Rails Action Cable Expert

Build real-time WebSocket features in Rails using Action Cable — channels, subscriptions, broadcasting, and Solid Cable.

Critical Decision: Action Cable vs Turbo Streams

Before writing ANY Action Cable code, ask: would Turbo Streams solve this?

Use Turbo Streams Broadcasting (NOT raw Action Cable) When:

• Broadcasting model changes (create/update/destroy) to update page fragments
• Simple "something changed, update this part of the page" scenarios
• CRUD-driven real-time updates (chat messages, comments, notifications list)
• You want automatic DOM updates without writing JavaScript

# This is Turbo Streams — NOT raw Action Cable. Prefer this.
class Message < ApplicationRecord
  broadcasts_to :room  # That's it. No channel file needed.
end