Rework to be a proper Rails plugin by OutlawAndy · Pull Request #181 · RoleModel/rolemodel_rails

OutlawAndy · 2026-03-01T23:18:05Z

Why?

This gem eager loads all generator classes during host application boot. This is unnecessary and actually goes against Rails best practices. I've recently learned that the proper way to supply generators to a Rails app requires a Railtie / Engine to notify the host application of their location on the file system and allow the host app to lazy load them if/when needed.
This gem introduces 2 top-level namespaces (Rolemodel & RolemodelRails) which is a general anti-pattern for RubyGems.
Naming convention for plugins like this one are to use a - rather than a _. e.g. rspec-rails, slim-rails, rubocop-rails, etc. This ties back into #2 because rolemodel-rails translates to Rolemodel::Rails, while rolemodel_rails translates to RolemodelRails.

What Changed

What changed in this PR?

rename to rolemodel-rails
add an Engine file to properly notify the host app about the generators
don't eager load generators
fix test setup which does need all constants that are tested to be eager loaded.
Update the recreate_current_example script to use the AppGenerator with dummy_app set to true. (this is how the Rails PluginGenerator does it)
- I left the legacy app generation script alone, because I couldn't get the AppGenerator to actually build a legacy Rails app. It will only build apps consistent with the current version, even if the gemfile points to an old version.
use a modified boot.rb file in the example app which points to the plugin, rather then adding the plugin to it's gemfile (also how the Rails PluginGenerator does it)

Future Considerations

As a "Rails Plugin" with a Railtie/Engine file, there may be specific functionality which we decide to fold into RolemodelRails. Instead of everything being a generator and all code living in each project code base, we might opt to treat some features as provided by the engine and therefor upgradable via bundle update.

Pre-merge checklist

Update relevant READMEs
Run bin/bump_version or bin/bump_version --patch

Copilot

Pull request overview

Reworks the gem into a proper Rails plugin by renaming it to rolemodel-rails, introducing a Rails Engine for generator registration, and removing generator eager-loading during host app boot.

Changes:

Renames the gem from rolemodel_rails to rolemodel-rails and collapses the public namespace to Rolemodel.
Adds a Rolemodel::Engine to register generator support without eager-loading all generators at boot.
Updates specs, example apps, and tooling scripts to use the new gem name and loading behavior.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 16 out of 24 changed files in this pull request and generated 5 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
spec/support/helpers/example_app.rb	Updates Gemfile cleanup to remove `rolemodel-rails` entries in the test app.
spec/spec_helper.rb	Updates spec bootstrapping to load Rails + the gem and eagerly require generator classes for tests.
spec/rolemodel_rails_spec.rb	Updates version constant expectations to the new `Rolemodel` namespace.
spec/generators/rolemodel/github_generator_spec.rb	Updates expected template text to reference the new version file path.
rolemodel-rails.gemspec	Renames the gem, updates metadata, and points version loading at `Rolemodel::VERSION`.
lib/rolemodel_rails.rb	Removes the old entrypoint that eagerly loaded generators.
lib/rolemodel/version.rb	Moves version constant under `Rolemodel` module.
lib/rolemodel/engine.rb	Adds Rails Engine for generator registration.
lib/rolemodel-rails.rb	Adds new gem entrypoint that defines version constants and requires version/engine.
lib/generators/rolemodel/base_generator.rb	Introduces a standalone BaseGenerator (previously defined in `lib/generators/rolemodel.rb`).
lib/generators/rolemodel.rb	Removes the old generator aggregator that loaded all generators eagerly.
example_rails8/Gemfile / Gemfile.lock	Updates example app to depend on `rolemodel-rails`.
example_rails7/Gemfile / Gemfile.lock	Updates example app to depend on `rolemodel-rails`.
bin/recreate_legacy_example	Updates `bundle add` invocation to `rolemodel-rails`.
bin/recreate_current_example	Updates `bundle add` invocation to `rolemodel-rails`.
bin/console	Updates require to `rolemodel-rails`.
bin/bump_version	Updates paths and gemspec name used by the version bumper.
README.md	Updates documentation to reference `rolemodel-rails`.
Gemfile / Gemfile.lock	Updates development dependency name to `rolemodel-rails`.
.gitignore	Adds `.DS_Store` ignore.
.github/workflows/ci.yml	Updates runner and GitHub Action versions used in CI.

