Rust off Rails: The opinionated web stack for the AI era

# Rust off Rails: the opinionated web stack for the AI era Source: [https://rustoffrails.org/](https://rustoffrails.org/) A web framework that ships zero lines of code Rust off Rails is a set of Markdown files that tell coding agents how to build a full\-stack Rust web app: one blessed stack, one layout, one way to do each thing\.**The convention lives in the prose\. The agent writes the code\.** ``` curl -fsSL https://rustoffrails.org/install.sh | sh ``` or in Claude Code:`/plugin marketplace add rust\-off\-rails/rustoffrails` Read before you pipe:[the install script](https://rustoffrails.org/install.sh)·[INSTALL\.md](https://github.com/rust-off-rails/rustoffrails/blob/main/INSTALL.md)  Railboard: a live Kanban built by AI in 7 prompts3:06 ·[Watch on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k65vA28_JT8)- **0**lines of framework code - **60**Markdown files - **2**databases, same code ~/code/bookshelf, claude An illustrated agent session: the /offrails:new command, the interview, the plan, the generated files and the tests passing on SQLite and Postgres\.1. \>/offrails:new bookshelf: people track and review books, with an API for a mobile app later 2. ● Reading AGENTS\.md → interview · doctrine · structure · stack · workflow 3. ? Accounts?a\) magic link \(Recommended\)b\) email \+ passwordc\) invite\-onlyd\) none 4. › a 5. ? Who owns data?a\) each user \(Recommended\)b\) teamsc\) shared 6. › you decide 7. ? Frontend?a\) htmx \(Recommended\)b\) inertiac\) spad\) api 8. › b 9. ? UI library?a\) React \(Recommended\)b\) Svelte 10. › b 11. ? API for other programs?a\) noneb\) REST \+ OpenAPIc\) GraphQLd\) both 12. › b 13. ◆ Plan: inertia \+ Svelte · API rest · Postgres in prod \(SQLite locally\) 14. Book title, author, rating 1–5 · belongs to User 15. Review body, stars 1–5 · belongs to Book 16. API /api/v1/books, /api/v1/reviews · bearer tokens 17. › yes 18. \+migration/src/m20261013\_120000\_create\_books\.rs 19. \+src/models/book\.rs · src/controllers/books\.rs 20. \+web/src/pages/Books/Index\.svelte\(\+ 71 more\) 21. ✓cargo clippy \-\-all\-targets \-\- \-D warnings 22. ✓pnpm \-\-dir web typecheck · svelte\-check 23. ✓cargo nextest run ·**SQLite**· 142 passed 24. ✓cargo nextest run ·**Postgres 18**· 142 passed 25. Definition of Done: green\. Run`bin/setup && bin/dev` What it is ## A framework made of*decisions*, not code\. Other frameworks ship a library\. Rust off Rails gives your agent the judgment: every choice it would otherwise improvise, already made and written down\. The founding rule ### All code is written by AI Every line of Rust, SQL, HTML, CSS, TypeScript and every Dockerfile is written by an agent\. Humans write intent: specs in`product/`, answers in the interview, feedback in conversation\. Never code\. It's the rule the others rest on: boilerplate is free, conventions are enforced by the agent, and specs stay the source of truth\.[Read §0](https://rustoffrails.org/philosophy#pillar-0)\. ### Markdown is the framework Where a framework would ship a library, Off Rails ships a precise spec\. The job queue, sessions and Inertia adapter are rendered into your app as code you own\. ### Strong opinions, aimed at agents Crate choice, file layout, naming, errors, tests: decided once\. The agent never debates the ORM\. Inconsistency is the enemy, not imperfection\. ### Batteries included Auth, jobs, email, caching, uploads, realtime, deploys: every layer has a guide and a recipe, so the agent never starts from a blank page\.[Browse the guides](https://rustoffrails.org/docs)\. How it works ## Interview\. Plan\. Generate\.*Green\.* The agent asks only what a human can answer, writes the answers down, and is done only when the compiler and the test suite on both databases agree\. 1. 