DEV Community: Rails Designer

Lazy loading, optimistic UI and more in Rails with Attractive.js

Rails Designer — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 14:30:00 +0000

This is the last article of a series where I introduce Attractive.js 1.0.0 (in pre-release now).

In this last article I want to highlight how Attractive can be a nice addition and in some cases a complete replacement for Hotwire.

I created a simple message board in Rails. No Stimulus anywhere, nor Turbo Streams. Check it out!

Most of the features of the is build one Attractive extension I intentionaly left out last week; Attract. It serves two purposes:

intercept form request and send fetch instead (we know that technique!), and:
work with attract JSON responses to render HTML based off of template elements

One partial, three uses

The whole thing uses one single partial for a message:

<%# locals: (message:) %>
<li class="message" id="message-<%= message.id %>">
  <small class="author" attract-field="author"><%= message.author %></small>

  <p class="body" attract-field="body"><%= message.body %></p>
</li>

This one partial renders the initial page, drives the optimistic UI and powers the lazy load. Say what?! 🤯 The attract-field attributes tell Attractive’s Attract where to slot data when it renders the template.

Client and server validation

The message body validates on the client with the native Constraint Validation API, via the @validate extensions (mentioned last week). Just required and minlength attributes, plus one attribute on the form:

<form @validate @attract …>
  <input id="author" name="author" type="text" placeholder="Your name">

  <textarea name="body" required minlength="3"></textarea>
</form>

The name field, by contrast, is deliberately left without a client rule. Its validation comes from the server. When Rails rejects it, the errors come back as JSON and get wired into the same native validation UI. Client and server errors render identically.

Optimistic UI

The form has @attract, so submitting it sends a fetch instead of a page reload. A cached <template> renders an optimistic preview instantly, from that same partial, while the server processes the request:

<p><strong @text="message_count">41</strong> messages</p>

<form
  id="new-message"
  @attract
  data-attract-template="message"
  data-attract-target="messages"
  data-attract-position="prepend"
></form>

<ul id="messages">
  <%= render @messages %>
</ul>

<template id="message">
  <%= render "messages/message", message: Message.new %>
</template>

In the example app, the create request sleeps for a second so you can actually see the optimistic message appear before the real response. When it comes back, it holds the actions:

{
  "actions": [
    { "action": "setStore#message_count=42" },
    { "action": "reset", "target": "new-message" }
  ]
}

Multiple actions in one response once the message is saved: set the message count using Reactive’s store and a (bundled) action to reset the form.

Attract brings 6 more actions to the table. They almost all clone a cached template (like #message above):

append to append to target
prepend to prepend to target
replace to replace target element
before to insert before target
after to clone template, insert after target

And the odd one:

remove to remove target element(s)

The nice thing is, you can use these actions solo without attract as well, like I do for my flash (toast) messages:

<%# locals: (message:, icon: :check, icon_css: …, css: …) %>
<li @action="remove:mounted" data-delay="7500" class="…">
  <%= tag.p safe_join([icon(icon, class: icon_css), message]), aria: {live: :polite}, class: css %>
</li>

The message gets removed from the DOM after a delay of 7500ms.

Lazy loading messages

The message list loads five at a time. At the bottom, a simple form GET request that is triggered when in view (using the bundled whenInView trigger):

<form
  method="get"
  action="/messages?offset=5"
  @action="submit:whenInView"
  @attract
></form>

The server replies with a sequence of actions: append the next batch, when there are more, swap in a fresh “lazy load action” and point it at the next offset or remove it when the list runs out.

render json: {
  actions: [
    { action: "append", target: "messages", template: "message", data: batch },
    { action: "replace", target: "load-more", template: "load-more", data: {} },
    { action: "setAttribute#action=/messages?offset=10", target: "load-more" }
  ]
}

Three actions, one request.

Keyboard shortcuts

The Attractive Element scopes the filter and the keyboard extension wires the shortcuts. @hotkey.meta+k focuses the filter, @keydown.escape clears it, @keydown.meta+enter submits the form.

And that is how Attractive can work alongside Hotwire or replace it; depending on your needs. I am quite excited how this all turned out. It has been multiple months in the making (excluding the time noodling it over in my brain).

I would love for you to give it a try, just the bundled actions for your (Perron-powered 💡) site, along-side Hotwire or even replacing it. Let met know how it goes.

Things I am thinking about adding is support for SSE so you can “broadcast” actions to many and also an attractivejs-rails gem (to remove some of the ceremony you see in the Rails demo app).

Get started with the quickstart and give the repo a star or fix a bug you find! ✨😊

Custom Actions in Attractive.js: one interface, from small to big

Rails Designer — Thu, 17 Sep 2026 14:30:00 +0000

In last week’s announcement, I promised that when the built-in actions aren’t enough, you can write your own. Let me show you how, because this is what was bugging me most: why pull in another library when Attractive.js can do it as well?

Next to that I will also highlight some extra goodies and the bundled extensions that can now be (optionally) added.

Start with a one-liner

The quickest custom action is the js: prefix. It evaluates a JavaScript expression on the element, so you can do things too small for a full action:

<button @click="js:this.textContent=1">0 (I will become 1)</button>

Use it for one-liners only. It goes through the full action pipeline (so all events works as well as data-debounce and data-delay). It runs new Function() under the hood (which needs unsafe-eval in your CSP).

A custom action as a function

The step up from js: is a plain function. Register it with addActions on activate():

import Attractive from "attractivejs";

const sharePage = (element, { dataset }) => {
  const title = dataset.shareTitle || document.title;
  const url = dataset.shareUrl || window.location.href;

  if (navigator.share) {
    navigator.share({ title, url });
  } else {
    // write to clipboard or however you want to handle this
  }
};

Attractive.activate({
  addActions: { sharePage }
});


<button @action="sharePage" data-share-title="Check this out">Share</button>

The function receives the element and a context object with value, target, targets, event and dataset. In a Rails app you’d put this in app/javascript/application.js and you’re done. The markup stays identical to a built-in action.

A custom action as a class

When an action grows beyond a reasonable size, it becomes a class. Any class with a run() method works:

class Reorder {
  run() {
    this.element; // the element with @action
    this.options; // { value, target, targets, event, dataset, … }
  }
}

Attractive.activate({
  addActions: { reorder: Reorder }
});

There’s an optional Action base class that gives you value, dataset and a dispatchEvent helper:

import { Action } from "attractivejs";

export default class Reorder extends Action {
  run() {
    this.value; // the string after # in @action="reorder#…"
    this.dataset;

    this.dispatchEvent("reorder:done", { ids: [1, 2, 3] });
  }
}

Notice what didn’t change: registration is the same as the function version. You started with a one-liner, then a function, then a class and the interface stayed the same the whole way. Pretty cool, right?

