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Creating and Customizing Rails Generators & Templates

Rails generators and application templates are useful tools that can help improve your workflow by automatically creating boilerplate code. In this guide you will learn:

How to see which generators are available in your application.
How to create a generator using templates.
How Rails searches for generators before invoking them.
How to customize Rails scaffolding by overriding generators and templates.
How to use fallbacks to avoid overwriting a huge set of generators.
How to use templates to create/customize Rails applications.
How to use the Rails Template API to write your own reusable application templates.

First Contact

When you create an application using the rails command, you are in fact using a Rails generator. After that, you can get a list of all available generators by invoking bin/rails generate:

$ rails new myapp
$ cd myapp
$ bin/rails generate

NOTE: To create a Rails application we use the rails global command which uses the version of Rails installed via gem install rails. When inside the directory of your application, we use the bin/rails command which uses the version of Rails bundled with the application.

You will get a list of all generators that come with Rails. To see a detailed description of a particular generator, invoke the generator with the --help option. For example:

$ bin/rails generate scaffold --help

Creating Your First Generator

Generators are built on top of Thor, which provides powerful options for parsing and a great API for manipulating files.

Let's build a generator that creates an initializer file named initializer.rb inside config/initializers. The first step is to create a file at lib/generators/initializer_generator.rb with the following content:

class InitializerGenerator < Rails::Generators::Base
  def create_initializer_file
    create_file "config/initializers/initializer.rb", <<~RUBY
      # Add initialization content here
    RUBY
  end
end

Our new generator is quite simple: it inherits from ::Rails::Generators::Base and has one method definition. When a generator is invoked, each public method in the generator is executed sequentially in the order that it is defined. Our method invokes create_file, which will create a file at the given destination with the given content.

To invoke our new generator, we run:

$ bin/rails generate initializer

Before we go on, let's see the description of our new generator:

$ bin/rails generate initializer --help

Rails is usually able to derive a good description if a generator is namespaced, such as ::ActiveRecord::Generators::ModelGenerator, but not in this case. We can solve this problem in two ways. The first way to add a description is by calling desc inside our generator:

class InitializerGenerator < Rails::Generators::Base
  desc "This generator creates an initializer file at config/initializers"
  def create_initializer_file
    create_file "config/initializers/initializer.rb", <<~RUBY
      # Add initialization content here
    RUBY
  end
end

Now we can see the new description by invoking --help on the new generator.

The second way to add a description is by creating a file named USAGE in the same directory as our generator. We are going to do that in the next step.

Creating Generators with Generators

Generators themselves have a generator. Let's remove our InitializerGenerator and use bin/rails generate generator to generate a new one:

$ rm lib/generators/initializer_generator.rb

$ bin/rails generate generator initializer
      create  lib/generators/initializer
      create  lib/generators/initializer/initializer_generator.rb
      create  lib/generators/initializer/USAGE
      create  lib/generators/initializer/templates
      invoke  test_unit
      create    test/lib/generators/initializer_generator_test.rb

This is the generator just created:

class InitializerGenerator < Rails::Generators::NamedBase
  source_root File.expand_path("templates", __dir__)
end

First, notice that the generator inherits from ::Rails::Generators::NamedBase instead of ::Rails::Generators::Base. This means that our generator expects at least one argument, which will be the name of the initializer and will be available to our code via name.

We can see that by checking the description of the new generator:

$ bin/rails generate initializer --help
Usage:
  bin/rails generate initializer NAME [options]

Also, notice that the generator has a class method called source_root. This method points to the location of our templates, if any. By default it points to the lib/generators/initializer/templates directory that was just created.

In order to understand how generator templates work, let's create the file lib/generators/initializer/templates/initializer.rb with the following content:

# Add initialization content here

And let's change the generator to copy this template when invoked:

class InitializerGenerator < Rails::Generators::NamedBase
  source_root File.expand_path("templates", __dir__)

  def copy_initializer_file
    copy_file "initializer.rb", "config/initializers/#{file_name}.rb"
  end
end

Now let's run our generator:

$ bin/rails generate initializer core_extensions
      create  config/initializers/core_extensions.rb

$ cat config/initializers/core_extensions.rb
# Add initialization content here

We see that copy_file created config/initializers/core_extensions.rb with the contents of our template. (The file_name method used in the destination path is inherited from ::Rails::Generators::NamedBase.)

