Ruby on Rails: Web application framework with MVC architecture
Convention-driven Ruby framework for full-stack web applications.
Learn more about Ruby on Rails
Ruby on Rails is a web application framework written in Ruby that implements the Model-View-Controller architectural pattern for organizing application code. The framework consists of modular components including Active Record for database abstraction, Action Pack for request routing and controller handling, Action View for template rendering, and Active Support for utility extensions. Rails applications use convention over configuration to reduce boilerplate code, with sensible defaults for directory structure, naming conventions, and common patterns. The framework is used for building web applications ranging from content management systems to APIs, with built-in support for multiple response formats including HTML, JSON, and XML.

Modular component architecture
Rails is composed of independent libraries (Active Record, Action Pack, Action View, Active Support) that can be used separately outside the framework. This allows developers to adopt individual components without committing to the full Rails stack.
Integrated ecosystem
Rails bundles multiple frameworks for common web application needs including Action Mailer for email generation, Active Job for background job processing, Action Cable for WebSocket integration, and Active Storage for file attachments. These components are designed to work together within a single application.
Convention-based development
Rails uses established conventions for file organization, naming patterns, and code structure to minimize configuration requirements. This approach reduces decision-making overhead and allows developers to focus on application-specific logic rather than framework setup.
# app/controllers/articles_controller.rb
class ArticlesController < ApplicationController
def index
@articles = Article.where(published: true)
.order(created_at: :desc)
.limit(10)
render json: @articles
end
endRails 8.1.2 is a bug fix release that addresses issues across Active Support, Active Record, and other components with no breaking changes.
- –Make delegate and delegatemissingto work in BasicObject subclasses.
- –Fix Inflectors when using a locale that fallbacks to :en.
- –Fix ActiveSupport::TimeWithZone#as_json to consistently return UTF-8 strings.
- –Fix TimeWithZone#xmlschema when wrapping a DateTime instance in local time.
- –Implement LocalCache strategy on ActiveSupport::Cache::MemoryStore.
Rails v8.1.1 includes bug fixes for Action View form builders, Action Pack action methods, Active Job serializers, and Kamal deployment SSL configuration.
- –Respect removehiddenfieldautocomplete config in form builder hiddenfield.
- –Allow methods starting with underscore to be action methods.
- –Only index new serializers.
- –Do not assume and force SSL in production by default when using Kamal.
Rails v8.0.4 is a bug fix release that addresses critical data loss issues in SQLite3, parallel test hanging problems, and several other stability issues.
- –Fix Enumerable#sole to return the full tuple instead of just the first element.
- –Fix parallel tests hanging when worker processes die abruptly.
- –Fix NameError when class_attribute is defined on instance singleton classes.
- –Fix SQLite3 data loss during table alterations with CASCADE foreign keys.
See how people are using Ruby on Rails
Top in Backend & APIs
Related Repositories
Discover similar tools and frameworks used by developers
Ghost
Headless CMS built with Node.js for blogging, memberships, subscriptions, and newsletters.
Supabase
PostgreSQL backend with auto-generated APIs and real-time subscriptions.
Express
Middleware-based HTTP routing and response handling for Node.js.
Laravel
Full-stack PHP framework with ORM and dependency injection.
chi
Composable Go HTTP router for web services with middleware chains and route groups.