Rails Project

Environment validation for Ruby on Rails applications

Overview

This example demonstrates envcheck configuration for a Ruby on Rails application. It validates Ruby and Bundler versions, optional Node.js and Yarn for asset compilation, environment variables with pattern matching, and Rails-specific files.

Configuration

.envcheck.yaml

version: "1"

tools:
  - name: ruby
    version: ">=3.0.0"
    required: true
  - name: bundle
    required: true
  - name: node
    required: false
  - name: yarn
    required: false

env_vars:
  - name: DATABASE_URL
    required: true
  - name: RAILS_ENV
    required: false
    pattern: "^(development|test|production)$"

ports:
  - 3000

files:
  - path: Gemfile
    required: true
  - path: config/database.yml
    required: true
  - path: .env
    required: false

What This Checks

Tools

• ruby >=3.0.0: Ensures compatibility with Rails 7.x and modern Ruby features
• bundle: Validates Bundler is available for gem dependency management
• node (optional): Required for Rails asset pipeline and JavaScript compilation
• yarn (optional): Modern JavaScript package manager for Rails with Webpacker/jsbundling

Environment Variables

• DATABASE_URL (required): Database connection string - critical for Active Record
• RAILS_ENV (optional): When set, validates it’s a valid Rails environment (development/test/production)

Ports

• 3000: Rails default development server port for rails server

Files

• Gemfile: Ruby dependencies manifest - required for all Rails projects
• config/database.yml: Database configuration - Rails standard location
• .env (optional): Environment variables file - recommended but not required

Expected Output

Success

$ envcheck

✓ Tools
  ✓ ruby: 3.2.2 (>= 3.0.0)
  ✓ bundle: installed
  ✓ node: installed
  ✓ yarn: installed

✓ Environment Variables
  ✓ DATABASE_URL: ***
  ✓ RAILS_ENV: development

✓ Ports
  ✓ 3000: available

✓ Files
  ✓ Gemfile: exists
  ✓ config/database.yml: exists
  ✓ .env: exists

All checks passed!

Tips for Rails Projects

Use dotenv-rails gem to automatically load .env files in development and test environments. Add .env to .gitignore and commit .env.example as a template.

The pattern validation ensures RAILS_ENV only accepts standard environments. If you use custom environments like “staging”, update the pattern to include them.

Node.js and Yarn are marked optional because not all Rails apps need JavaScript bundling. Rails 7+ can work with import maps, eliminating the Node.js dependency.

Common Variations

Rails API-Only Mode

Simplified checks for API applications:

tools:
  - name: ruby
    version: ">=3.0.0"
    required: true
  - name: bundle
    required: true

env_vars:
  - name: DATABASE_URL
    required: true
  - name: SECRET_KEY_BASE
    required: true
  - name: RAILS_ENV
    required: false
    pattern: "^(development|test|production)$"

ports:
  - 3000

files:
  - path: Gemfile
    required: true
  - path: config/database.yml
    required: true

Rails with Hotwire/Turbo

Modern Rails with minimal JavaScript:

tools:
  - name: ruby
    version: ">=3.0.0"
    required: true
  - name: bundle
    required: true
  - name: node
    required: false  # Optional with import maps

files:
  - path: Gemfile
    required: true
  - path: config/importmap.rb
    required: false
  - path: app/views/layouts/application.html.erb
    required: true

Rails with Webpacker/esbuild

Full JavaScript toolchain:

tools:
  - name: ruby
    version: ">=3.0.0"
    required: true
  - name: bundle
    required: true
  - name: node
    version: ">=16.0.0"
    required: true
  - name: yarn
    required: true

files:
  - path: Gemfile
    required: true
  - path: package.json
    required: true
  - path: yarn.lock
    required: true

Rails with Sidekiq

Background job processing:

tools:
  - name: ruby
    version: ">=3.0.0"
    required: true
  - name: bundle
    required: true
  - name: redis-cli
    required: true

env_vars:
  - name: DATABASE_URL
    required: true
  - name: REDIS_URL
    required: true

ports:
  - 3000  # Rails
  - 6379  # Redis

Rails Production Deployment

Production environment validation:

tools:
  - name: ruby
    version: ">=3.0.0"
    required: true
  - name: bundle
    required: true

env_vars:
  - name: DATABASE_URL
    required: true
  - name: SECRET_KEY_BASE
    required: true
  - name: RAILS_ENV
    required: true
    pattern: "^production$"
  - name: RAILS_SERVE_STATIC_FILES
    required: false
  - name: RAILS_LOG_TO_STDOUT
    required: false

files:
  - path: Gemfile.lock
    required: true
  - path: public/assets/.sprockets-manifest-*.json
    required: false

Multi-Database Rails App

Rails 6+ with multiple databases:

env_vars:
  - name: DATABASE_URL
    required: true
  - name: ANALYTICS_DATABASE_URL
    required: true
  - name: CACHE_DATABASE_URL
    required: false

files:
  - path: config/database.yml
    required: true
  - path: db/primary_schema.rb
    required: false
  - path: db/analytics_schema.rb
    required: false

Rails-Specific Considerations

Database URL Format

Common DATABASE_URL patterns for Rails:

• PostgreSQL: postgresql://user:password@localhost/mydb
• MySQL: mysql2://user:password@localhost/mydb
• SQLite: sqlite3:db/development.sqlite3

Ruby Version Managers

Popular tools for managing Ruby versions:

• rbenv: Lightweight Ruby version management
• rvm: Ruby Version Manager with gemsets
• asdf: Multi-runtime version manager

Consider adding .ruby-version file:

files:
  - path: .ruby-version
    required: true

Credentials and Security

Rails 5.2+ uses encrypted credentials:

env_vars:
  - name: RAILS_MASTER_KEY
    required: true  # For production

files:
  - path: config/credentials.yml.enc
    required: true
  - path: config/master.key
    required: false  # Should be in .gitignore

Asset Compilation

For apps with compiled assets, ensure NODE_ENV:

env_vars:
  - name: NODE_ENV
    required: false
    pattern: "^(development|production)$"

Learn More

• Tools Validator - Ruby version management and bundler
• Environment Variables - Pattern validation for Rails environments
• Port Checker - Rails server and service ports
• File Validator - Rails directory structure validation