Simple example of shared_examples in Rspec. Put the _shared in your support folder. Example creates a context where you have access to a logged in user.

categorization_spec.rb

# encoding: UTF-8
require 'spec_helper'

describe 'Category JSON Spec', focus: :true do
  include_examples 'a logged in user' 

  describe 'Someaction#index' do
    before(:each) { FactoryGirl.create_list(:category, 5) }
    subject(:response) do
     # you have access to the @user var
    end
    it 'returns a list of categories' do
      pending('Currently in testing branch')
      # json[:categories].to_json.should have_json_size(5)
    end
  end

  describe 'Categories#show' do
    let(:category) { FactoryGirl.create(:category) }
    subject(:response) do
      get "/some/get/request",
          format: :json 
    end
    let(:valid_json) do
      {
          category: {
            id:     category.id,
            name:   category.name,
            icon_class: category.icon_class,
            providers: category.providers
          }

      }.to_json
    end
    it 'returns the category as] json' do
      binding.pry
      # pending('Currently in testing branch')
      # response.body.should have_json_path('category')
      # response.body.should be_json_eql(valid_json)
    end
  end

end

sign_in_spec_shared.rb

# encoding: UTF-8
require 'spec_helper'

shared_examples "a logged in user" do 

  before(:all) do
    @user = FactoryGirl.create(:user_api)
  end
  before(:each) do
    login_as @user, scope: :user
  end
end