Organizing actions

When you have a handful of actions, keep each in its own file and collect them in a barrel (same as how Stimulus is organized):

app/javascript/
  actions/
    reorder.js
    syntax_highlighting.js
    index.js

Each file exports a single function or class as default. The barrel collects them:

// app/javascript/actions/index.js
import syntax_highlighting from "./syntax_highlighting.js";
import reorder from "./reorder.js";

export default { syntax_highlighting, reorder };

Then your application file imports the barrel and activates:

import Attractive from "attractivejs";
import actions from "./actions/index.js";

Attractive.activate({ addActions: actions });

Hooks and error handling

Hooks let you run code around every action and handle errors in one place.

beforeAction runs before each action, return false to cancel it. afterAction runs after a success. onError handles a thrown action:

attractive.onError(({ name, element, options, event, error }) => {
  console.warn(`Action ${name} failed:`, error.message);
});

There are no unhandled rejections, the rest of a chained action still runs. There’s a global Attractive.onError fallback too, handy for wiring up a monitoring service.

The extensions

Attractive ships a few optional extensions you opt into with extendWith.

Keyboard

The keyboard extension gives you @keydown.enter, combos like @keydown.ctrl+k and global @hotkey shortcuts:

import { keyboard } from "attractivejs/keyboard";

Attractive.activate({ extendWith: [keyboard] });


<input @keydown.mod+enter="submit" @target="form">

<a href="/" aria-hidden="true" @hotkey.g.h="/">Homepage</a>

Validate

The validate extension brings client-side form validation using the browser’s native Constraint Validation API. Just add @validate to a form and style the invalid state:

import { validate } from "attractivejs/validate";

Attractive.activate({ extendWith: [validate] });


input:user-invalid {
  border-color: red;
}

Reactive

The reactive extension adds a shared JSON store with @text bindings and a setStore:

<input @input="setStore#name" />

<p>Hello, <span @text="name"></span></p>

Attractive Element

Attractive Element is the last piece I want to highlight today: a custom element base class. It scopes Attractive to a component, so actions and targets work inside it without a connectedCallback, a querySelector or manual teardown.

import { AttractiveElement } from "attractivejs/element";

class Counter extends AttractiveElement {
  connect() {
    this.count = 0;
  }

  increment() {
    this.target("count").textContent = ++this.count;
  }
}

customElements.define("ui-counter", Counter);


<ui-counter>
  <button @click="increment">+</button>

  <output id="count">0</output>
</ui-counter>

connect() and disconnect() replace the lifecycle callbacks. Methods in the HTML become actions. this.target("id") and this.targets(".selector") query within the component, so each component resolves its own targets even when the same id appears twice. It works alongside a document-wide activation without actions firing twice.

One interface for everything, from a one-liner to a function to a class to a custom element. That’s why I am so excited about Attractive: it works neatly alongside your bigger frameworks but can also stand on its own feet.

Everything you need is in the docs and the repo is always open for a star and improvement and bugfixes. ☺️

Next week, it comes all together: all of this inside a real Rails app (optimistic UI included 🤫).

Attractive.js 1.0.0: interactive HTML without one line of JavaScript

Rails Designer — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 14:30:00 +0000

I wrote a JavaScript library. Again (or rather I rewrote the JavaScript library I write some time ago).

I had the idea for Attractive for quite some time, based on the following thought: why do I reach for a framework to toggle a class, add an attribute or copy a bit of text?

So I made Attractive.js: a humble set of declarative HTML actions. You put the behavior on the element itself. No virtual DOM, no state management, no component lifecycle to learn or more of things like that. Reading the markup tells you what the page does. In that regard it is much like Stimulus, but with less ceremony/setup (and Attractive gives you actions out of the gate).

This is an overview of what 1.0.0 looks like (currently available as pre-release).

In a nutshell:

complete new syntax
extensibility (create your own custom actions)
addons like keyboard, reactive, validate and attract (to make Attractive.js a worthy competitor for Hotwire!)
A base class to write custom elements, named Attractive Element

This week I cover the basics of Attractive.js, next week I go over how to write custom actions and the week following it all comes together in a real Rails app where I show how it can replace Hotwire. But first…

What’s new in 1.0.0

The biggest change is the syntax. Actions used to live in data-action and data-target. Now they’re just @action and @target.

<button @action="toggleClass#active" @target="panel">Toggle</button>

<div id="panel">Content</div>

That’s the whole interaction: an attribute that says what happens and one that says where.

For existing users, it is just a rename:

-<button data-action="mouseenter->addClass#hovered">
+<button @mouseenter="addClass#hovered">

The event-type attributes read like sentences, they’re easier to find in a grep and the old -> bulky syntax is gone. The @ shorthand means the same as @action. And simple setups now work from a single script tag with the activate attribute, no manual Attractive.activate() call:

<script src="//unpkg.com/attractivejs" type="module" activate></script>

The actions

Everyday interactions are covered out of the box. Class and attribute actions (toggleClass, addClass, removeClass, cycleClass, the same for attributes and data attributes), style actions, copy to clipboard, confirm, dialogs, focus, form submit and reset, scroll to and more.

There’s also a js: prefix for the occasional one-liner:

<button @action="js:this.textContent=1">0</button>

Handy when a custom action is a bit too much. For anything bigger, you can write your own action (which is next week’s post).

Triggers and gates

Beyond actions, you can control when they run with triggers and gates, appended to the value with a colon.

Triggers run an action without user input. :mounted runs immediately when the element appears. :whenVisible fires when it scrolls into view:

<img
  @action="addClass#loaded:whenVisible"
  data-src="/image.jpg"
  loading="lazy"
/>

Gates guard an action. :once runs it a single time. :preventDefault calls event.preventDefault(). :whenOutside only fires when the click target is outside the element, which is how the dropdown example from below closes itself:

<button @action="toggleClass#open:once">Click once</button>

<div @action="removeClass#open:whenOutside" @target="menu">…</div>

You can register your own triggers and gates too, with addTriggers and addGates.

What you can build with zero JavaScript

To show what this means in practice, here are a few components you can write without a line of your own JavaScript.

A copy button is one attribute pointing at the target to copy an API key , code example and so on:

<button @action="copy" @target="card-example">Copy</button>

<code id="card-example">…</code>

A dialog (with a newsletter sign up) opens at a certain point within your article:

<div @action="openModal:whenInView" @target="newsletter"></div>

<dialog id="newletter">…</dialog>

Auto-save form data with a debounce:

<form action="POST" id="post">
  <textarea name="body" @action="submit" @target="post" data-debounce="400"></textarea>
</form>

Tabs and accordions are toggleAttribute against the right target. Toasts remove themselves with a :mounted trigger and a data-delay=8000. Even a carousel is just cycleClass on a custom property.

The default event per element type means a button just works with @action alone.

You can see all actions in action in the docs.

How small is it?

The full build is about ~7 KB gzipped (no external dependencies). If you’re feeling fancy, the core engine is less than 5 KB and you can import only the actions you use. That only applies to a bundler setup, though. With importmap, you pin one minified file and you’re done. Either way, it’s a fraction of what you’d drag in for a framework.

Where I’d use this

Attractive.js works great on static sites for those small bits of interactivity, but above examples also show how it works great for server-rendered apps or to replace those bulky toggle_class_controller.js 😅

The core has been solid for a while. Try it with the script tag from the quickstart and if you want to make me happy (besides giving Attractive a try), star the repo. 🌟

Next week: writing your own actions. After that: putting all of it to work in a Rails app.

