Deploying a Rails app on Render

When it comes to deploying web applications, choosing the right platform can significantly impact development efficiency and overall performance. The Render platform offers a powerful and user-friendly solution for deploying Rails apps. In this tutorial, I'll walk you through a step-by-step guide on how to deploy your Rails + PostgreSQL applications on Render.

Creating Build Script

The first step in preparing your Rails app for deployment is to create a custom build script. This script will allow you to define specific steps required to build your application. To create the script, follow these steps:

Step 1. Open your Rails project's directory.
Step 2. Create a new file named render-build.sh inside bin directory.
Step 3. Paste the following script. You can also add the necessary build steps, such as installing node dependencies and compiling assets

#!/usr/bin/env bash
# exit on error
set -o errexit

bundle install
bundle exec rake assets:precompile
bundle exec rake assets:clean
bundle exec rake db:migrate

Step 4. To ensure bin/render-build.sh script is executable, run the following command in your terminal:

chmod a+x bin/render-build.sh

Configuring Database and Environment Files

Several configurations need to be updated before deploying your Rails app on Render.
Step 1. Update config/database.yml with the following changes.

production:
  <<: *default
  url: <%= ENV['DATABASE_URL'] %>

Step 2. Open config/puma.rb and uncomment the following lines.

max_threads_count = ENV.fetch("RAILS_MAX_THREADS") { 5 }
min_threads_count = ENV.fetch("RAILS_MIN_THREADS") { max_threads_count }
threads min_threads_count, max_threads_count

port ENV.fetch("PORT") { 3000 }

environment ENV.fetch("RAILS_ENV") { "development" }

pidfile ENV.fetch("PIDFILE") { "tmp/pids/server.pid" }

workers ENV.fetch("WEB_CONCURRENCY") { 4 }

preload_app!

plugin :tmp_restart

Step 3. Enable public file server in config/environments/production.rb.

config.public_file_server.enabled = ENV['RAILS_SERVE_STATIC_FILES'].present? || ENV['RENDER'].present?

Step 4. Make sure that your project has config/master.key file. If you don't have a master key yet, delete credentials.yml.enc and run this command to generate a new one.

EDITOR="code --wait" rails credentials:edit

Setting up PostgreSQL database

Render simplifies the process of setting up a PostgreSQL database for your Rails app. Follow these steps to get your database up and running:
Step 1. Log in to your Render dashboard.
Step 2. Create a new PostgreSQL database.
Step 3. Provide a name for your database.
Step 4. For database and username values, use the ones specified in config/database.yml.

production:
  <<: *default
  url: <%= ENV['DATABASE_URL'] %>
  database: your_database
  username: your_user
  password: <%= ENV["YOUR_APP_DATABASE_PASSWORD"] %>

Step 5. Copy the generated Internal Database URL and Password as you'll need them later.

Deployment

With your app and database configurations in place, it's time to deploy on Render.

1. On Render dashboard, click New and choose Web Service.
2. Select Ruby as the environment.
3. In the Commands section, specify the build and start commands.
   • Build : ./bin/render-build.sh
   • Start : bundle exec puma -C config/puma.rb
4. Next, add the necessary environment variables:
   • DATABASE_URL : User the Internal Database URL you copied earlier.
   • YOUR_APP_DATABASE_PASSWORD: Use the Password you copied.
   • RAILS_MASTER_KEY : Add the key from config/master.key
5. Finally, click Create Web Service to deploy your application.

Conclusion

Congratulations! You've successfully deployed your Rails app on the Render platform. I hope you found this step-by-step guide helpful in successfully deploying your own application. If you have any further questions or need additional guidance, feel free to reach out to me.

Happy Coding!