Production environment configuration in Ruby on Rails

Introduction

Production environment configuration sets up your Rails app to run safely and efficiently when real users visit it.

When you want your app to handle many users without crashing.

When you need to secure your app from unauthorized access.

When you want to optimize speed and resource use for live users.

When you deploy your app to a real server or cloud.

When you want to log errors and monitor your app in production.

Syntax

Ruby on Rails

# config/environments/production.rb
Rails.application.configure do
  config.cache_classes = true
  config.eager_load = true
  config.consider_all_requests_local = false
  config.public_file_server.enabled = ENV['RAILS_SERVE_STATIC_FILES'].present?
  config.log_level = :info
  config.force_ssl = true
  # other production settings...
end

This file controls how your app behaves in production.

Settings here override defaults and development settings.

Examples

This makes your app store some data temporarily to speed up repeated requests.

Ruby on Rails

# Enable caching for faster response
config.action_controller.perform_caching = true

This ensures data is encrypted between users and your app.

Ruby on Rails

# Force all connections to use HTTPS
config.force_ssl = true

This controls how much detail is saved in logs to help debug issues.

Ruby on Rails

# Set log level to info
config.log_level = :info

Sample Program

This configuration file sets important production settings. The print statements show what each setting is currently set to.

Ruby on Rails

# config/environments/production.rb
Rails.application.configure do
  config.cache_classes = true
  config.eager_load = true
  config.consider_all_requests_local = false
  config.public_file_server.enabled = ENV['RAILS_SERVE_STATIC_FILES'].present?
  config.log_level = :info
  config.force_ssl = true
end

# Simulated output when running in production environment
puts "Cache classes: #{Rails.application.config.cache_classes}"
puts "Eager load: #{Rails.application.config.eager_load}"
puts "Show full error reports: #{Rails.application.config.consider_all_requests_local}"
puts "Serve static files: #{Rails.application.config.public_file_server.enabled}"
puts "Log level: #{Rails.application.config.log_level}"
puts "Force SSL: #{Rails.application.config.force_ssl}"

Important Notes

Always test your production config in a staging environment before going live.

Use environment variables to keep secrets out of your code.

Production config disables detailed error pages to avoid exposing sensitive info.

Summary

Production config makes your app ready for real users by improving speed and security.

It lives in config/environments/production.rb and overrides other settings.

Key settings include caching, error reporting, SSL, and logging.