Re-Organized configuration in Rails

Rails Designer — Fri, 04 Sep 2026 09:30:00 +0000

A while back I wrote about organizing configuration in Rails. The idea was simple: drop YAML files into config/configurations/ and get namespaced constants like Config::Bot.api_key instead of the clunky Rails.application.config.bot.api_key.

It worked well. But every YAML file needed manual wiring: <%= ENV.fetch("BOT_API_KEY", Rails.application.credentials.dig(:bot, :api_key)) %>. For every key. Across every file. Ugh!

So I rebuilt it. Same clean Config::Namespace.key API, but now it chains through all three sources automatically.

Before (old module’s YAML):

# config/bot.yml
shared:
  api_key: <%= ENV.fetch("BOT_API_KEY", Rails.application.credentials.dig(:bot, :api_key)) %>
  user_agent: "MyAwesomeBot/1.0"
  timeout: 10

After (new module’s YAML):

# config/bot.yml
shared:
  # Config::Bot.api_key is still available and will check environment variables and then check credentials
  user_agent: "MyAwesomeBot/1.0"
  timeout: 10

One API. Three sources. No more guessing where a value lives.

You can find the full code on GitHub. What follows are the parts I find most interesting.

Lazy namespaces with const_missing

The old version scanned a directory at boot and called const_set for every YAML file. That works, but it means every namespace is loaded whether you use it or not.

This version uses const_missing instead. Reference Config::Bot for the first time and a Namespace object is created lazily:

def self.const_missing(name)
  MUTEX.synchronize do
    @namespaces ||= {}
    @namespaces[name] ||= Namespace.new(name)
  end
end

The Mutex isn’t there by accident. In threaded environments (Puma, Solid Queue), two threads could hit const_missing simultaneously. Mutex makes sure only one namespace object gets created.

The three source chain

Each Namespace uses method_missing to resolve a key:

def method_missing(method, ...)
  key = method.to_s.delete_suffix("!")
  bang = method.to_s.end_with?("!")

  environment_key = "#{@prefix}_#{key.upcase}"
  return @environment_cache[environment_key] if @environment_cache.key?(environment_key)

  value = Rails.application.credentials.dig(@credentials_key.to_sym, key.to_sym)
  return value unless value.nil?

  value = from_yaml(key)
  return value unless value.nil?

  raise(NotFoundError, "Config::#{@name}.#{key} not found") if bang

  nil
end

ENV is checked first. It caches a snapshot at boot via ENV.to_h, so there’s no hash lookup penalty on every access. Then credentials. Then the YAML file via Rails.application.config_for. Bang methods raise instead of returning nil.

The convention for ENV keys follows the namespace: Config::Bot.timeout checks ENV["BOT_TIMEOUT"]. Config::Stripe.api_key checks ENV["STRIPE_API_KEY"]. Predictable and consistent (change to your likings though).

Bang methods and discovery

I added two small quality of life features. Config::Bot.api_key! raises if nothing is found (useful in initializers where a missing secret should fail fast). And Config::Bot.keys lists everything available for that namespace, merging credential keys and YAML keys:

def keys
  credential_keys = Rails.application.credentials.dig(@credentials_key.to_sym)

  [credential_keys, yaml_config].compact.flat_map { it.keys }.uniq
end

There’s also a reload method that clears the ENV cache and YAML cache (for when you’re changing values in the console during development).

What about Rails 8.2’s creds?

Rails 8.2 (currently on main) is introducing Rails.app.creds, which provides Rails.app.creds.require(:stripe, :api_key) and Rails.app.creds.option(:stripe, :api_key). It checks ENV first, then encrypted credentials. Same layered idea, same bang and regular pattern.

The difference is scope. Rails.app.creds focuses on secrets (things that belong in encrypted credentials or ENV). My Config module adds YAML as a third tier, which is where I keep public configuration like URLs, timeouts, API versions and feature flags.

Both solve the same fundamental problem: stop guessing where a value lives and let a unified lookup handle it. Rails.app.creds is the Rails core answer (less setup, more opinionated). My Config module is the DIY answer (flexible, more tiers, yours to tweak).

I’ve been using this version of the Config module in production for some time now. The bang methods alone have caught two misconfigured deployments before they reached customers (the app refuses to boot if a required key is missing). The triple lookup means I can move a value from YAML to credentials to ENV without touching application code. Each tier handles what it’s best at.

The code is on GitHub if you want to drop it into your own app or adapt it.

SVG sprites: improve performance (and keep configurability)

Rails Designer — Thu, 27 Aug 2026 11:30:00 +0000

A table with 200 rows and 5 action icons per row. That’s 1,000 inline SVGs dropped into your HTML. When does that start to impact your performance?

By default, Rails Icons renders each icon as a full <svg> element. Fine for a handful of icons. But at scale, it adds up.

I built a simple benchmark to measure exactly how much (feel free to fork and improve ❤️). Two pages, identical layout, 1,000 icons each. One uses inline SVGs you use and love. The other uses an SVG sprite you will surely start to love after reading this. 😬

The benchmark is on GitHub.

How SVG sprites work

A SVG sprite is a single file (but can also be embedded) with multiple icon definitions wrapped in <symbol> tags:

<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">
  <symbol id="user" viewBox="0 0 24 24">
    <!-- path -->
  </symbol>
  <symbol id="pencil" viewBox="0 0 24 24">
    <!-- path -->
  </symbol>
</svg>

To render an icon, reference it with <use>:

<svg class="icon"><use href="/sprite.svg#user"/></svg>

The browser downloads the sprite file once and caches it. Every <use> is a lightweight DOM reference, not a full SVG subtree. Compare that to inline SVGs where every single icon is a complete <svg> element with all its paths. 1,000 icons means 1,000 unique SVG subtrees parsed, styled and laid out by the browser.

Why not font icons or image tags?

Before SVGs became the standard, font icons were the go-to (if you been around for some time, you surely have used them; I thought they were really cool!). They have problems: limited to one color (unless you stack multiple fonts), inconsistent rendering across browsers and operating systems and poor accessibility. And you’re loading an entire font file for a handful of icons.

Image tags (<img src="icon.svg">) solve the accessibility issue but you lose all styling control. You can’t change the color, stroke width or size via CSS. Every variant needs a separate file. Ouch!

SVG sprites give you the best of both. The <use>-element inherits CSS from the parent <svg>, so you can control color, size and stroke width the same way you do with inline SVGs.

Fully configurable, single HTTP request, accessible by default.

