Backend

Ruby on Rails

The backbone of most things we build.

In plain English

What it is

Ruby on Rails is a mature, open-source framework for building web applications and the APIs behind them. It gives a project a sensible shape from day one – how data, business logic, and web requests fit together – so the effort goes into your product rather than into wiring.

Our take

Why we use it

Rails lets a small team build and maintain big things. Its conventions mean any Rails developer can pick up the code; the ecosystem is deep and battle-tested; and it stays productive for years, not months. We build modular monoliths – one codebase with firm internal boundaries – which gives most businesses the clarity of separate services without the cost and complexity of running a distributed system.

In practice

How we use it

Rails is the backend under our SaaS platforms, webshops, and APIs. Recent work includes a full competition-management platform and an OAuth2 identity provider, both running in production.

How it fits together

Model, view, controller.

The same idea, split into predictable places – a model for the domain, a controller for the request, a view for the output, routes to tie them together. Click through the files.

app/models

app/controllers

app/views/competitions

config

app/models/competition.rb

class Competition < ApplicationRecord
  include AASM

  belongs_to :organisation
  has_many :entries, dependent: :destroy

  validates :name, presence: true

  aasm column: 'status' do
    state :draft, initial: true
    state :published
    state :archived
  end

  scope :published, -> { where(status: 'published') }
end

class CompetitionsController < ApplicationController
  before_action :set_competition, only: %i[show]

  # GET /competitions/:id
  def show
    render json: @competition
  end

  private

  def set_competition
    @competition = Competition.published.find(params[:id])
  end
end

<article class="competition">
  <h1><%= @competition.name %></h1>
  <p class="status"><%= @competition.status.titleize %></p>

  <ul>
    <% @competition.entries.each do |entry| %>
      <li><%= entry.name %></li>
    <% end %>
  </ul>
</article>

Rails.application.routes.draw do
  resources :organisations do
    resources :competitions, only: %i[index show]
  end

  root "competitions#index"
end

State machines

State, made explicit.

That aasm block isn’t decoration – it makes the rules real. A competition can only move along defined paths, so invalid states simply can’t happen.

:draft

initial

publish

:published

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