Random fever-dream sketch of possible alternative to ActionController

action_endpoint.rb

endpoints do
  resources :widgets
end

# map "/widgets/:id", :to => WidgetEndpointFactory.new(:show), :as => :widget_path
# ...
# etc.

module ActionEndpoint::Endpoint
  def view(object)
    view = appropriate_view_for(object)
    expose_to_template(view)
  end
end

class WidgetCreateEndpoint
  include ActionEndpoint::PostEndpoint

  def action
    widget = Widget.new(params[:widget])
    widget.save # may succeed, may not; should handle appropriate status code,
                # etc.; ideally by deferring to Rails functionality
    view WidgetView.new(widget)
  end
end

module ActionEndpoint::ActionView
  # this is a friendly wrapper object that lets you
  # easily use ActionController helpers such as #respond_to/#respond_with
  include ActiveModel::Model #or whatever
end

class

# Need to inject a view method into the actual views that proxies
# to the "render"-ed/"return"-ed view object
#
# Can run through an over-arching ActionEndpointController instance
# that orchestrates behind the scenes in order to expose Rails functionality
# in order to evaluate/have a quick proof-of-concept
<div class="foo">
  <%= view.widget.name %>
</div>