The benchmark

Two pages, identical layout, 1,000 icons each:

200 users in a table, 5 icons per row
Same ERB template, same CSS, same layout
Only difference: one page uses icon, the other uses sprite_icon (both helper methods from Rails Icons)

Inline:

<%= icon "user" %>
<%= icon "pencil" %>
<%= icon "arrow-path" %>
<%= icon "lock-closed" %>
<%= icon "trash" %>

Sprite:

<%= sprite_icon "user" %>
<%= sprite_icon "pencil" %>
<%= sprite_icon "arrow-path" %>
<%= sprite_icon "lock-closed" %>
<%= sprite_icon "trash" %>

The numbers

Metric	Inline SVGs	SVG Sprite	Difference
Single icon markup	~1.7 KB	~170 bytes	90% smaller
Total icon HTML (1,000x)	~1.7 MB	~170 KB	90% smaller
Rendered page size	~1.8 MB	~250 KB	86% smaller
DOM nodes	~13,000	~7,000	46% fewer
DOM loaded	~320ms	~210ms	34% faster

The sprite page loads faster, transfers less data and creates a simpler DOM tree.

Using sprites with Rails Icons

Rails Icons 1.9+ ships with built-in sprite support. Configure which icons to include in your initializer:

# config/initializers/rails_icons.rb
RailsIcons.configure do |config|
  config.default_library = "heroicons"

  config.sprite = {
    heroicons: {
      outline: %w[user pencil arrow-path lock-closed trash]
    }
  }
end

Then use sprite_icon in your views:

<%= sprite_icon "user" %>
<%= sprite_icon "pencil" %>

That’s it. The sprite file is served at /rails_icons/sprite.svg. This means you can:

Cache it ; it changes only when you add or remove icons
Put it behind a CDN ; it’s a static asset

When to reach for sprites

Inline SVGs are fine when you have a couple dozen of icons per page. Landing pages, simple forms, blog posts. The extra bytes don’t matter.

Sprites are a good choice when icons multiply. Like with data tables, kanban boards and activity feeds.

The trade-off is one extra HTTP request for the sprite file. On an icon-heavy page, that request pays for itself many times over. 💪

SVG sprites are available in Rails Icons 1.9. Add them to your next icon-heavy view and see the difference.

Minimal JS, modern CSS anchored product tours

Rails Designer — Thu, 20 Aug 2026 18:30:00 +0000

Ever wondered how to build those interactive product tours that spotlight elements and walk users through your app? Ever wondered how you could with just roughly 100 lines of JS and modern CSS? Wonder now more, I will show and it will look like this:

Yes, just around 100 LoC 🤯

I built one using CSS Anchor Positioning and a Stimulus controller. The approach uses two techniques worth talking about: a clip-path spotlight effect (useful in all sorts of contexts) and CSS anchor positioning for the dialog (still very new as of mid-2026).

The full code, as always, is on GitHub.

The clip-path trick

The overlay covers the viewport with a semi-transparent background. But instead of sitting on top of everything, it uses clip-path: polygon() to cut a hole around the target element, creating a spotlight effect.

#clipPath(target) {
  const { top, right, bottom, left } = target.getBoundingClientRect()
  const gap = 8

  this.#overlay.style.clipPath =
    `polygon(0% 0%, 100% 0%, 100% 100%, 0% 100%, ` +
    `0% ${top - gap}px, ${left - gap}px ${top - gap}px, ` +
    `${left - gap}px ${bottom + gap}px, ${right + gap}px ${bottom + gap}px, ` +
    `${right + gap}px ${top - gap}px, 0% ${top - gap}px)`
}

The polygon traces the full viewport boundary, then cuts inward around the target’s bounding box with an 8px gap. A requestAnimationFrame loop keeps the hole positioned correctly during scroll and resize.

This technique works for any overlay-with-a-hole scenario: tooltips, walkthroughs, masking, focus modes.

Anchoring the dialog

The dialog card attaches itself to the target element using CSS Anchor Positioning. No JS position calculation, no ResizeObserver.

[data-controller="onboarding"] > .card {
  position: fixed;
  position-anchor: --onboarding-target;
  left: anchor(--onboarding-target right);
  top: anchor(--onboarding-target top);
  position-try-fallbacks: flip-inline, flip-block, flip-start;
}

The JS sets anchor-name: --onboarding-target on whichever element the current step targets. The card’s CSS declares position-anchor: --onboarding-target, and anchor() functions read the target’s position. The card places itself at the target’s right edge, top-aligned.

If there isn’t room to the right, position-try-fallbacks lets the browser try alternatives: flip to the left, flip above, flip both axes. Each fallback is tested in order until one fits the viewport. No media queries, no JS overflow detection.

As of mid-2026, Anchor Positioning ships in most browsers. Without support, the card renders without anchoring (the anchor() values fall back to auto). The tour still works, the spotlight still works, the dialog just won’t track the target’s position. That’s a reasonable degradation for an enhancement like this.

[!TIP]

Read this article for a great primer on anchor positioning

One small Stimulus controller

One Stimulus controller to get it all together. On connect it creates the overlay and card elements. Each step is a JSON object with an element selector, title, description, and optional image. Moving through steps updates the anchor-name target, repopulates the dialog content, and the requestAnimationFrame loop keeps the clip-path in sync.

It is the kind of Stimulus controller you can drop into any project, update the step data and you have a working tour. The kind of Stimulus controller I like.

The two techniques are independently useful. The clip-path polygon approach works for any spotlight or masking use case. Anchor positioning removes an entire category of JS positioning code. Combined, they make a feature that usually requires a library into about 100 lines of Stimulus.

position-try-fallbacks is a CSS property that I love to see available! ❤️ Overflow handling has always been a JS problem. Now the browser handles it natively. Look for opportunities to use it anywhere you’re positioning elements! 🛝

Choosing colors (for developers)

Rails Designer — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 07:30:00 +0000

The eleven-shade color scale from Tailwind CSS is one of those ideas I keep stealing. You know the one: 50 through 950 gives you enough stops for backgrounds, borders, hover states, text, everything. I use it even when I’m not using Tailwind.

But I almost never use the defaults (your site/app ends up looking like every other site built by LLMs).

The fix is not complicated. You don’t need a color theory degree or a five-color palette generator (you know the ones 🥹). You only need two or three color scales, and you can derive them all from a single value.

How to choose your brand hue

Rule of thumb: pick a color that fits the problem, not your personal taste (I like pink but not use it all the time).

Finance, B2B and enterprise sites use blues (hue 200-250).
Trust, stability, conservative. Health and wellness lean green or teal (120-200). Calm, natural.
Creative and entertainment go purple, pink, orange (270-360). Energy, fun.
Food and hospitality use reds, oranges, warm yellows (0-60). Appetite, warmth.

These are guidelines, not rules. A creative agency can use blue. A bank can use orange. But the defaults exist for a reason. They match user expectations.

Still stuck? Steal from a site you like. Find an app or landing page whose color feels right for your domain. Open DevTools, grab the hue from any OKLCH color on the page. That is your starting point. Adjust from there.

If you have an image (hero photo, logo, brand asset), sample a prominent color from it. Drop it into a color picker, get the OKLCH hue. Images that already look good together contain colors that already work together.

You do not need to nail it on the first try. Pick something reasonable, build the palette, see it on a real page. If it feels wrong, shift the hue by 30 and check again. Five minutes of tweaking beats an hour of analysis. 💪

Pick a neutral, name it `--gray`

First, a naming trick. Whatever neutral you settle on, alias it to --gray-*. This way your templates reference --gray-500 regardless of which tone you picked.

