Can you take over an existing Rails app?

Regularly, and it is a good share of our Rails work. We start with an audit covering the Rails version, dependency health, test coverage, and security exposure, then give you a written assessment and priorities before quoting anything at all.

How hard is upgrading an old Rails version?

It depends mostly on your test coverage and how many abandoned gems are involved. We move one major version at a time rather than jumping straight to current, which takes longer but keeps the application shippable throughout instead of frozen for months.

Is it difficult to hire Rails developers?

Harder than for JavaScript, easier than people assume. The Rails community is smaller but experienced, since most people working in it now have chosen it deliberately. It is a fair question to weigh before starting something new in Rails.

Can Rails serve our mobile app?

Yes. Rails runs in API mode specifically for this, serving JSON to iOS and Android clients while handling accounts, permissions, and business logic centrally. It is a common setup for products with both a web application and mobile apps.

Ruby on Rails
Development Services

Stateside Digitals provides Ruby on Rails development services, building working products faster than most stacks allow, and taking on existing Rails applications that have been left alone for too long.

Ruby on Rails is a web framework built on the idea that most applications need the same things, so the framework should supply them and then stay out of the way. It makes a great many decisions for you about structure, naming, and how the pieces fit together, which sounds restrictive and is precisely why Rails teams move as quickly as they do.

For a business, that shows up as a shorter path to something real. A small Rails team can put a working product in front of customers in weeks rather than quarters. The same framework still runs some of the largest applications on the web, so moving fast early does not commit you to a rebuild later once the idea turns out to work.

Small Teams Go Far

Less Code, Fewer People

Rails does enough of the routine work that two or three developers can deliver what a larger team would need elsewhere to produce.

Working Software Sooner

Weeks, Not Quarters

Getting something real in front of users early means your first round of feedback arrives while changing direction is still cheap.

Proven At Scale

Still Running Major Platforms

Rails powers some of the busiest applications on the internet, so the speed it offers early is not paid for with a ceiling later on.

MVPs And First Versions

Getting a real product live quickly enough that customer feedback, rather than guesswork, decides what gets built in the next round.

Rails Rescue And Upgrades

Applications running on old Rails versions with dependencies nobody has touched in years, brought back to something current, secure, and safe for a team to work in again.

API Backends For Apps

Rails running in API mode behind the iOS and Android apps we build, handling accounts, data, and business rules in one place.

Most modern web projects assume two applications: a backend serving an API, and a JavaScript front end built in React or Vue. That means two codebases, frequently two teams, and an entire layer of state management that exists only because the two halves have to be kept in agreement with each other at all times.

Rails now ships with Hotwire, which produces interactive interfaces from the server without a separate front-end application. For a large share of products, admin tools, marketplaces, and most SaaS, that is genuinely enough, and it halves what you have to build and maintain. Where an interface really does need a rich client, we build React alongside Rails and say so plainly.

We build on current Rails and Ruby, using Hotwire for interactive interfaces and PostgreSQL for data. Background work runs through Sidekiq or Rails’ own queueing, with Redis behind it where caching helps. Authentication and permissions use Devise and Pundit, testing runs in RSpec, and deployment goes out through Docker to AWS or a managed platform, whichever suits your team.

Ruby
Rails
Hotwire
PostgreSQL
Sidekiq
Redis
Devise
Pundit
RSpec
Docker
React
AWS

Conventions Followed Closely

Upgrades Done Incrementally

No Unnecessary JavaScript

Security Patches Applied

We build the way Rails expects, because a codebase that invents its own patterns loses the speed that made Rails worth choosing.

One major version at a time, so the application stays shippable throughout instead of being frozen for months mid-jump.

Hotwire covers most interactivity from the server, so a front-end framework gets added only where the interface genuinely needs one.

Rails and gem advisories are tracked and applied on a schedule, which is most of what keeps an inherited application out of trouble.

Conventions Followed Closely

Upgrades Done Incrementally

No Unnecessary JavaScript

Security Patches Applied

For getting a product built quickly with a small team, it remains one of the strongest options available. It is a less common choice than it was a decade ago, which affects hiring more than it affects the framework, and it is actively developed and maintained.

Ruby on Rails
Development Services