Generator Command Line Options

Generators can support command line options using class_option. For example:

class InitializerGenerator < Rails::Generators::NamedBase
  class_option :scope, type: :string, default: "app"
end

Now our generator can be invoked with a --scope option:

$ bin/rails generate initializer theme --scope dashboard

Option values are accessible in generator methods via options:

def copy_initializer_file
  @scope = options["scope"]
end

Generator Resolution

When resolving a generator's name, Rails looks for the generator using multiple file names. For example, when you run bin/rails generate initializer core_extensions, Rails tries to load each of the following files, in order, until one is found:

rails/generators/initializer/initializer_generator.rb
generators/initializer/initializer_generator.rb
rails/generators/initializer_generator.rb
generators/initializer_generator.rb

If none of these are found, an error will be raised.

We put our generator in the application's lib/ directory because that directory is in $LOAD_PATH, thus allowing Rails to find and load the file.

Overriding Rails Generator Templates

Rails will also look in multiple places when resolving generator template files. One of those places is the application's lib/templates/ directory. This behavior allows us to override the templates used by Rails' built-in generators. For example, we could override the scaffold controller template or the scaffold view templates.

To see this in action, let's create a lib/templates/erb/scaffold/index.html.erb.tt file with the following contents:

<%%= @<%= plural_table_name %>.count %> <%= human_name.pluralize %>

Note that the template is an ERB template that renders another ERB template. So any <% that should appear in the resulting template must be escaped as <%% in the generator template.

Now let's run Rails' built-in scaffold generator:

$ bin/rails generate scaffold Post title:string
      ...
      create      app/views/posts/index.html.erb
      ...

The contents of app/views/posts/index.html.erb is:

<%= @posts.count %> Posts

Overriding Rails Generators

Rails' built-in generators can be configured via config.generators, including overriding some generators entirely.

First, let's take a closer look at how the scaffold generator works.

$ bin/rails generate scaffold User name:string
      invoke  active_record
      create    db/migrate/20230518000000_create_users.rb
      create    app/models/user.rb
      invoke    test_unit
      create      test/models/user_test.rb
      create      test/fixtures/users.yml
      invoke  resource_route
       route    resources :users
      invoke  scaffold_controller
      create    app/controllers/users_controller.rb
      invoke    erb
      create      app/views/users
      create      app/views/users/index.html.erb
      create      app/views/users/edit.html.erb
      create      app/views/users/show.html.erb
      create      app/views/users/new.html.erb
      create      app/views/users/_form.html.erb
      create      app/views/users/_user.html.erb
      invoke    resource_route
      invoke    test_unit
      create      test/controllers/users_controller_test.rb
      create      test/system/users_test.rb
      invoke    helper
      create      app/helpers/users_helper.rb
      invoke      test_unit
      invoke    jbuilder
      create      app/views/users/index.json.jbuilder
      create      app/views/users/show.json.jbuilder

From the output, we can see that the scaffold generator invokes other generators, such as the scaffold_controller generator. And some of those generators invoke other generators too. In particular, the scaffold_controller generator invokes several other generators, including the helper generator.

Let's override the built-in helper generator with a new generator. We'll name the generator my_helper:

$ bin/rails generate generator rails/my_helper
      create  lib/generators/rails/my_helper
      create  lib/generators/rails/my_helper/my_helper_generator.rb
      create  lib/generators/rails/my_helper/USAGE
      create  lib/generators/rails/my_helper/templates
      invoke  test_unit
      create    test/lib/generators/rails/my_helper_generator_test.rb

And in lib/generators/rails/my_helper/my_helper_generator.rb we'll define the generator as:

class Rails::MyHelperGenerator < Rails::Generators::NamedBase
  def create_helper_file
    create_file "app/helpers/#{file_name}_helper.rb", <<~RUBY
      module #{class_name}Helper
        # I'm helping!
      end
    RUBY
  end
end

Finally, we need to tell Rails to use the my_helper generator instead of the built-in helper generator. For that we use config.generators. In config/application.rb, let's add:

config.generators do |g|
  g.helper :my_helper
end

Now if we run the scaffold generator again, we see the my_helper generator in action:

$ bin/rails generate scaffold Article body:text
      ...
      invoke  scaffold_controller
      ...
      invoke    my_helper
      create      app/helpers/articles_helper.rb
      ...

NOTE: You may notice that the output for the built-in helper generator includes "invoke test_unit", whereas the output for my_helper does not. Although the helper generator does not generate tests by default, it does provide a hook to do so using hook_for. We can do the same by including hook_for :test_framework, as: :helper in the MyHelperGenerator class. See the hook_for documentation for more information.

Generators Fallbacks

Another way to override specific generators is by using fallbacks. A fallback allows a generator namespace to delegate to another generator namespace.

For example, let's say we want to override the test_unit:model generator with our own my_test_unit:model generator, but we don't want to replace all of the other test_unit:* generators such as test_unit:controller.