:root {
  --gray-50: #f8fafc;
  --gray-100: #f1f5f9;
  --gray-200: #e2e8f0;
  /* … */
}

The point is the name --gray stays the same. Want a warmer tone next month? Change the values, not every template.

If I use Tailwind, I use the same trick (but map them with the --color- prefix so bg-gray-500 works):

@theme {
  --color-gray-50: var(--gray-50);
  --color-gray-100: var(--gray-100);
}

One hue to rule them

OKLCH makes this easy. Instead of hardcoding eleven hex values for your brand, derive them from a single hue variable.

I covered the technique before in Building user-customizable themes with Tailwind CSS. The idea: OKLCH separates color into lightness, chroma and hue. Keep lightness and chroma constant per shade level, vary only the hue.

:root {
  --brand-hue: 250;

  --brand-50: oklch(.99 .01 var(--brand-hue));
  --brand-100: oklch(.98 .02 var(--brand-hue));
  --brand-200: oklch(.94 .04 var(--brand-hue));
  --brand-300: oklch(.86 .08 var(--brand-hue));
  --brand-400: oklch(.74 .14 var(--brand-hue));
  --brand-500: oklch(.6 .18 var(--brand-hue));
  --brand-600: oklch(.52 .16 var(--brand-hue));
  --brand-700: oklch(.44 .14 var(--brand-hue));
  --brand-800: oklch(.36 .12 var(--brand-hue));
  --brand-900: oklch(.26 .08 var(--brand-hue));
  --brand-950: oklch(.16 .04 var(--brand-hue));
}

Change --brand-hue from 250 to 10 and every shade updates. The palette stays harmonious because lightness and chroma never shift.

One thing to watch: OKLCH math gets you 90% of the way there. Different hues at the same lightness and chroma can feel slightly different to the eye — a purple at .6 .18 reads differently than a yellow at .6 .18. You might need to bump a stop or two for balance. That is normal. Tweak and move on.

Gray from your brand tint

Create a neutral palette the same way. Drop the chroma near zero:

:root {
  --gray-50: oklch(.99 .005 var(--brand-hue));
  --gray-100: oklch(.97 .005 var(--brand-hue));
  --gray-200: oklch(.93 .005 var(--brand-hue));
  --gray-300: oklch(.86 .008 var(--brand-hue));
  --gray-400: oklch(.76 .01 var(--brand-hue));
  --gray-500: oklch(.64 .01 var(--brand-hue));
  --gray-600: oklch(.54 .01 var(--brand-hue));
  --gray-700: oklch(.44 .01 var(--brand-hue));
  --gray-800: oklch(.34 .008 var(--brand-hue));
  --gray-900: oklch(.24 .005 var(--brand-hue));
  --gray-950: oklch(.14 .005 var(--brand-hue));
}

These read as neutral grays. But they carry a faint undertone of your brand color. The result is cohesive without being matchy-matchy.

Color theory with math

Complementary colors sit opposite each other on the color wheel. In OKLCH that is + 180 degrees.

:root {
  --accent-50: oklch(.99 .01 calc(var(--brand-hue) + 180));
  --accent-100: oklch(.98 .02 calc(var(--brand-hue) + 180));
  --accent-200: oklch(.94 .04 calc(var(--brand-hue) + 180));
  --accent-300: oklch(.86 .08 calc(var(--brand-hue) + 180));
  --accent-400: oklch(.74 .14 calc(var(--brand-hue) + 180));
  --accent-500: oklch(.6 .18 calc(var(--brand-hue) + 180));
  --accent-600: oklch(.52 .16 calc(var(--brand-hue) + 180));
  --accent-700: oklch(.44 .14 calc(var(--brand-hue) + 180));
  --accent-800: oklch(.36 .12 calc(var(--brand-hue) + 180));
  --accent-900: oklch(.26 .08 calc(var(--brand-hue) + 180));
  --accent-950: oklch(.16 .04 calc(var(--brand-hue) + 180));
}

That is the simplest color scheme: complementary. High contrast.

But you have more options. Here is how color schemes translate to OKLCH math:

Analogous are hues next to your brand (± 30). Low contrast, harmonious. Good for backgrounds and subtle variety.
Complementary have an opposite hue (+ 180). High contrast, pops. Good for CTAs and accents.
Split complementary when the two hues on either side of the complement (+ 150 and - 150). Same contrast as complementary but safer. Less jarring.
Triadic are three hues evenly spaced (+ 120 and + 240). Balanced. Gives you a third color for free.

--analogous-light: calc(var(--brand-hue) + 30);
--analogous-dark: calc(var(--brand-hue) - 30);
--split-a: calc(var(--brand-hue) + 150);
--split-b: calc(var(--brand-hue) - 150);
--triad-a: calc(var(--brand-hue) + 120);
--triad-b: calc(var(--brand-hue) + 240);

Pick one scheme and stick with it. The math guarantees the relationship. You just pick the starting hue.

All together now

:root {
  --brand-hue: 250;

  /* Gray (low chroma, brand undertone) */
  --gray-50: oklch(.99 .005 var(--brand-hue));
  --gray-100: oklch(.97 .005 var(--brand-hue));
  --gray-200: oklch(.93 .005 var(--brand-hue));
  --gray-300: oklch(.86 .008 var(--brand-hue));
  --gray-400: oklch(.76 .01 var(--brand-hue));
  --gray-500: oklch(.64 .01 var(--brand-hue));
  --gray-600: oklch(.54 .01 var(--brand-hue));
  --gray-700: oklch(.44 .01 var(--brand-hue));
  --gray-800: oklch(.34 .008 var(--brand-hue));
  --gray-900: oklch(.24 .005 var(--brand-hue));
  --gray-950: oklch(.14 .005 var(--brand-hue));

  /* Brand */
  --brand-50: oklch(.99 .01 var(--brand-hue));
  --brand-100: oklch(.98 .02 var(--brand-hue));
  --brand-200: oklch(.94 .04 var(--brand-hue));
  --brand-300: oklch(.86 .08 var(--brand-hue));
  --brand-400: oklch(.74 .14 var(--brand-hue));
  --brand-500: oklch(.6 .18 var(--brand-hue));
  --brand-600: oklch(.52 .16 var(--brand-hue));
  --brand-700: oklch(.44 .14 var(--brand-hue));
  --brand-800: oklch(.36 .12 var(--brand-hue));
  --brand-900: oklch(.26 .08 var(--brand-hue));
  --brand-950: oklch(.16 .04 var(--brand-hue));

  /* Accent (complementary) */
  --accent-50: oklch(.99 .01 calc(var(--brand-hue) + 180));
  --accent-100: oklch(.98 .02 calc(var(--brand-hue) + 180));
  --accent-200: oklch(.94 .04 calc(var(--brand-hue) + 180));
  --accent-300: oklch(.86 .08 calc(var(--brand-hue) + 180));
  --accent-400: oklch(.74 .14 calc(var(--brand-hue) + 180));
  --accent-500: oklch(.6 .18 calc(var(--brand-hue) + 180));
  --accent-600: oklch(.52 .16 calc(var(--brand-hue) + 180));
  --accent-700: oklch(.44 .14 calc(var(--brand-hue) + 180));
  --accent-800: oklch(.36 .12 calc(var(--brand-hue) + 180));
  --accent-900: oklch(.26 .08 calc(var(--brand-hue) + 180));
  --accent-950: oklch(.16 .04 calc(var(--brand-hue) + 180));
}

Use them anywhere:

.btn-primary {
  background: var(--brand-500);

  &:hover {
    background: var(--brand-600);
  }
}

.card {
  background: var(--gray-50);
  border: 1px solid var(--gray-100);
}

.badge-new {
  color: var(--accent-700);
  background: var(--accent-100);
}

Three palettes. One variable to change them all. No hex codes to manage. Winning! 🏆

Above :root{} content is easily copied from one app or site to your next one. Making sure you can return building quickly.

