Rails Upgrade Analyzer

When to Use This Skill

Analyze Rails apps and provide upgrade assessments

Use this skill when working with analyze rails apps and provide upgrade assessments.

Rails Upgrade Analyzer

Analyze the current Rails application and provide a comprehensive upgrade assessment with selective file merging.

Step 1: Verify Rails Application

Check that we're in a Rails application by looking for these files:

• Gemfile (must exist and contain 'rails')
• config/​application.rb (Rails application config)
• config/​environment.rb (Rails environment)

If any of these are missing or don't indicate a Rails app, stop and inform the user this doesn't appear to be a Rails application.

Step 2: Get Current Rails Version

Extract the current Rails version from:

1. First, check Gemfile.lock for the exact installed version (look for rails (x.y.z))
2. If not found, check Gemfile for the version constraint

Report the exact current version (e.g., 7.1.3).

Step 3: Find Latest Rails Version

Use the GitHub CLI to fetch the latest Rails release:

gh api repos/​rails/​rails/​releases/​latest --jq '.tag_name'

This returns the latest stable version tag (e.g., v8.0.1). Strip the 'v' prefix for comparison.

Also check recent tags to understand the release landscape:

gh api repos/​rails/​rails/​tags --jq '.[0:10] | .[].name'

Step 4: Determine Upgrade Type

Compare current and latest versions to classify the upgrade:

• Patch upgrade: Same major.minor, different patch (e.g., 7.1.3 → 7.1.5)
• Minor upgrade: Same major, different minor (e.g., 7.1.3 → 7.2.0)
• Major upgrade: Different major version (e.g., 7.1.3 → 8.0.0)

Step 5: Fetch Upgrade Guide

Use WebFetch to get the official Rails upgrade guide:

URL: https://guides.rubyonrails.org/​upgrading_ruby_on_rails.html

Look for sections relevant to the version jump. The guide is organized by target version with sections like:

• "Upgrading from Rails X.Y to Rails X.Z"
• Breaking changes
• Deprecation warnings
• Configuration changes
• Required migrations

Extract and summarize the relevant sections for the user's specific upgrade path.

Step 6: Fetch Rails Diff

Use WebFetch to get the diff between versions from railsdiff.org:

URL: https://railsdiff.org/​{current_version}/​{target_version}

For example: https://railsdiff.org/​7.1.3/​8.0.0

This shows:

• Changes to default configuration files
• New files that need to be added
• Modified initializers
• Updated dependencies
• Changes to bin/ scripts

Summarize the key file changes.

Step 7: Check JavaScript Dependencies

Rails applications often include JavaScript packages that should be updated alongside Rails. Check for and report on these dependencies.

7.1: Identify JS Package Manager

Check which package manager the app uses:

# Check for package.json (npm/​yarn)
ls package.json 2>/​dev/​null

# Check for importmap (Rails 7+)
ls config/​importmap.rb 2>/​dev/​null

7.2: Check Rails-Related JS Packages

If package.json exists, check for these Rails-related packages:

# Extract current versions of Rails-related packages
cat package.json | grep -E '"@hotwired/|"@rails/|"stimulus"|"turbo-rails"' || echo "No Rails JS packages found"

Key packages to check:

7.3: Check for Updates

For npm/​yarn projects, check for available updates:

# Using npm
npm outdated @hotwired/​turbo-rails @hotwired/​stimulus @rails/​actioncable @rails/​activestorage 2>/​dev/​null

# Or check latest versions directly
npm view @hotwired/​turbo-rails version 2>/​dev/​null
npm view @rails/​actioncable version 2>/​dev/​null

7.4: Check Importmap Pins (if applicable)

If the app uses importmap-rails, check config/​importmap.rb for pinned versions:

cat config/​importmap.rb | grep -E 'pin.*turbo|pin.*stimulus|pin.*@rails' || echo "No importmap pins found"

To update importmap pins:

bin/​importmap pin @hotwired/​turbo-rails
bin/​importmap pin @hotwired/​stimulus

7.5: JS Dependency Summary

Include in the upgrade summary:

### JavaScript Dependencies

**Package Manager**: [npm/​yarn/​importmap/​none]

| Package | Current | Latest | Action |
|---------|---------|--------|--------|
| @hotwired/​turbo-rails | 8.0.4 | 8.0.12 | Update recommended |
| @rails/​actioncable | 7.1.0 | 8.0.0 | Update with Rails |
| ... | ... | ... | ... |

**Recommended JS Updates:**
- Run `npm update @hotwired/​turbo-rai