Comments suppressed due to low confidence (1)

rolemodel-rails.gemspec:5

rolemodel-rails.gemspec no longer has # frozen_string_literal: true at the top. This repo consistently uses frozen string literals in Ruby files, and removing it may introduce RuboCop/style inconsistencies.

Suggestion: add the frozen-string-literal magic comment back at the top of the gemspec (before any require).

lib/rolemodel-rails.rb

lib/generators/rolemodel/base_generator.rb

spec/support/helpers/example_app.rb

spec/spec_helper.rb

OutlawAndy · 2026-03-11T16:31:37Z

@copilot open a new pull request to apply changes based on the comments in this thread

Copilot · 2026-03-11T16:31:45Z

@OutlawAndy I've opened a new pull request, #182, to work on those changes. Once the pull request is ready, I'll request review from you.

# Conflicts: # Gemfile.lock # example_rails7/Gemfile.lock # example_rails8/Gemfile.lock # lib/rolemodel/version.rb

…182) Co-authored-by: copilot-swe-agent[bot] <198982749+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com> Co-authored-by: OutlawAndy <1504753+OutlawAndy@users.noreply.github.com>

# Conflicts: # Gemfile.lock # example_rails7/Gemfile.lock # example_rails8/Gemfile.lock # lib/rolemodel/version.rb

timirwin

Looks wonderful. Just a few questions to ponder. You may not need any changes if they all check out.

timirwin · 2026-03-19T18:19:47Z

.github/workflows/ci.yml

  run_specs:
    name: Rspec
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    runs-on: blacksmith-4vcpu-ubuntu-2404


@OutlawAndy Since this is public repo and running on Github, do we need to (or want to) switch to Blacksmith?

good question. I don't know. blacksmith is significantly faster, but might be safest to switch back. 👍

timirwin · 2026-03-19T18:22:41Z

bin/dummy_app_builder.rb

+      skip_brakeman: true,
+      skip_bundler_audit: true,
+      skip_ci: true,
+      skip_git: true,
+      skip_jbuilder: true,
+      skip_kamal: true,
+      skip_rubocop: true,
+      skip_solid: true,
+      skip_test: true,
+      skip_thruster: true,


Thank you for alphabetizing this list. 👍

timirwin · 2026-03-19T18:24:50Z

bin/recreate_current_example

-set -euo pipefail
-IFS=$'\n\t'
-set -vx
+RAILS_VERSION = ARGV[0] || '8.1.2'


Do we need a usage comment at the top of the file?

timirwin · 2026-03-19T18:26:32Z

example_rails7/Gemfile

 end

-gem "rolemodel_rails", "> 0.20", group: :development, path: ".."
+gem "rolemodel-rails", "> 0.20", group: :development, path: ".."


Would we want to update the version specifier too?

Suggested change

gem "rolemodel-rails", "> 0.20", group: :development, path: ".."

gem "rolemodel-rails", ">= 1.0", group: :development, path: ".."

timirwin · 2026-03-19T18:29:15Z

example_rails8/config/environments/production.rb

  # Replace the default in-process and non-durable queuing backend for Active Job.
-  config.active_job.queue_adapter = :solid_queue
-  config.solid_queue.connects_to = { database: { writing: :queue } }
+  # config.active_job.queue_adapter = :resque


timirwin · 2026-03-19T18:32:13Z

example_rails8/config/cable.yml

+  adapter: redis
+  url: <%= ENV.fetch("REDIS_URL") { "redis://localhost:6379/1" } %>
+  channel_prefix: example_rails8_production


Is this the new default for Rails 8? I believe we were leaving most of the example_rails8 files as close to rails new baseline as we can so recreating would have the least amount of changes necessary. Then again, maybe this is the right call moving forward?

This is the default for apps generated with --no-solid. That flag is also responsible for the change you highlighted in config/environments/production.rb.