Recreating Stimulus: targets, actions and reactive values

Rails Designer — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 07:30:00 +0000

This is part 2 of a two-part series. Part 1 covered controllers and lifecycle.

Controllers connect and disconnect. That is not useful on its own. The value comes from three things: referencing elements inside the controller, handling events without inline JavaScript and reacting to data changes. Stimulus calls these targets, actions and values.

Each maps to a distinct JavaScript feature. And none of them repeat the tricks from part 1.

Here is the code. See the full commit on GitHub.

Targets: dynamic getters

A target is a named element inside a controller’s scope. Declare it in the class and get a getter for free:

class HelloController extends Controller {
  static targets = ["name", "output"]
}

The getter this.nameTarget returns the first element with data-hello-target="name" inside the controller element. The plural this.nameTargets returns all of them. The existence this.hasNameTarget returns true or false.

These getters do not exist at compile time. They are created dynamically using Object.defineProperty:

export function wireTargets(controller, identifier) {
  for (const name of controller.constructor.targets) {
    Object.defineProperty(controller, `${camelize(name)}Target`, {
      get() {
        return this.element.querySelector(`[data-${identifier}-target="${name}"]`)
      }
    })

    Object.defineProperty(controller, `${camelize(name)}Targets`, {
      get() {
        return this.element.querySelectorAll(`[data-${identifier}-target="${name}"]`)
      }
    })
  }
}

Object.defineProperty defines a property on an existing object with configurable behavior (in Ruby, you’d use define_method or attr_accessor with a custom getter to achieve similar dynamic property behavior). The getter runs every time the property is accessed, so the query is always live. If the DOM changes, the getter returns the updated result. No manual refresh needed.

This is different from a regular property assignment. With controller.nameTarget = value you set a static value. With Object.defineProperty you control every aspect: get, set, enumerable and configurable (in Ruby, this level of control over property access would be achieved using method_missing or define_method with custom logic to intercept and control all aspects of property access).

Actions: event delegation

Actions wire DOM events to controller methods. In HTML you write:

<button data-action="click->hello#greet">Greet</button>

No addEventListener in sight. The framework handles it with a single document-level listener per event type. This is event delegation, and it works like this:

export function energize(lookup) {
  controllerLookup = lookup

  for (const eventType of ["click", "submit", "change", "input", "keydown", "keyup"]) {
    document.addEventListener(eventType, spark)
  }
}

function spark(event) {
  const actionElement = event.target.closest("[data-action]")
  if (!actionElement) return

  const raw = actionElement.getAttribute("data-action")
  const descriptors = raw.split(" ").map(part => part.trim()).filter(Boolean)

  for (const descriptor of descriptors) {
    const route = deconstruct(descriptor, event.type)
    if (!route) continue

    const controllerElement = actionElement.closest(`[data-controller~="${route.identifier}"]`)
    if (!controllerElement) continue

    const controller = controllerLookup(controllerElement)
    if (!controller) continue

    if (typeof controller[route.methodName] === "function") {
      controller[route.methodName](event)
    }
  }
}

One listener per event type on document. No matter how many action-annotated elements are on the page. When a click fires, event.target.closest("[data-action]") walks up the DOM tree to find the nearest element with an action attribute. If it finds one, the descriptor is parsed and the right method is called.

The parsing is straightforward string work with split and trim:

function deconstruct(descriptor, eventType) {
  const parts = descriptor.split("->")

  if (parts.length === 2) {
    if (parts[0].trim() !== eventType) return null

    const rest = parts[1].split("#")

    return { identifier: rest[0].trim(), methodName: rest[1].trim() }
  }

  return null
}

This is the old-school JavaScript that never goes out of style. No regex, no framework. Just split, trim and a conditional. 🧓

Values: reactive data

Values bring reactivity. Declare them with a type and get getter, setter and change callback:

class HelloController extends Controller {
  static values = { count: Number }

  countValueChanged(current, previous) {
    console.log(`Count went from ${previous} to ${current}`)
  }
}

Setting this.countValue = this.countValue + 1 updates the attribute data-hello-count-value on the DOM element and fires countValueChanged with the old and new values.

The implementation uses Object.defineProperty again, this time with both a getter and a setter:

Object.defineProperty(controller, propertyName, {
  get() {
    return stored
  },

  set(value) {
    const previous = stored
    if (value === previous) return

    stored = value
    controller.element.setAttribute(attributeName, serialize(value, type))

    const changedCallback = `${camelize(name)}ValueChanged`
    if (typeof controller[changedCallback] === "function") {
      controller[changedCallback](value, previous)
    }
  }
})

The getter returns a cached value. The setter stores the new value, syncs it to the DOM attribute and calls the change callback if it exists. The if (value === previous) return guard prevents unnecessary updates.

Type coercion happens through a helper that maps JavaScript constructors to coercion logic:

function read(raw, type) {
  if (type === Number) return raw === "" || raw === null ? null : Number(raw)
  if (type === Boolean) return raw === "true" || raw === "1"
  if (type === Array || type === Object) {
    try { return JSON.parse(raw) } catch { return raw }
  }
  return raw
}

Number("42") returns 42. JSON.parse("[1,2,3]") returns an actual array. "false" as Boolean returns… well, Boolean("false") would return true (non-empty string is truthy). So we check the string value directly. These are the small traps that make framework development interesting. 😬

Three features, three JavaScript concepts. Object.defineProperty for dynamic accessors. Event delegation via closest(). Static class fields for declarative configuration. Plus a dash of JSON.parse and Number for type coercion.

All code from this article (and the previous one) is in the recreate-stimulus repo.

Courrier: a gem to send emails without SMTP

Rails Designer — Mon, 10 Aug 2026 07:30:00 +0000

Every transactional email provider ships a Ruby SDK. Each one has its own client class, its own conventions, its own way of doing the same thing. I got tired of learning yet another API for every project. So I built Courrier.

About 14 months and 73 commits later, Courrier 1.0 is here. It covers 13 email providers and 7 newsletter platforms. There’s a companion gem for Rails apps that adds generators, ActiveJob support, browser-based inbox previews and more.

