dhh-rails-style

What this skill does

<objective>
Apply 37signals/DHH Rails conventions to Ruby and Rails code. This skill provides comprehensive domain expertise extracted from analyzing production 37signals codebases (Fizzy/Campfire) and DHH's code review patterns.
</objective>

<essential_principles>
## Core Philosophy

"The best code is the code you don't write. The second best is the code that's obviously correct."

**Vanilla Rails is plenty:**
- Rich domain models over service objects
- CRUD controllers over custom actions
- Concerns for horizontal code sharing
- Records as state instead of boolean columns
- Database-backed everything (no Redis)
- Build solutions before reaching for gems

**What they deliberately avoid:**
- devise (custom ~150-line auth instead)
- pundit/cancancan (simple role checks in models)
- sidekiq (Solid Queue uses database)
- redis (database for everything)
- view_component (partials work fine)
- GraphQL (REST with Turbo sufficient)
- factory_bot (fixtures are simpler)
- rspec (Minitest ships with Rails)
- Tailwind (native CSS with layers)

**Development Philosophy:**
- Ship, Validate, Refine - prototype-quality code to production to learn
- Fix root causes, not symptoms
- Write-time operations over read-time computations
- Database constraints over ActiveRecord validations
</essential_principles>

<intake>
What are you working on?

1. **Controllers** - REST mapping, concerns, Turbo responses, API patterns
2. **Models** - Concerns, state records, callbacks, scopes, POROs
3. **Views & Frontend** - Turbo, Stimulus, CSS, partials
4. **Architecture** - Routing, multi-tenancy, authentication, jobs, caching
5. **Testing** - Minitest, fixtures, integration tests
6. **Gems & Dependencies** - What to use vs avoid
7. **Code Review** - Review code against DHH style
8. **General Guidance** - Philosophy and conventions

**Specify a number or describe your task.**
</intake>

<routing>

| Response | Reference to Read |
|----------|-------------------|
| 1, controller | [controllers.md](./references/controllers.md) |
| 2, model | [models.md](./references/models.md) |
| 3, view, frontend, turbo, stimulus, css | [frontend.md](./references/frontend.md) |
| 4, architecture, routing, auth, job, cache | [architecture.md](./references/architecture.md) |
| 5, test, testing, minitest, fixture | [testing.md](./references/testing.md) |
| 6, gem, dependency, library | [gems.md](./references/gems.md) |
| 7, review | Read all references, then review code |
| 8, general task | Read relevant references based on context |

**After reading relevant references, apply patterns to the user's code.**
</routing>

<quick_reference>
## Naming Conventions

**Verbs:** `card.close`, `card.gild`, `board.publish` (not `set_style` methods)

**Predicates:** `card.closed?`, `card.golden?` (derived from presence of related record)

**Concerns:** Adjectives describing capability (`Closeable`, `Publishable`, `Watchable`)

**Controllers:** Nouns matching resources (`Cards::ClosuresController`)

**Scopes:**
- `chronologically`, `reverse_chronologically`, `alphabetically`, `latest`
- `preloaded` (standard eager loading name)
- `indexed_by`, `sorted_by` (parameterized)
- `active`, `unassigned` (business terms, not SQL-ish)

## REST Mapping

Instead of custom actions, create new resources:

```
POST /cards/:id/close    → POST /cards/:id/closure
DELETE /cards/:id/close  → DELETE /cards/:id/closure
POST /cards/:id/archive  → POST /cards/:id/archival
```

## Ruby Syntax Preferences

```ruby
# Symbol arrays with spaces inside brackets
before_action :set_message, only: %i[ show edit update destroy ]

# Private method indentation
  private
    def set_message
      @message = Message.find(params[:id])
    end

# Expression-less case for conditionals
case
when params[:before].present?
  messages.page_before(params[:before])
else
  messages.last_page
end

# Bang methods for fail-fast
@message = Message.create!(params)

# Ternaries for simple conditionals
@room.direct? ? @room.users : @message.mentionees
```

## Key Patterns

**State as Records:**
```ruby
Card.joins(:closure)         # closed cards
Card.where.missing(:closure) # open cards
```

**Current Attributes:**
```ruby
belongs_to :creator, default: -> { Current.user }
```

**Authorization on Models:**
```ruby
class User < ApplicationRecord
  def can_administer?(message)
    message.creator == self || admin?
  end
end
```
</quick_reference>

<reference_index>
## Domain Knowledge

All detailed patterns in `references/`:

| File | Topics |
|------|--------|
| [controllers.md](./references/controllers.md) | REST mapping, concerns, Turbo responses, API patterns, HTTP caching |
| [models.md](./references/models.md) | Concerns, state records, callbacks, scopes, POROs, authorization, broadcasting |
| [frontend.md](./references/frontend.md) | Turbo Streams, Stimulus controllers, CSS layers, OKLCH colors, partials |
| [architecture.md](./references/architecture.md) | Routing, authentication, jobs, Current attributes, caching, database patterns |
| [testing.md](./references/testing.md) | Minitest, fixtures, unit/integration/system tests, testing patterns |
| [gems.md](./references/gems.md) | What they use vs avoid, decision framework, Gemfile examples |
</reference_index>

<success_criteria>
Code follows DHH style when:
- Controllers map to CRUD verbs on resources
- Models use concerns for horizontal behavior
- State is tracked via records, not booleans
- No unnecessary service objects or abstractions
- Database-backed solutions preferred over external services
- Tests use Minitest with fixtures
- Turbo/Stimulus for interactivity (no heavy JS frameworks)
- Native CSS with modern features (layers, OKLCH, nesting)
- Authorization logic lives on User model
- Jobs are shallow wrappers calling model methods
</success_criteria>

<credits>
Based on [The Unofficial 37signals/DHH Rails Style Guide](https://github.com/marckohlbrugge/unofficial-37signals-coding-style-guide) by [Marc Köhlbrugge](https://x.com/marckohlbrugge), generated through deep analysis of 265 pull requests from the Fizzy codebase.

**Important Disclaimers:**
- LLM-generated guide - may contain inaccuracies
- Code examples from Fizzy are licensed under the O'Saasy License
- Not affiliated with or endorsed by 37signals
</credits>