First, we create the my_test_unit:model generator in lib/generators/my_test_unit/model/model_generator.rb:

module MyTestUnit
  class ModelGenerator < Rails::Generators::NamedBase
    source_root File.expand_path("templates", __dir__)

    def do_different_stuff
      say "Doing different stuff..."
    end
  end
end

Next, we use config.generators to configure the test_framework generator as my_test_unit, but we also configure a fallback such that any missing my_test_unit:* generators resolve to test_unit:*:

config.generators do |g|
  g.test_framework :my_test_unit, fixture: false
  g.fallbacks[:my_test_unit] = :test_unit
end

Now when we run the scaffold generator, we see that my_test_unit has replaced test_unit, but only the model tests have been affected:

$ bin/rails generate scaffold Comment body:text
      invoke  active_record
      create    db/migrate/20230518000000_create_comments.rb
      create    app/models/comment.rb
      invoke    my_test_unit
    Doing different stuff...
      invoke  resource_route
       route    resources :comments
      invoke  scaffold_controller
      create    app/controllers/comments_controller.rb
      invoke    erb
      create      app/views/comments
      create      app/views/comments/index.html.erb
      create      app/views/comments/edit.html.erb
      create      app/views/comments/show.html.erb
      create      app/views/comments/new.html.erb
      create      app/views/comments/_form.html.erb
      create      app/views/comments/_comment.html.erb
      invoke    resource_route
      invoke    my_test_unit
      create      test/controllers/comments_controller_test.rb
      create      test/system/comments_test.rb
      invoke    helper
      create      app/helpers/comments_helper.rb
      invoke      my_test_unit
      invoke    jbuilder
      create      app/views/comments/index.json.jbuilder
      create      app/views/comments/show.json.jbuilder

Application Templates

Application templates are a little different from generators. While generators add files to an existing Rails application (models, views, etc.), templates are used to automate the setup of a new Rails application. Templates are Ruby scripts (typically named template.rb) that customize new Rails applications right after they are generated.

Let's see how to use a template while creating a new Rails application.

Creating and Using Templates

Let's start with a sample template Ruby script. The below template adds Devise to the Gemfile after asking the user and also allows the user to name the Devise user model. After bundle install has been run, the template runs the Devise generators and also runs migrations. Finally, the template does git add and git commit.

# template.rb
if yes?("Would you like to install Devise?")
  gem "devise"
  devise_model = ask("What would you like the user model to be called?", default: "User")
end

after_bundle do
  if devise_model
    generate "devise:install"
    generate "devise", devise_model
    rails_command "db:migrate"
  end

  git add: ".", commit: %(-m 'Initial commit')
end

To apply this template while creating a new Rails application, you need to provide the location of the template using the -m option:

$ rails new blog -m ~/template.rb

The above will create a new Rails application called blog that has Devise gem configured.

You can also apply templates to an existing Rails application by using app:template command. The location of the template needs to be passed in via the LOCATION environment variable:

$ bin/rails app:template LOCATION=~/template.rb

Templates don't have to be stored locally, you can also specify an URL instead of a path:

$ rails new blog -m https://example.com/template.rb
$ bin/rails app:template LOCATION=https://example.com/template.rb

WARNING: Caution should be taken when executing remote scripts from third parties. Since the template is a plain Ruby script, it can easily contain code that compromises your local machine (such as download a virus, delete files or upload your private files to a server).

The above template.rb file uses helper methods such as after_bundle and rails_command and also adds user interactivity with methods like yes?. All of these methods are part of the Rails Template API. The following sections shows how to use more of these methods with examples.

Rails Generators API

Generators and the template Ruby scripts have access to several helper methods using a DSL (Domain Specific Language). These methods are part of the Rails Generators API and you can find more details at Thor::Actions and ::Rails::Generators::Actions API documentation.

Here's another example of a typical Rails template that scaffolds a model, runs migrations, and commits the changes with git:

# template.rb
generate(:scaffold, "person name:string")
route "root to: 'people#index'"
rails_command("db:migrate")

after_bundle do
  git :init
  git add: "."
  git commit: %Q{ -m 'Initial commit' }
end

NOTE: All code snippets in the examples below can be used in a template file, such as the template.rb file above.

add_source

The add_source method adds the given source to the generated application's Gemfile.

add_source "https://rubygems.org"

If a block is given, gem entries in the block are wrapped into the source group. For example, if you need to source a gem from "http://gems.github.com":

add_source "http://gems.github.com/" do
  gem "rspec-rails"
end

after_bundle

The after_bundle method registers a callback to be executed after the gems are bundled. For example, it would make sense to run the "install" command for tailwindcss-rails and devise only after those gems are bundled:

# Install gems
after_bundle do
  # Install TailwindCSS
  rails_command "tailwindcss:install"

  # Install Devise
  generate "devise:install"
end

The callbacks get executed even if --skip-bundle has been passed.

environment

The environment method adds a line inside the Application class for config/application.rb. If options[:env] is specified, the line is appended to the corresponding file in config/environments.

environment 'config.action_mailer.default_url_options = {host: "http://yourwebsite.example.com"}', env: "production"

The above will add the config line to config/environments/production.rb.

gem

The gem helper adds an entry for the given gem to the generated application's Gemfile.