Star it on GitHub ✨

13 providers, one API

Courrier.configure do |config|
  config.email = {
    provider: :postmark,
    api_key: "your_postmark_api_key"
  }

  config.from = "devs@railsdesigner.com"
end

# courrier/emails/order_email.rb
class OrderEmail < Courrier::Email
  def subject = "Your order is ready!"

  def text
    <<~TEXT
      Thanks for ordering, #{name}!

      Your order ##{order_id} is on its way.
    TEXT
  end

  def html
    <<~HTML
      <h1>Thanks for ordering!</h1>

      <p>Your order ##{order_id} is on its way.</p>
    HTML
  end
end

OrderEmail.deliver to: "customer@railsdesigner.com", name: "Cam", order_id: 42

That’s it. That’s the whole thing. One class, one deliver call, works with any supported provider.

Courrier has three levels of configuration that build on each other. Set defaults globally, override per email class or per delivery. Need to use Mailpace for transactional emails and Postmark for marketing? Easy. Need a provider not on the list? Subclass Courrier::Email::Providers::Base and add it yourself.

Content your way

The example above uses text and html methods. That’s the simplest path and works for most cases.

Prefer markdown? Define a markdown method instead. Courrier detects your markdown engine (kramdown, redcarpet or commonmarker) automatically and renders it to HTML.

Want the same structure as ViewComponent gives you (an ERB template alongside your email class):

courrier/emails/order_email.rb
courrier/emails/order_email.html.erb

Method definitions take precedence over template files, so you can mix approaches. Plain text via a method, HTML via a template. Or both via templates. Whatever fits your mental model.

Layouts wrap your email content the same way Rails layouts wrap views. Define one inline, in a method or in a separate class. And if you only write HTML, Courrier can auto generate the plain text version. 🤖

But wait, there is more

The Result object tells you if delivery succeeded, with access to the raw response data and any errors. Test helpers give you assert_emails_delivered and friends, so you can verify delivery without hitting a real API. before_deliver and after_deliver callbacks let you hook into the lifecycle. Custom HTTP headers (like List-Unsubscribe) go straight into each email class.

There’s also a a newsletter subscription system: Courrier::Subscriber.create and .destroy work with Beehiiv, Buttondown, Kit, Loops, Mailchimp, MailerLite and Brevo.

Rails Courrier

Courrier works with any Ruby app. But if you’re using Rails, there’s a companion gem that adds Rails-specific features.

Generators scaffold everything for you. Run rails generate courrier:install to create the initializer. Pass --provider to pre-fill provider-specific config. Run rails generate courrier:email Order to create an email class.

ActiveJob support means you can send emails in the background with a single method change. Call deliver_later instead of deliver.

Inbox gives you browser-based email previews, like (good ol’) Letter Opener but built into the gem. Mount the engine in your routes and every sent email opens in your browser.

I18n is scoped under courrier.email.<class_name>, so your translations stay organised. The t helper works in email classes and ERB templates.

Instrumentation publishes delivery.courrier and delivery_failed.courrier events through ActiveSupport::Notifications.

I have a few ideas for what is next. Auto redundancy: if your primary provider goes down, Courrier falls back to a backup provider. Baked-in layouts to make your emails a bit fancier (without asking a LLM). Dedicated real email testing tools that go beyond the test helpers. And more delivery methods beyond email (SMS, push notifications). 🤯

A huge thank you to delynn, benedikt, faheemKamboh and JSap0914 for their contributions. ❤️

Give Courrier a try. Star the repo on GitHub. For Rails apps, use rails_courrier. Would love to see what you build with it. 🚀🤘

Recreating Stimulus: how data-controller works under the hood

Rails Designer — Mon, 27 Jul 2026 07:30:00 +0000

This is part 1 of a two-part series. Part 2, coming soon, will cover targets, actions and reactive values.

Yep, that text is programmatically added using a recreated Stimulus framework and a hello_world_controller.js

Stimulus is a modest JavaScript framework to sprinkle bits of interactivity. At its core it watches the DOM for elements with a data-controller attribute and connects them to JavaScript classes. When an element appears, a controller instance is created. When it disappears, the instance is cleaned up. That’s it. That’s the entire foundation.

I want to walk through how you can recreate Stimulus yourself to learn a few modern JavaScript features to have in your magic hat, you can tell your LLM agent to use instead.

To recreate it you need a few things: a registry to store controllers, a watcher for DOM changes and a base class for controllers to extend. Each of these maps to a modern JavaScript feature.

Here is the code. See the full commit on GitHub.

The registry

The Engine class holds a private map of registered controllers:

class Engine {
  #controllers = new Map()
  #connections = new WeakMap()
  #observer = null

  register(name, controllerClass) {
    this.#controllers.set(name, controllerClass)
  }
}

#controllers is a Map, not a plain object. Why? Maps have a get, set and has API. They accept any key type, not just strings. They are iterable with for...of. And they have a clear .size property. For a registry, Maps are more “honest” than objects.

The private # prefix is real ES2022 encapsulation (if you been around these parts of the internet, you have seen them many times before 🤓). No private access modifier like in Ruby. If you try to access engine.#controllers from outside the class, JavaScript throws an error (even when you inherit from the class with the private method; unlike with Ruby!).

Watching the DOM

Controllers need to connect when elements appear and disconnect when they disappear. The tool for that is MutationObserver:

start() {
  this.#observer = new MutationObserver(mutations => {
    for (const { addedNodes, removedNodes } of mutations) {
      for (const node of addedNodes) {
        if (node.nodeType === Node.ELEMENT_NODE) this.#wireUp(node)
      }
      for (const node of removedNodes) {
        if (node.nodeType === Node.ELEMENT_NODE) this.#wireDown(node)
      }
    }
  })

  this.#observer.observe(document.body, { childList: true, subtree: true })
  this.#wireUp(document.body)
}

MutationObserver fires a callback when the DOM changes. You pass it { childList: true, subtree: true } to observe all additions and removals anywhere in the body. When nodes come in, it scans for [data-controller] elements and connect them. When nodes leave, they are cleaned up.

The Node.ELEMENT_NODE check is a small detail that matters. MutationObserver also reports text nodes and comments. Those you do not want, so these are filtered.

The initial this.#wireUp(document.body) handles existing elements on page load. MutationObserver only fires on future changes.

Tracking instances

When a controller is created, it needs to remember which element it belongs to. Later, when that element leaves the DOM, the instance is found and disconnect() is called.

A WeakMap is the right tool:

#wire(element) {
  if (this.#connections.has(element)) return

  const name = element.getAttribute("data-controller")
  const ControllerClass = this.#controllers.get(name)

  if (!ControllerClass) return

  const controller = new ControllerClass(element)
  this.#connections.set(element, controller)

  controller.connect()
}

#unwire(element) {
  const controller = this.#connections.get(element)
  if (!controller) return

  controller.disconnect()

  this.#connections.delete(element)
}

WeakMap uses the DOM element as its key. When the element is garbage collected, the entry disappears automatically. No manual cleanup needed. No risk of memory leaks.