I think it might be worth while to discuss what our default should be for new apps regarding the solid components. We've discussed sticking with GoodJob over solid-queue, but not what to do about cache & cable. Using either SolidCache or SolidCable requires multiple databases on Heroku & a few minor changes to development rake tasks (namely db commands. see screenshot)

timirwin · 2026-03-19T18:34:10Z

example_rails8/config/ci.rb

 CI.run do
  step "Setup", "bin/setup --skip-server"

-  step "Style: Ruby", "bin/rubocop"


Would we want to have rubocop verify the output of our generator's output?

I think one of our generators sets up running the rubocop formatter against generated files.. @wesrich can you confirm?

timirwin · 2026-03-19T18:35:17Z

example_rails8/test/test_helper.rb

Love some of these changes. 👍

timirwin · 2026-03-19T18:37:57Z

example_rails8/package.json

 {
  "name": "app",
  "private": true,
-  "packageManager": "yarn@1.22.22+sha1.ac34549e6aa8e7ead463a7407e1c7390f61a6610",


We don't need this even though we're keeping yarn.lock? Presumably it must work or you wouldn't have committed it?

I think this went away because we migrated to yarn4+ a while back and the example app just hadn't been regenerated until now, but I'll try and confirm that.

timirwin · 2026-03-19T18:43:54Z

Gemfile

+gem 'stimulus-rails'
+gem 'turbo-rails'
+
+# Start debugger with binding.b [https://github.com/ruby/debug]


Should we use the alias or keep it long form (binding.break)? Fine either way if binding.b is common knowledge.

OutlawAndy self-assigned this Mar 1, 2026

OutlawAndy force-pushed the proper-rails-plugin branch 2 times, most recently from d486dd2 to 14beaf4 Compare March 1, 2026 23:36

OutlawAndy requested a review from Copilot March 2, 2026 14:17

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of OutlawAndy March 2, 2026 14:18 View session

Copilot AI reviewed Mar 2, 2026

View reviewed changes

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lib/generators/rolemodel/base_generator.rb Show resolved Hide resolved

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OutlawAndy requested review from mark-kraemer and timirwin March 2, 2026 21:18

Copilot AI mentioned this pull request Mar 11, 2026

Apply PR review feedback: frozen string literals and file handle fix #182

Merged

4 tasks

OutlawAndy force-pushed the proper-rails-plugin branch 6 times, most recently from cce8455 to 73df8e0 Compare March 12, 2026 22:35

OutlawAndy and others added 5 commits March 18, 2026 11:14

Rework to be a proper Rails plugin

90e87b1

# Conflicts: # Gemfile.lock # example_rails7/Gemfile.lock # example_rails8/Gemfile.lock # lib/rolemodel/version.rb

ci

2ceee34

Apply PR review feedback: frozen string literals and file handle fix (#…

5ec30b6

…182) Co-authored-by: copilot-swe-agent[bot] <198982749+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com> Co-authored-by: OutlawAndy <1504753+OutlawAndy@users.noreply.github.com>

test dummy apps should not use their own Gemfiles

d960888

# Conflicts: # Gemfile.lock # example_rails7/Gemfile.lock # example_rails8/Gemfile.lock # lib/rolemodel/version.rb

resolve example app generation

f1751c8

OutlawAndy force-pushed the proper-rails-plugin branch from ffa615c to f1751c8 Compare March 18, 2026 16:16

OutlawAndy added 2 commits March 18, 2026 11:19

Rolemodel::Rails v1.0.0

4f554ca

switch back to postgres for dummy app generation (fix failing specs)

0817800

OutlawAndy marked this pull request as ready for review March 18, 2026 16:29

RoleModel deleted a comment from blacksmith-sh bot Mar 18, 2026

OutlawAndy added 2 commits March 19, 2026 10:16

update README

94a0241

remove duplicate gems from plugin gemfile

26004ee

OutlawAndy force-pushed the proper-rails-plugin branch from 3be3980 to 26004ee Compare March 19, 2026 15:23

timirwin approved these changes Mar 19, 2026

View reviewed changes

	gem "rolemodel-rails", "> 0.20", group: :development, path: ".."
	gem "rolemodel-rails", ">= 1.0", group: :development, path: ".."

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OutlawAndy commented Mar 1, 2026 • edited Loading Uh oh! There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

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OutlawAndy commented Mar 11, 2026

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OutlawAndy commented Mar 1, 2026 •

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