01### Interview Product questions only, each with a recommended default\. "Who can see this?" yes; "which ORM?" never\. Say "you decide" and it takes the defaults\. 2. 02### Plan A compact plan \(resources, pages, jobs, assumptions\) written into`product/`specs with acceptance criteria\. The spec is the durable record; chat is not\. 3. 03### Generate Generator recipes, run by the agent: migration → model → failing tests → controller → views, one vertical slice at a time\. 4. 04### Green fmt, clippy, tests on SQLite*and*Postgres, every acceptance criterion traced to a test, coverage gates\. Green or it didn't happen\. ### Eight skills, one per job SkillWhat it does`/offrails:new`Interview → plan → app skeleton → planned features, green`/offrails:feature`Spec first, then code\. With no argument: build what changed in`product/``/offrails:scaffold`A full resource in the app's frontend mode`/offrails:generate`Jobs, mailers, channels, authentication, models, migrations, tasks`/offrails:check`The Definition of Done: fmt, clippy, tests on SQLite and Postgres`/offrails:doctor`Audits the app against every convention in the docs`/offrails:deploy`Deploy config and a verified image; confirms before anything outward\-facing`/offrails:upgrade`Moves the app's vendored framework forward and migrates conventions How you'll use it ## You write intent\. The agent writes*everything else*\. 1. 1**Say what you want**, or write it in`product/features/\*\.md`\. Plain English\. 2. 2**The agent writes the spec, then the code:**migrations, models, views, tests\. 3. 3**Done means green**on SQLite and Postgres, every acceptance criterion tested\. [Read the guide](https://rustoffrails.org/guide) The deal ## What changes when typing is free\. A library with hundreds of thousands of lines60 Markdown filesA code generator binary`generators/scaffold\.md`: a recipe the agent runsConvention over configurationConvention over*deliberation*: the agent never debates which crate to useOptimized for programmer happinessOptimized for agent correctness: compiler\-checked everythingMagic, to save keystrokesNo magic\. Explicit code is cheap when you don't type it\. The stack in one breath ## One crate per job\. Substitutions are not taken at the table\. Axum·Tokio·SeaORMSQLite locally, Postgres in production, same code·Askama·Tailwind·lettre·tracing·one binary, one Docker image ### `FRONTEND\_MODE`, chosen once in the interview `htmx`default Askama templates, checked at compile time, plus htmx\. No Node\. For CRUD apps, dashboards, content sites \(like this one\)\. `inertia` React or Svelte pages with server\-side routing and controllers, through a generated Inertia adapter\. The pick when you want a JS UI\. `spa` A separate single\-page app plus a JSON API, for when the UI must be a standalone app\. Types flow from Rust via`ts\-rs`\. `api`in progress No UI at all: a backend and a versioned API for mobile apps, partners and scripts\. `UI\_LIBRARY``react`\(default\) or`svelte`, for`inertia`,`spa`and htmx islands`API``none`,`rest`\(OpenAPI \+ tokens\),`graphql`or`both`: a public, versioned API, independent of the UIAnd in the database: a job queue, a cache and pub/sub\.**The database is the only infrastructure\.** Standing on giants ## The best of Rails and Phoenix,*together*\. None of the good ideas here are new\. We took the ones that aged best from two frameworks we love, gave each a Rust shape, and wrote them down for agents\. ### From Ruby on Rails - [Convention over configuration](https://rustoffrails.org/philosophy), sharpened into convention over deliberation - [Generators](https://rustoffrails.org/docs/generators/scaffold):`rails new`and scaffold, as recipes the agent runs - [Active Record](https://rustoffrails.org/docs/guides/models)→ models and[migrations](https://rustoffrails.org/docs/guides/migrations) - [Rails 8 