Great big Rails World 2026 update: CFP, Corporate Support tickets, workshops

Hi everyone! Rails World is back heading to Austin, Texas on September 23-24, 2026 for the largest Rails World yet, with space for 1,200 developers, founders, and teams building with Rails, and we have a huge Rails World update for you!

First: The Rails World website is finally live thanks to our website sponsor WyeWorks, and the amazing work of developers Jessica Ferreira and Lucas Troncoso and designer Jomiro Eming. Big thanks to the team!

Check it out.

Apply to speak at Rails World 2026

Most of all, we’re excited to announce that the CFP for Rails World 2026 is officially open.

Submit your talk by May 16: https://sessionize.com/rails-world-2026/

What we’re looking for in 2026 (you’ll never guess)

Rails has always been about developer happiness, productivity, and the ability to build ambitious things with small teams. That hasn’t changed, but the landscape around us has. AI-assisted development is mainstream, teams are getting smaller, iteration cycles are getting shorter, and the ability to move quickly matters more than ever. And Rails is well positioned for all of this.

Some of our CFP themes remain the same as previous years (Rails 8 in production, The competitive advantage of Rails, Focus on the frontend), but this year, we’re adding a few new themes that reflects how modern application development and workflows are changing:

• AI-native development with Rails
• Rails + AI / Agentic Systems
• Trust, Security, and Reliability

In short: we really want to hear how you’re building now, not just what you’ve built.

Check out the CFP for more details about those and other themes, speaker benefits, and how to apply.

The CFP and speaker benefits are made possible thanks to our Speaker Support sponsor, Beyond Finance.

New for 2026: Workshops…maybe.

If all goes well, we hope to offer workshops this year on Sept 22. 🤞🏻

Workshops need to be hands-on, teachable in 4 hours or less, and leave people with something concrete to take away.

While we are open to all topics from the CFP, we would strongly consider workshops with topics that attendees have asked for before:

• AI-Native Development with Rails
• Rails + AI / Agentic Systems
• Focus on the frontend

If you’ve ever wanted more time than a standard 30-min talk allows, and have a hands-on, longer-form session in mind (and you have, because you’ve asked me), this is your chance.

Apply via the CFP by May 16. Workshops priced and announced in June.

Rails at Scale returns

The Rails at Scale Summit will return the day before Rails World as a separate, invite-only event where engineers working on high-performance, high-traffic systems can connect and exchange insights, best practices, and hard-earned lessons.

We encourage applications from anyone working with Rails at scale. However, this is an invite-only event capped at 150 attendees, so space is limited.

Applicants are asked to apply to attend or speak by May 8. We will review all applications and suggested talks and select those who best align with the event’s focus (undoubtedly AI will play a large role at the summit, too).

Apply to attend the Rails at Scale Summit here.

Corporate Support tickets are live

We’ve released Corporate Support tickets for $1,300. These pre-released tickets cover almost the full cost of having an attendee at Rails World (no joke), and are ideal if your company wants to send your team and can use an L&D budget.

Support tickets play a key role in making Rails World possible and also help keep General Admission tickets affordable for community members paying out of pocket. As a thank you for supporting the event, we’ll recognize your name (or your company’s name) during the opening session at Rails World.

We also have a very special limited edition swag item for Corporate Support ticket holders that I promise you haven’t seen before. I’m so excited about it.

Support tickets are already available. Book yours here.

General Admission tickets are coming

General admission tickets will go on sale on May 12th at 10 am Central Time, and will be priced at $699. The general admission tickets are greatly subsidised by the Rails Foundation and Rails World sponsors, and they tend to sell out quickly.

But we do have more tickets available this year, so I am always hopeful!

Don’t forget to sign up to the event mailing list to receive a reminder on the day itself.

That’s all for now. Good luck to all who apply!

Questions? Reach out to world@rubyonrails.org

✌🏻 Amanda

Rails Foundation

Still here? Great. Interested in sponsoring?

There are still a few booths and programs remaining, and a few fun ideas we are trying to get off the ground. Check out the 2026 prospectus and get in touch at sponsors@rubyonrails.org to join our amazing lineup of sponsors this year.