_cont %>
  <%= f.submit "Search" %>
<% end %>

With minimal code, you get a fully functional search feature.

Sidekiq: Background Jobs Done Right

Every app has tasks that shouldn’t happen in real-time, like sending emails or processing large datasets. Sidekiq handles these tasks in the background, keeping your app fast and responsive.

Here’s a simple example:

# Define a job
class HardWorker
  include Sidekiq::Worker

  def perform(name, count)
    puts "Doing hard work for #{name} #{count} times!"
  end
end

# Enqueue a job
HardWorker.perform_async('Bob', 5)

Sidekiq is reliable, scalable, and integrates seamlessly with Rails.

Active Storage: File Uploads Made Easy

Rails itself comes with Active Storage, a built-in library for handling file uploads. Whether you’re working with images, videos, or documents, Active Storage has you covered.

Here’s how you might use it:

# Add Active Storage to your app
rails active_storage:install

# Attach files in your model
class User < ApplicationRecord
  has_one_attached :avatar
end

# Use it in your views
<%= form_with model: @user do |f| %>
  <%= f.file_field :avatar %>
<% end %>

Active Storage also supports cloud storage providers like Amazon S3, Google Cloud, and Azure.

Faker: Generate Fake Data for Testing

When testing your app, you need dummy data. Faker generates realistic fake data—names, addresses, email addresses, and more.

Here’s how you can use it in your seeds file:

10.times do
  User.create(
    name: Faker::Name.name,
    email: Faker::Internet.email,
    password: 'password'
  )
end

This saves hours of manually creating test users or content.

Conclusion

Libraries are the backbone of Ruby on Rails development. They simplify tasks, improve efficiency, and let you focus on building great features. Whether you need authentication, authorization, background jobs, or file uploads, there’s a gem for that.

Start by exploring the libraries mentioned here, and you’ll see how much smoother your development process becomes. So, which library will you try first?