What’s New In Ruby on Rails 8.0 – New Features And Updates?

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Table of Contents

Introduction

We often hear, “Ruby on Rails Is Dead,” but the reality is far from this fad. The latest version of Ruby on Rails 8.0 just dropped, and the features it brings aboard are beyond expectations simplifying your life as a developer. This year’s official release date was November 7, 2024, for the Rails 8.0 stable version, after initially launching the beta version Rails 8.0.0.beta1 on September 26, 2024, in Toronto at the Rails World with over 1000 Rails developers for the 2-day event. The event included 27 speakers accompanied by 2 party nights. This release aims to deliver significant shifts with greater ease and flexibility.

What’s New in Ruby on Rails 8.0?

The Ruby on Rails 8.0 release marks a significant shift in how developers can build, deploy, and maintain Rails applications with greater ease and flexibility. Let’s examine these standout updates and explain how they can enhance your development experiences.

Railties

The Railties component has seen some removals to streamline and simplify the framework. Deprecated configurations, including config.read_encrypted_secrets, have been removed. Additionally, the rails/console/app and rails/console/helpers files and support for extending the Rails console via Rails::ConsoleMethods have been phased out. Another notable change includes the introduction of a default Regexp.timeout of 1 second, which improves security by reducing the risk of Regexp Denial-of-Service attacks.

Dropped Support For Ruby 3.1

Ruby on Rails 8.0 has officially dropped support for Ruby 3.1, making Ruby 3.2.0 or newer a requirement for running Rails applications. This move ensures developers can use the latest Ruby features and performance optimizations while phasing out older, less efficient versions.

Native Authentication System

The most anticipated features of Rails 8.0 include the introduction of the native authentication system. Before this system, developers depended heavily on third-party gems like Devise for user authentication. Though practical, these solutions often add complexity and abstraction.

The Rails 8.0 version includes the built-in authentication generator that helps simplify handling user sessions, password resets, and database-backed authentication natively. This offers your development teams more control and transparency without depending on external libraries. The new authentication system promotes more precise and manageable code, making it easier for the developers to understand the inner workings and tweak them as needed.

Solid Trifecta: Simplifying WebSockets, Caching, And Job Queuing

Another exciting update in Rails v8.0 is the Solid Trifecta, which brings the database-backed adapters for WebSockets, caching, and job queues. These include Solid Cable, Solid Cache, and Solid Queue.

• Solid Cable: The Solid Cable replaces the Redis for handling the WebSocket communication in Rails’ ActionCable, enabling the WebSocket updates to be stored directly in the central database. This removes the need for a separate pub/sub server, simplifying the setup.
• Solid Cache: This replaces Redis and Memcached in Rails’ caching mechanism. It stores cache fragments on the disk using SSDs and NVMe, enabling developers to achieve larger, longer-lasting caches without the complexity of RAM-based caching systems.
• Solid Queue: It helps streamline job queuing by eliminating the need for separate frameworks such as Sidekiq or Resque. The new queue management system is integrated into Rails, supporting recurring jobs and robust concurrency controls while offering easy-to-configure options for different performance needs.

Propshaft Replaces Sprockets For Asset Management

Propshaft is now the default asset pipeline in Rails 8.0, replacing Sprockets. Designed to be lighter and more efficient, Propshaft focuses on serving static assets like images, CSS, and JavaScript files, encouraging developers to use modern tools like esbuild or bun for more complex asset pipelines. This change aligns Rails with current web development practices and keeps the framework lightweight.

Streamlined Deployment With Kamal 2

Deployment has always been a hassle for Rails developers, requiring external tools and complex configurations. Kamal 2 is introduced as the default deployment tool with Rails. Kamal 2 generates configuration files automatically, simplifying the deployment of Rails applications to various environments.

This deployment system supports Docker, TLS certificate management, and HTTP/2 out of the box, making it ideal for developers seeking an efficient, production-ready setup without needing to rely on PaaS platforms.

Additional Developer Tools

The latest version of Ruby on Rails 8.0 includes many new tools to improve the overall development experience.

• Language Server: Integrated with Rails 8.0, the language server offers improved autocompletion for ActiveRecord validations and Rails constructs in IDEs like VS Code.
• HTTP Basic Authentication Generator: Rails version 8.0 offers a built-in code generator for developers needing simple HTTP Basic authentication, eliminating the need to use custom code or external gems.
• Benchmarking Tool: Rails 8.0 includes a new benchmarketing tool that enables developers to measure and compare the server performance metrics, helping make an informed deployment decision.

These tools helped streamline the Rails development process, making developing, debugging, and deploying applications easier.

Rate Limiting And Security Improvements

Another crucial addition in Rails 8.0 is the native rate limiting, which enables developers to implement request throttling directly within their applications. This feature helps prevent abuse, improve security, and maintain application performance. Rate-limiting has also significantly improved security, with enhanced error handling and better safeguards for running Rails in production.