authentication](https://rustoffrails.org/docs/guides/auth): database\-backed sessions, generated and owned - [Solid Queue](https://rustoffrails.org/docs/guides/jobs),[Cache](https://rustoffrails.org/docs/guides/caching)and[Cable](https://rustoffrails.org/docs/guides/realtime): the database is the infrastructure, no Redis - [Turbo 8 page\-refresh broadcasts](https://rustoffrails.org/docs/guides/realtime)→ signals over SSE - [Action Mailer previews](https://rustoffrails.org/docs/guides/mailers) - [Kamal,`/up`and Docker](https://rustoffrails.org/docs/guides/deployment)by default - [`bin/rails`tasks](https://rustoffrails.org/docs/cli)→ one`app`binary - [Credentials and env discipline](https://rustoffrails.org/docs/guides/config) ### From Elixir and Phoenix - [Oban](https://rustoffrails.org/docs/guides/jobs): persistent jobs with states, unique jobs, cron, snooze - [Oban Web](https://rustoffrails.org/docs/guides/jobs-dashboard)→ the live`/admin/jobs`dashboard - [Swoosh's local mailbox](https://rustoffrails.org/docs/guides/mailers)→`/dev/mailbox` - [phx\.gen\.auth](https://rustoffrails.org/docs/guides/auth): magic links and the "check your mailbox" dev hint - [LiveDashboard](https://rustoffrails.org/docs/guides/dev-tools)→ the`/dev`toolbox - [The pending\-migrations page](https://rustoffrails.org/docs/guides/dev-tools), with its "Run migrations" button - [Ecto's explicit data layer](https://rustoffrails.org/docs/guides/models): changesets, no callbacks - [Channels, Presence and PubSub](https://rustoffrails.org/docs/guides/realtime)in progress - [Distributed nodes and "let it crash" supervision](https://rustoffrails.org/docs/guides/deployment)in progress And also - [htmx](https://rustoffrails.org/docs/guides/frontend-htmx) - [Inertia\.js](https://rustoffrails.org/docs/guides/frontend-inertia) - [Tailwind](https://rustoffrails.org/docs/guides/views) - [shadcn\-style owned components](https://rustoffrails.org/docs/stack) - [ts\-rs end\-to\-end types](https://rustoffrails.org/docs/guides/frontend-react) - [Svelte](https://rustoffrails.org/docs/guides/frontend-svelte) - [Playwright](https://rustoffrails.org/docs/guides/testing) Field tests ## Real apps,*ported by agents*\. Agents port well\-loved open\-source apps to Rust off Rails\. Every rough edge they hit goes back into the framework\. - from FizzyIn progress ### [fizzyer](https://rustoffrails.org/field-tests#fizzyer) Fizzy's boards and cards, rebuilt in Rust by agents\. - from FreeScoutIn progress ### [A FreeScout port](https://rustoffrails.org/field-tests#freescout) A shared\-inbox help desk, built by agents on another machine\. - from Uptime KumaBuilt ### [uptime\-offrails](https://rustoffrails.org/field-tests#uptime-offrails) 1530 of 1530 tests green on SQLite and Postgres\. Get started ## Install the plugin\. Describe the app\.*Watch\.* ### 1With Claude Code \(recommended\) ``` /plugin marketplace add rust-off-rails/rustoffrails /plugin install offrails@offrails ``` Then, in an empty directory: ``` /offrails:new bookshelf: people track the books they've read and review them ``` The agent interviews you, confirms a plan, then builds\. Skills also trigger on plain requests \("make me a new Rust web app…"\)\. ### 2With Codex, Cursor, or any agent that reads`AGENTS\.md` ``` Read /path/to/rustoffrails/AGENTS.md and make me a new app called "bookshelf". ``` Generated apps carry`AGENTS\.md`and a vendored`\.offrails/`, so later sessions need no setup\. ### 3Then Describe features in plain language, or write them as specs in`product/`: ``` Scaffold Book with title:string, author:string, published_on:date, rating:integer. Users must be logged in to create books. ``` [The full walkthrough](https://rustoffrails.org/start)[How you'll use it](https://rustoffrails.org/guide)[Read the docs](https://rustoffrails.org/docs)[Star on GitHub](https://github.com/rust-off-rails/rustoffrails)