Ruby Guide

Applies to: Ruby 3.2+, Gems, APIs, CLIs, Web Applications

Core Principles

1. Least Surprise: Code should behave as readers expect; prefer clarity over cleverness
2. Everything is an Object: Leverage Ruby's object model; primitives are objects with methods
3. Convention Over Configuration: Follow established naming and structure conventions
4. Duck Typing with Confidence: Rely on behavior, not class checks; validate at boundaries
5. Blocks Everywhere: Use blocks for resource management, iteration, and DSLs

Guardrails

Version & Dependencies

• Use Ruby 3.2+ with # frozen_string_literal: true in every .rb file
• Manage dependencies with Bundler (Gemfile + Gemfile.lock)
• Pin gem versions with pessimistic operator: gem "rails", "~> 7.1"