For example, if your application depends on the gems devise and tailwindcss-rails:

gem "devise"
gem "tailwindcss-rails"

Note that this method only adds the gem to the Gemfile, it does not install the gem.

You can also specify an exact version:

gem "devise", "~> 4.9.4"

And you can also add comments that will be added to the Gemfile:

gem "devise", comment: "Add devise for authentication."

gem_group

The gem_group helper wraps gem entries inside a group. For example, to load rspec-rails only in the development and test groups:

gem_group :development, :test do
  gem "rspec-rails"
end

generate

You can even call a generator from inside a template.rb with the generate method. The following runs the scaffold rails generator with the given arguments:

generate(:scaffold, "person", "name:string", "address:text", "age:number")

git

Rails templates let you run any git command with the git helper:

git :init
git add: "."
git commit: "-a -m 'Initial commit'"

initializer, vendor, lib, file

The initializer helper method adds an initializer to the generated application's config/initializers directory.

After adding the below to the template.rb file, you can use Object#not_nil? and Object#not_blank? in your application:

initializer "not_methods.rb", <<-CODE
  class Object
    def not_nil?
      !nil?
    end

    def not_blank?
      !blank?
    end
  end
CODE

Similarly, the lib method creates a file in the lib/ directory and vendor method creates a file in the vendor/ directory.

There is also a file method (which is an alias for create_file), which accepts a relative path from Rails.root and creates all the directories and files needed:

file "app/components/foo.rb", <<-CODE
  class Foo
  end
CODE

The above will create the app/components directory and put foo.rb in there.

rakefile

The rakefile method creates a new Rake file under lib/tasks with the given tasks:

rakefile("bootstrap.rake") do
  <<-TASK
    namespace :boot do
      task :strap do
        puts "I like boots!"
      end
    end
  TASK
end

The above creates lib/tasks/bootstrap.rake with a boot:strap rake task.

run

The run method executes an arbitrary command. Let's say you want to remove the README.rdoc file:

run "rm README.rdoc"

rails_command

You can run the Rails commands in the generated application with the rails_command helper. Let's say you want to migrate the database at some point in the template ruby script:

rails_command "db:migrate"

Commands can be run with a different Rails environment:

rails_command "db:migrate", env: "production"

You can also run commands that should abort application generation if they fail:

rails_command "db:migrate", abort_on_failure: true

route

The route method adds an entry to the config/routes.rb file. To make PeopleController#index the default page for the application, we can add:

route "root to: 'person#index'"

There are also many helper methods that can manipulate the local file system, such as copy_file, create_file, insert_into_file, and inside. You can see the Thor API documentation for details. Here is an example of one such method:

inside

This inside method enables you to run a command from a given directory. For example, if you have a copy of edge rails that you wish to symlink from your new apps, you can do this:

inside("vendor") do
  run "ln -s ~/my-forks/rails rails"
end

There are also methods that allow you to interact with the user from the Ruby template, such as ask, yes, and no. You can learn about all user interactivity methods in the Thor Shell documentation. Let's see examples of using ask, yes? and no?:

ask

The ask methods allows you to get feedback from the user and use it in your templates. Let's say you want your user to name the new shiny library you're adding:

lib_name = ask("What do you want to call the shiny library?")
lib_name << ".rb" unless lib_name.index(".rb")

lib lib_name, <<-CODE
  class Shiny
  end
CODE

yes? or no?

These methods let you ask questions from templates and decide the flow based on the user's answer. Let's say you want to prompt the user to run migrations:

rails_command("db:migrate") if yes?("Run database migrations?")
# no? questions acts the opposite of yes?

Testing Generators

Rails provides testing helper methods via Rails::Generators::Testing::Behaviour, such as:

run_generator

If running tests against generators you will need to set RAILS_LOG_TO_STDOUT=true in order for debugging tools to work.

RAILS_LOG_TO_STDOUT=true ./bin/test test/generators/actions_test.rb

In addition to those, Rails also provides additional assertions via ::Rails::Generators::Testing::Assertions.