Why deployment preparation matters in Ruby on Rails - See It in Action

Why deployment preparation matters

📖 Scenario: You are building a simple Rails web app that shows a list of products. Before you deploy it to a live server, you need to prepare the app properly so it works well for users and the server.

🎯 Goal: Learn how to prepare a Rails app for deployment by setting up the initial data, configuring environment variables, applying core deployment settings, and completing the final deployment setup.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a basic products list in the app

Add a configuration variable for the deployment environment

Apply core deployment settings like asset precompilation

Complete the deployment setup with a production database configuration

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Preparing a Rails app for deployment ensures it runs smoothly and securely on live servers.

💼 Career

Understanding deployment prep is key for Rails developers working on real projects that go live.

1

DATA SETUP: Create initial products data

Create a Ruby array called products with these exact strings: 'Book', 'Pen', 'Notebook'.

Ruby on Rails

# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use square brackets to create an array and separate items with commas.

2

CONFIGURATION: Add deployment environment variable

Create a variable called deployment_env and set it to the string 'production'.

Ruby on Rails

products = ['Book', 'Pen', 'Notebook']
# Your code here

Need a hint?

This variable tells Rails the app is running in production mode.

3

CORE LOGIC: Apply asset precompilation setting

Add a line to set config.assets.compile = false inside a Rails.application.configure do ... end block.

Ruby on Rails

products = ['Book', 'Pen', 'Notebook']
deployment_env = 'production'
# Your code here

Need a hint?

This setting tells Rails to use precompiled assets for faster loading in production.

4

COMPLETION: Add production database configuration

Add a production key in config/database.yml with adapter: postgresql and database: myapp_production.

Ruby on Rails

products = ['Book', 'Pen', 'Notebook']
deployment_env = 'production'

Rails.application.configure do
  config.assets.compile = false
end
# Your code here

Need a hint?

This config tells Rails which database to use in production.