Common setup for a new Rails project

rails_setup.md

1. rails new <project_name> -d postgresql --skip-turbolinks --skip-spring -T

• -d postgresql sets up the project to use PostgreSQL
• --skip-turbolinks & --skip-spring creates a project that does not use turbolinks or spring
• -T skips the creation of the test directory and use of Test::Unit

2. In the Gemfile:

• Available to all environments:
  • gem 'figaro' - store environment variables securely across your app (docs)
  • Uncomment gem 'bcrypt', '~> 3.1.7' if you will be hosting your own user accounts with passwords (docs)
• Inside of group :test:
  • gem 'rspec-rails' - user rspec in place of minitest (docs)
  • gem 'capybara' - act as a user navigating your site in tests (docs)
  • gem 'launchy' - for running save_and_open_page (docs)
  • gem 'shoulda-matchers' - easier model testing (docs)
  • gem 'database_cleaner' - clean your database between tests (docs)
  • gem 'factory_girl_rails' - easily generate database objects without repetitive code in tests (docs)
  • gem 'simplecov', require: false - generate reports on your test coverage (docs)
• inside of group :production:
  • gem 'rails_12factor', group: :production - If publishing on Heroku (docs)

3. Bundle and install (bundle exec or rails g) where required, create additional required files

• bundle
• rails g rspec:install
• bundle exec figaro install
• mkdir spec/support
• touch spec/support/factory_girl.rb
• touch spec/support/factories.rb
• touch spec/support/database_cleaner.rb

4. Add config data

• In spec/rails_helper.rb

  require 'capybara/rails'
  
  Shoulda::Matchers.configure do |config|
    config.integrate do |with|
      with.test_framework :rspec
      with.library :rails
    end
  end
  

  • Uncomment Dir[Rails.root.join('spec/support/**/*.rb')].each { |f| require f }
  • Change config.use_transactional_fixtures = true to ... = false
• In spec/support/factory_girl.rb

  RSpec.configure do |config|
    config.include FactoryGirl::Syntax::Methods
  end
  
  

• In spec/support/factories.rb

  FactoryGirl.define do
    <factories for each model go here>
  end
  
  

• In spec/spec_helper.rb
  • Note: this must appear at the very top of this file

  require 'simplecov'
  SimpleCov.start 'rails'
  

• In spec/support/database_cleaner.rb

  RSpec.configure do |config|
  
    config.before(:suite) do
      DatabaseCleaner.clean_with(:truncation)
    end
  
    config.before(:each) do
      DatabaseCleaner.strategy = :transaction
    end
  
    config.before(:each, :js => true) do
      DatabaseCleaner.strategy = :truncation
    end
  
    config.before(:each) do
      DatabaseCleaner.start
    end
  
    config.after(:each) do
      DatabaseCleaner.clean
    end
    
    # Optional for formatting output of test suite runs (see comments)
    config.formatter = :documentation
  
  end
  

• In .gitignore

  # Ignore SimpleCov files
  coverage
  
  

5. (Optional) If working with an external API:

• In Gemfile
  • Available to all environments
    • gem 'faraday' - for making http requests (docs)
  • under group :test
    • gem 'vcr' - for stubbing (docs)
    • gem 'webmock' - for mocking (used by VCR) (docs)
• bundle
• In spec/rails_helper.rb

  require 'vcr'
  
  VCR.configure do |config|
    config.cassette_library_dir = "spec/vcr_cassettes"
    config.hook_into :webmock
  end
  

• In .gitignore

  # Ignore vcr cassettes
  /spec/vcr_cassettes
  
  

6. (Optional) If you will be using feature tests that utilize JavaScript:

• In Gemfile
  • under group :test

  gem 'selenium-webdriver`
  

  note: Firefox 46 is required for Selenium

7. (Optional) If you will be using ES6 syntax:

• In 'Gemfile'
  • available to all environments:
    • gem 'sprockets', '>= 3.0.0'
    • gem 'sprockets-es6' - Enable use of ES6 syntax in production (useful if pushing to Heroku) (docs)
  • In application.rb:
    • require 'sprockets/es6'
  • Any JS files that use ES6 syntax will need to be saved as .es6

I think simplecov is missing and 'e' in:

require 'simplcov'
SimpleCov.start 'rails'

This is awesome.

@kbs5280: Great eye. Fixed.

For rspec setup I like the documentation view of the test suite:

• under RSpec.configure do |config| add
  config.formatter = :documentation

@PlanetEfficacy Great suggestion. I've never seen that output. Want to share a screenshot?

@ryanflach documentation mode just prints out the names of the tests instead of "." for each test. I like it :)

@PlanetEfficacy Thanks. I've added it as an optional part of the RSpec config block.

Another flag I'll be adding in future rails apps.... --skip-action-cable unless I plan to use web sockets. @ryanflach

A lot of useful setup notes in one place, thanks!

@ryanflach I recommend adding the following bullet point to number 1:

• Optional: --api will create a stripped-down Rails application with a smaller set of middleware. It will also configure the generators to skip the views/helpers/assets and change the parent for ApplicationController from ActionController::Base to ActionController::API