A regular Map would hold a strong reference to the element and prevent garbage collection (GC; the automatic process of freeing up memory from unused objects). WeakMap does not hold such strong references, allowing objects to be garbage collected even if they’re stored in it. It is one of those JavaScript features you do not need often, but when you do, it is the only tool for the job. 🤘

The controller

The base class is intentionally minimal:

class Controller {
  #element

  constructor(element) {
    this.#element = element

    this.initialize()
  }

  get element() {
    return this.#element
  }

  initialize() {}
  connect() {}
  disconnect() {}
}

The #element private field stores the DOM element. A getter exposes it read-only. Subclasses can access this.element but cannot reassign it.

The real Stimulus calls initialize() once and connect() when the element enters the DOM. This recreation does the same. Subclasses override these methods to add behavior.

All code from this article is in the recreate-stimulus repo.

In a next article: targets, actions and reactive values. Stay tuned. 🤙

Add newsletter subscriptions to Rails 8 signups

Rails Designer — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 09:30:00 +0000

Users are creating accounts on your new Saas. Yay (and not just family and friends or bots). Yay! Now comes the next step from every marketing handbook: capturing newsletter subscriptions.

This article builds on Add Sign Up to Rails 8’ Authentication.

Add a simple checkbox to let users opt in to product updates during signup. Store their preference using Rails Vault and manage the subscription with Rails Courrier.

First, add Rails Vault and Rails Courrier to your Gemfile:

gem "rails_vault"
gem "rails_courrier"

Rails Vault adds simple and easy settings, preferences and so on to any ActiveRecord model (I recently pushed 1.0.0). Courrier is API-powered email delivery for Ruby apps with support for Mailgun, Postmark, Resend and more. Rails Courrier is the Rails “wrapper” for Courrier. These two gems work really nicely together for this feature.

Run bundle install and generate the Rails Vault migration:

rails generate rails_vault:install
rails db:migrate

It creates a new file app/models/user/subscriptions.rb:

class User::Subscriptions < Vault
  vault_attribute :product_emails_subscribed_at, :datetime

  # Add more subscription types as needed:
  # vault_attribute :marketing_emails_subscribed_at, :datetime
  # vault_attribute :weekly_digest_subscribed_at, :datetime
end

And updates your User model to use this vault:

# app/models/user.rb
class User < ApplicationRecord
+ vault :subscriptions

  has_secure_password
  has_many :sessions, dependent: :destroy
end

This keeps subscription data organized without cluttering your User table. More subscription types can be added later without database migrations.

Now the plumbing is done, add a checkbox to your signup form in app/views/signups/new.html.erb:

<%= form.check_box :product_emails %>
<%= form.label :product_emails, "Subscribe to product updates" %>

Update the Signup model to accept this parameter:

# app/models/signup.rb
class Signup
  include ActiveModel::Model
  include ActiveModel::Attributes

  attribute :email_address, :string
  attribute :password, :string
  attribute :terms, :boolean, default: false
+ attribute :product_emails, :boolean, default: false

  # …existing validations

  def save
    if valid?
      User.create!(email_address: email_address, password: password).tap do |user|
        create_workspace_for user
+       subscribe_to_product_emails user

        send_welcome_email_to user
      end
    end
  end

  private

+ def subscribe_to_product_emails(user)
+   return if !product_emails
+
+   user.create_subscriptions(product_emails_subscribed_at: Time.current)
+
+   Courrier::Subscriber.create email_address
+ end
end


  def signup_params
    # NOTE: new syntax, see PR: https://github.com/rails/rails/pull/51674
- params.expect(signup: [:email_address, :password, :terms])
+ params.expect(signup: [:email_address, :password, :terms, :product_emails])
  end

Create config/initializers/courrier.rb:

Courrier.configure do |config|
  # …

  config.subscriber = {
    provider: "buttondown",
    api_key: Rails.application.credentials.dig(:buttondown, :api_key)
  }
end

Replace "buttondown" with your preferred newsletter provider. Courrier has support for many providers.

Time to test it! Create a new user through the signup form with the product emails checkbox enabled. The subscription gets stored in the Rails Vault and the subscriber gets created in your newsletter service.

All code from this article is available in the Rails 8 Authentication repository.

Questions about subscriptions or newsletter management? Let me know below in the comments.

Permission UI the Rails way

Rails Designer — Fri, 10 Jul 2026 14:30:00 +0000

I’ve built many a SaaS. And most have pricing tiers: the higher the plans the more widgets you can create or features are allowed. Typically there are two ways to approach this:

hide the feature if the customer does not have access;
show all features, to all customers, but guard them with some, optional, upsell.

I have succesfully implementated the latter approach with a helper that quacks like Rails itself.

The helper lets you wrap content and decide what happens when access is denied. Hide it, redirect to a link, render content or render a partial. It’s small but flexible. This is how it looks (added a toggle allowed/denied states):

As always view on GitHub for a ready-to-copy code.

The API is elegant. Let’s look at some examples:

<%= allowed? Current.user.premium? do %>
  <%= link_to "Create project", projects_path %>
<% end %>

When Current.user.premium? is true, the link renders. When false, nothing shows. That’s the default behavior.

But you can do more. Redirect to a link instead:

<%= allowed? Current.user.premium?, redirect_to: upgrade_path do %>
  <%= link_to "Advanced analytics", analytics_path %>
<% end %>

The content becomes a clickable link pointing to your upgrade page.

Show plain text as a fallback:

<%= allowed? Current.user.premium?, render: { plain: "Upgrade to unlock this." } do %>
  <%= button_to "Delete project", project_path, method: :delete %>
<% end %>

Or render HTML:

<%= allowed? Current.user.premium?, render: { html: "Upgrade to the <strong>Pro plan</strong>." } do %>
  <%= button_to "Delete project", project_path, method: :delete %>
<% end %>

And render a partial for complex fallbacks:

<%= allowed? Current.user.premium?, render: "upsell" do %>
  <%= button_to "Advanced settings", settings_path %>
<% end %>

The helper

Here’s the full helper in app/helpers/allowed_helper.rb:

module AllowedHelper
  def allowed?(condition, options = {})
    return yield if condition

    if options[:redirect_to]
      content = capture { yield }

      link_to strip_tags(content), options[:redirect_to]
    elsif options.key?(:render)
      render_options = options[:render]

      if render_options.is_a?(Hash) && render_options.key?(:html)
        render_options[:html].html_safe
      elsif render_options.is_a?(Hash) && render_options.key?(:plain)
        render_options[:plain]
      else
        render({ partial: render_options.to_s }) if render_options.is_a?(String) || render_options.is_a?(Symbol)
      end
    end
  end
end

The logic is straightforward. If the condition is true, render the block. If false, check your options and handle it accordingly.

When you pass redirect_to, it captures the block content, strips HTML tags and wraps it in a link. When you pass render, it supports three formats: plain text, raw HTML or a partial name as a string or symbol.

This helper did, ~10 years ago, not start like this. Over the years, after working on many dozens Rails-based SaaS apps, my aim became to make helpers “quack” more like Rails methods. You’re familiar with render plain:, render html: and partial rendering. This helper just extends that familiar syntax to conditional rendering.

I like it. What do you think of this?