10 Best Ruby on Rails Gems for Web Development

Ruby on Rails is a popular web development technology. It is simple, efficient, and often termed as the "startup technology." Over 3.7 million web apps use Ruby on Rails. However, what makes rapid prototyping possible are the Ruby on Rails gems. They drastically reduce the time taken to code.

Gems in Rails are libraries that allow any Ruby on Rails developer to add functionalities without writing code. You can also call Ruby on Rails gems as plugins for adding features. There are RubyGems for almost everything - from authentication to payment gateway processing.

In this article, we will highlight the top 10 best Rails gems that make web development easier. The RubyGems list will have a mixture of gems that perform different functions, including testing. Rails web application development services are incomplete without the use of Rails gems.

Read more: Top 10 Ruby gems you can't miss

Top 10 best Rubygems for Web Application Development

Developers can build some amazing applications using the Rails best gems. A Ruby on Rails development company has teams of RoR experts who develop custom Rails apps - most of which have features installed using a gem for Ruby on Rails.

Here are the ten Ruby useful Gems that developers often use for adding various functionalities in a web application -

1. One of the most popular Ruby Gems that's also been downloaded the most, RSpec is fantastic for writing unit test cases. It is mainly used in BDD and TDD environments. The clear syntax of RSpec enables writing tests as close to human language as possible. The Rails gem is efficient in testing the behavior of a particular model or a library. It is simple to use and can be executed by installing the configuration files and spec helpers.
   
2. Second on the Ruby on Rails gems list is Devise. Another of the most popular gems in Ruby, Devise simplifies the process of adding authentication. If there is a web page that needs log-in authorization, most developers skip writing the code and install Devise. It offers 20 different modules, including Database Authenticatable, Omniauthable, Confirmable, Recoverable, Registrable, Rememberable, Trackable, Timeoutable, Validatable, and Lockable. Omniauth is primarily used for Facebook and Google+ authentication.
   
3. ActiveRecord Import
   This Ruby Gem for Ruby on Rails is used to insert bulk records. It generates minimal SQL insert statements. It helps in eliminating the N+1 insert problem. As one of the top Rubygems, the best practice is to insert up to 10 records with ActiveRecord. On the contrary, inserting more than that might be a challenge. Ruby on Rails developers can easily import external data with ActiveRecord Import. The biggest benefit is the reduced conversion time. Read more about Notable ActiveRecord changes in Rails 6
   
4. In the top 10 gems for Ruby on Rails, PRY is like a meta plugin or library. While integrating libraries, some gems may return errors due to improper integration. PRY is used for debugging these errors and eliminating the problem of binding the gems. It includes syntax highlighting, start editors, run git, and has a robust command system. The Ruby gem is excellent for debugging errors while installing libraries.
   
5. Rails_best_practices
   The Rails best practices gem is one of the most unique RubyGems. While it doesn't find bugs in the code, it identifies the lines that could lead to future errors in code execution. It offers valuable suggestions for improving the code quality like annotation of models and much more. Rails best practices gem allows you to share the test results with different developers and see the status of your code improvement over a period of time.
   
6. As one of the popular RubyGems for analyzing the code quality, RuboCop is a favorite of developers. It ensures that the web application's code matches the Ruby Style Guide for writing the best program. The style issues are reported in the command line - leaving no margin for violating the Ruby code writing style. One of the best things about RuboCop is that it fixes simple errors on its own lie line breaks, syntax, gaps, and much more. Read more about How to Integrate Rubocop gem with Popular Ruby Text Editors
   
7. The use of Dot-env is increasing dramatically. If you want to save email credentials, API keys, or authentication, then Dot-env is a useful RubyGem. One of the top 10 gems for Rails, developers can create a .env file before uploading the information to the git repository for hiding sensitive data. The private information is saved in the form of environment variables. However, the file should never be stored in public repositories.
   
8. Delayed Job
   Whenever developers are struggling to handle the longer running actions for background tasks, they use the delayed job Ruby on Rails gem. The job table handles or manages multiple tasks, and the gem can be directly extracted from Shopify. Often in Ruby on Rails development, the gem arranges background tasks in a list to manage them structurally. HTTP downloads, batch imports, spam checks are a few tasks that delayed job can carry out. Read more about How to Migrate from delayed_job to Sidekiq
   
9. A most simple yet unique of the Rails gems, CANCANCAN enables developing complicated web apps by freeing up the settings for access restrictions and multiple rules. The authorization definition library allows the helpers to access different libraries. Controlling helpers perform the loading teh simplify the code in Rails controllers. CANCANCAN is one of the best Rails gems that brings all the users and setting permissions in one place.
   
10. No Ruby on Rails gems list is complete without mentioning webpacker. The gem serves Javascripts, fonts, and other related components. The Ruby community loves the webpacker Ruby Gem because it works with all the assets in web application development. On top of that, the Rails gem is the default in Rails 6. It provides amazing support and development capabilities for web applications.

Also Read: Rails 6 jQuery upgrade with webpacker

Conclusion: RubyGems are the most useful assets

Without the best Ruby on Rails gems, developers will struggle a lot. The RubyGems play a major role in contributing to rapid application development - due to which startups prefer the technology. They also simplify the process of Ruby on Rails development by providing a wide variety of features - eliminating the need to write code from scratch.

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