Action Pack, Action View, and Active Record Improvements

Rails 8.0 introduces key updates to Action Pack, Action View, and Active Record, focusing on removing deprecated features and optimizing functionality. These improvements enhance security, performance, and consistency, making Rails more efficient and developer-friendly.

Action Pack
Rails 8.0 has removed deprecated configuration settings, such as Rails.application.config.action_controller.allow_deprecated_parameters_hash_equality, simplifying the Action Pack and improving consistency within the framework.

Action View
Updates in Action View include removing deprecated support for passing nil to the model: argument in form_with and the disallowance of content for void tag elements. These changes maintain HTML standards and improve form handling within Rails.

Action Record
Rails 8.0 streamlines Active Record by removing several deprecated settings. These updates optimize Active Record for handling large datasets and make it more efficient for database interactions.

• Removed deprecated config.active_record.commit_transaction_on_non_local_return.
• Removed deprecated config.active_record.allow_deprecated_singular_associations_name.
• Removed deprecated support for finding database adapters not registered with Active Record.
• Removed deprecated support for defining enums with keyword arguments.
• Removed deprecated config.active_record.warn_on_records_fetched_greater_than.
• Removed deprecated config.active_record.sqlite3_deprecated_warning.
• Removed deprecated ActiveRecord::ConnectionAdapters::ConnectionPool#connection.
• Removed deprecated support for passing a database name to cache_dump_filename.
• Removed deprecated support for setting ENV[“SCHEMA_CACHE”].

Active Storage, Active Job, and Active Support

Rails 8.0 enhances Active Storage, Active Job, and Active Support, making file handling, background job management, and core support features more efficient. These updates simplify and streamline the Rails framework, enhancing performance and developer experience. Other additional removals and deprecations include the following:

Active Storage
Rails 8.0 enhances Active Storage with improved file upload performance and better support for encrypted uploads, making file handling faster and more secure. These updates strengthen Active Storage as an efficient solution for managing uploads within Rails applications.

Active Job
Rails 8.0 updates Active Job with improved background job handling and integrated support for recurring job scheduling, streamlining job management directly within the Rails ecosystem.

• Deprecated config.active_job.use_big_decimal_serializer aligns with the framework’s move towards more modern, efficient serialization practices.

Active Support
Rails 8.0 has streamlined Active Support by removing deprecated features given below. This cleanup keeps Active Support efficient and aligned with modern development standards.

• Removed deprecated ActiveSupport::ProxyObject.
• Removed deprecated support for setting attr_internal_naming_format with an @ prefix.
• Removed deprecated support for passing an array of strings to ActiveSupport::Deprecation#warn.

Why Upgrade To Ruby on Rails Latest Version?

As we know, keeping your Rails application up to date is not just about having access to the latest features; it is also about improving overall security, reducing technical debt, and enhancing performance. The Rails version upgrade brings many improvements that help simplify development, minimize complexity or deployment, and simplify maintaining a production-grade application.

The Rails 8.0 update eliminates external dependencies like Redis and Memcached in favor of database-backed solutions, enabling developers to build leaner, more efficient applications with fewer moving parts. The improved asset pipeline, deployment tools, and developer-friendly enhancements make it a must-have for anyone serious about modern web development.

Conclusion

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Does Rails 8.0 still support Redis?

Yes, while Rails 8.0 introduces the Solid Trifecta (Solid Cable, Solid Cache, and Solid Queue) to reduce reliance on Redis, Redis can still be used in specific cases, such as rate limiting or other use cases where its performance is beneficial​.

What is the recommended deployment setup for Rails 8.0?

Rails 8.0 introduces Kamal as the default deployment tool, simplifying the deployment of Rails apps to metal servers or cloud environments. However, it still allows flexibility depending on your specific needs. Kamal supports Docker, HTTP/2, and automatic TLS certificates, making it ideal for production environments.

How does Rails 8.0 improve scalability for applications?

Rails 8.0 improves scalability by reducing dependencies through the Solid Trifecta, simplifying the infrastructure required for caching, WebSockets, and job queues. It also enhances security features, making handling more requests and interactions in production environments easier without compromising performance​.

What new tools are available to assist in debugging and performance tuning in Rails 8.0?

Rails 8.0 offers a query log tagging feature enabled by default in development. This allows developers to trace SQL statements back to their source code more efficiently, making debugging more straightforward. A built-in benchmarking tool has also been introduced to evaluate server performance​.

Is Propshaft compatible with older asset pipelines like Sprockets?

Propshaft is the new default asset pipeline in Rails 8.0, designed to handle modern web application needs, such as fingerprinting assets. While it replaces Sprockets for new applications, older applications using Sprockets can still function, but developers are encouraged to migrate to Propshaft for better performance and simplicity​.