What's in
the package?
Rails is a full-stack framework for developing database-backed web applications according to the Model-View-Control pattern. From the Ajax in the view, to the request and response in the controller, to the domain model wrapping the database, Rails gives you a pure-Ruby development environment. To go live, all you need to add is a database and a web server.
Who is already
on Rails?
Everyone from startups to non-profits to enterprise organizations are using Rails. Rails is all about infrastructure, so it's a great fit for practically any type of web application Be it software for collaboration, community, e-commerce, content management, statistics, management, you name it. Examples:
Basecamp: Project management. |
Backpack: Intranet is back. |
43things: Achieve your goals in life. |
Lighthouse: Simple bug tracking. |
Shopify: E-commerce made easy. |
Yellow Pages: Find it locally. |
Github: Git repo hosting. |
Twitter: Stay connected. |
What else
do I need?
Rails works with a wide range of web servers and databases. We recommend using Apache with Passenger, but you can also use Apache, lighttpd, or nginx with proxying to Mongrel. For database, you can use MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite, Oracle, SQL Server, DB2, or any of the other many systems we support. Just about any operating system will do, but we recommend a 'nix-based one for deployment.
If you need hosting, Joyent is the official Ruby on Rails host, offering fantastic plans with a knowledgeable staff.
Whether you need shared or dedicated hosting, these guys are experts in Ruby on Rails.
For alternatives, see the wiki for a full list of Rails web hosts.
