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rails-hotwire

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Use when hotwire (Turbo and Stimulus) for building modern reactive Rails applications without complex JavaScript frameworks.

General

What this skill does


# Rails Hotwire

Master Hotwire for building modern, reactive Rails applications using Turbo
and Stimulus without requiring heavy JavaScript frameworks.

## Overview

Hotwire (HTML Over The Wire) is a modern approach to building web applications
that sends HTML instead of JSON over the wire. It consists of Turbo (for
delivering server-rendered HTML) and Stimulus (for JavaScript sprinkles).

## Installation and Setup

### Installing Hotwire

```bash
# Add to Gemfile
bundle add turbo-rails stimulus-rails

# Install Turbo
rails turbo:install

# Install Stimulus
rails stimulus:install

# Install Redis for ActionCable (Turbo Streams)
bundle add redis

# Configure ActionCable
rails generate channel turbo_stream
```

### Configuration

```ruby
# config/cable.yml
development:
  adapter: redis
  url: redis://localhost:6379/1

production:
  adapter: redis
  url: <%= ENV.fetch("REDIS_URL") { "redis://localhost:6379/1" } %>
  channel_prefix: myapp_production

# config/routes.rb
Rails.application.routes.draw do
  mount ActionCable.server => '/cable'
end
```

## Core Patterns

### 1. Turbo Drive (Page Acceleration)

```ruby
# Turbo Drive is automatic, but you can customize behavior

# app/views/layouts/application.html.erb
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <%= csrf_meta_tags %>
    <%= csp_meta_tag %>
    <%= turbo_refreshes_with method: :morph, scroll: :preserve %>
  </head>
  <body>
    <%= yield %>
  </body>
</html>

# Disable Turbo for specific links
<%= link_to "Legacy Page", legacy_path, data: { turbo: false } %>

# Disable Turbo for forms
<%= form_with url: upload_path, data: { turbo: false } do |f| %>
  <%= f.file_field :document %>
<% end %>

# Custom progress bar
<style>
  .turbo-progress-bar {
    background: linear-gradient(to right, #4ade80, #3b82f6);
  }
</style>
```

### 2. Turbo Frames (Lazy Loading & Decomposition)

```ruby
# app/views/posts/index.html.erb
<div id="posts">
  <% @posts.each do |post| %>
    <%= turbo_frame_tag dom_id(post) do %>
      <%= render post %>
    <% end %>
  <% end %>
</div>

# app/views/posts/_post.html.erb
<article>
  <h2><%= post.title %></h2>
  <p><%= post.body %></p>

  <%= link_to "Edit", edit_post_path(post) %>
  <%= link_to "Delete", post_path(post),
              data: { turbo_method: :delete,
                      turbo_confirm: "Are you sure?" } %>
</article>

# app/views/posts/edit.html.erb
<%= turbo_frame_tag dom_id(@post) do %>
  <%= form_with model: @post do |f| %>
    <%= f.text_field :title %>
    <%= f.text_area :body %>
    <%= f.submit %>
  <% end %>
<% end %>

# Lazy loading frames
<%= turbo_frame_tag "analytics", src: analytics_path, loading: :lazy do %>
  <p>Loading analytics...</p>
<% end %>

# Target different frames
<%= link_to "Show Post", post_path(post),
            data: { turbo_frame: "modal" } %>

# Break out of frame
<%= link_to "New Page", new_post_path,
            data: { turbo_frame: "_top" } %>
```

### 3. Turbo Streams (Real-time Updates)

```ruby
# app/controllers/posts_controller.rb
class PostsController < ApplicationController
  def create
    @post = Post.new(post_params)

    respond_to do |format|
      if @post.save
        format.turbo_stream
        format.html { redirect_to @post }
      else
        format.html { render :new, status: :unprocessable_entity }
      end
    end
  end

  def destroy
    @post = Post.find(params[:id])
    @post.destroy

    respond_to do |format|
      format.turbo_stream { render turbo_stream: turbo_stream.remove(@post) }
      format.html { redirect_to posts_path }
    end
  end
end

# app/views/posts/create.turbo_stream.erb
<%= turbo_stream.prepend "posts", partial: "posts/post",
                         locals: { post: @post } %>
<%= turbo_stream.update "new_post", "" %>
<%= turbo_stream.replace "flash",
    partial: "shared/flash",
    locals: { message: "Post created!" } %>

# Multiple Turbo Stream actions
<%= turbo_stream.append "notifications" do %>
  <div class="notification">New post created!</div>
<% end %>

<%= turbo_stream.update "post_count",
    Post.count %>

<%= turbo_stream.remove "loading_spinner" %>

<%= turbo_stream.replace dom_id(@post),
    partial: "posts/post",
    locals: { post: @post } %>
```

### 4. Broadcasting Updates

```ruby
# app/models/post.rb
class Post < ApplicationRecord
  broadcasts_to ->(post) { [post.user, "posts"] }, inserts_by: :prepend

  # Or more explicit
  after_create_commit -> {
    broadcast_prepend_to "posts",
      partial: "posts/post",
      locals: { post: self },
      target: "posts"
  }

  after_update_commit -> {
    broadcast_replace_to "posts",
      partial: "posts/post",
      locals: { post: self },
      target: dom_id(self)
  }

  after_destroy_commit -> {
    broadcast_remove_to "posts", target: dom_id(self)
  }
end

# app/views/posts/index.html.erb
<%= turbo_stream_from "posts" %>

<div id="posts">
  <%= render @posts %>
</div>

# Broadcast to specific users
class Comment < ApplicationRecord
  belongs_to :post

  after_create_commit -> {
    broadcast_prepend_to [post.user, :comments],
      partial: "comments/comment",
      locals: { comment: self },
      target: "comments"
  }
end

# app/views/posts/show.html.erb
<%= turbo_stream_from current_user, :comments %>
```

### 5. Stimulus Controllers

```javascript
// app/javascript/controllers/clipboard_controller.js
import { Controller } from "@hotwired/stimulus"

export default class extends Controller {
  static targets = ["source", "button"]
  static values = {
    successMessage: String,
    errorMessage: String
  }

  copy(event) {
    event.preventDefault()

    navigator.clipboard.writeText(this.sourceTarget.value).then(
      () => this.showSuccess(),
      () => this.showError()
    )
  }

  showSuccess() {
    this.buttonTarget.textContent = this.successMessageValue || "Copied!"
    setTimeout(() => {
      this.buttonTarget.textContent = "Copy"
    }, 2000)
  }

  showError() {
    this.buttonTarget.textContent = this.errorMessageValue || "Failed!"
  }
}
```

```erb
<!-- app/views/posts/show.html.erb -->
<div data-controller="clipboard"
     data-clipboard-success-message-value="Copied to clipboard!">
  <input type="text"
         value="<%= @post.share_url %>"
         data-clipboard-target="source"
         readonly>
  <button data-clipboard-target="button"
          data-action="click->clipboard#copy">
    Copy
  </button>
</div>
```

### 6. Form Validation with Stimulus

```javascript
// app/javascript/controllers/form_controller.js
import { Controller } from "@hotwired/stimulus"

export default class extends Controller {
  static targets = ["email", "password", "submit"]
  static classes = ["error"]

  connect() {
    this.validateForm()
  }

  validateField(event) {
    const field = event.target
    const isValid = field.checkValidity()

    if (isValid) {
      field.classList.remove(this.errorClass)
    } else {
      field.classList.add(this.errorClass)
    }

    this.validateForm()
  }

  validateForm() {
    const isValid = this.element.checkValidity()
    this.submitTarget.disabled = !isValid
  }

  async submit(event) {
    event.preventDefault()

    if (!this.element.checkValidity()) {
      return
    }

    const formData = new FormData(this.element)
    const response = await fetch(this.element.action, {
      method: this.element.method,
      body: formData,
      headers: {
        "Accept": "text/vnd.turbo-stream.html"
      }
    })

    if (response.ok) {
      const html = await response.text()
      Turbo.renderStreamMessage(html)
    }
  }
}
```

```erb
<%= form_with model: @user,
    data: { controller: "form",
            form_error_class: "border-red-500" } do |f| %>

  <%= f.email_field :email,
      required: true,
      data: { form_target: "email",
              action: "blur->form#validateField" } %>

  <%= f.password_field :password,
      required: true,
      minlength: 8,
      data: { form_target: "password",
              action: "blur->form#validateField" } %>

  <%= f

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