ask-rails

An admin AI agent for your Rails app. Mount the engine, get a chat interface at /ask that can inspect your code, query your database, read logs, and help you debug — all through an authenticated admin UI.

Who is this for?

Rails developers who want an AI co-pilot that understands their app's codebase, schema, routes, and logs
Internal/Admin use only — the agent has direct access to your database, file system, and shell. Not for external/customer-facing use.

For building customer-facing AI agents, use ask-agent directly with your own tools and UI.

What it gives you

7 Rails-aware tools: ReadFile, QueryDatabase, ReadRoutes, ReadModel, ReadLog, RunCommand, SearchCodebase
Admin chat UI: Mount the engine, get a working chat at /ask with SSE streaming
Auth integration: Protect /ask behind your existing Devise/authentication
AR persistence: Agent sessions survive server restarts
Service discovery: Auto-detects installed ask-* service gems
Skills: Built-in guides for Rails debugging, deployment, and database performance

Installation

bundle add ask-rails
rails generate ask_rails:install

Quick Start

Add the engine mount and auth protection to config/routes.rb:

# config/routes.rb
Rails.application.routes.draw do
  # ... your routes ...

  authenticate :user, ->(u) { u.admin? } do
    mount Ask::Rails::Engine, at: "/ask"
  end
end

Then visit /ask in your browser.

Usage

Configuration

# config/initializers/ask_rails.rb
Ask::Rails.configure do |c|
  c.default_model = "claude-sonnet-4"
  c.max_turns = 50
end

Programmatic Access

# From any controller, view, or job
session = Ask::Rails.agent_session
session.run("Find all open issues labeled 'bug' in our repo")

Route Helpers

ask_rails.root_path               # => /ask
ask_rails.sessions_path           # => /ask/sessions
ask_rails.session_messages_path(session_id) # => /ask/sessions/:id/messages

Auth

By default, the admin chat is unprotected. Add auth in your routes (as shown above) or set a custom check:

# config/initializers/ask_rails.rb
Ask::Rails::Auth.check = -> {
  redirect_to main_app.login_path unless current_user&.admin?
}

Tools

Tool	What it does
`ReadFile`	Read any file (relative to `Rails.root`)
`QueryDatabase`	Run read-only SQL (rejects non-SELECT in production)
`ReadModel`	Inspect AR model schema, associations, validations
`ReadRoutes`	View `config/routes.rb`
`ReadLog`	Read log files with level/search filtering
`RunCommand`	Run shell commands in the app root
`SearchCodebase`	Grep the codebase for patterns

Engine Routes

GET  /ask                    → Chat UI
POST /ask/sessions           → Create new session
POST /ask/sessions/:id/messages → Send message (SSE streamed response)
GET  /ask/sessions/:id/messages → Get message history
GET  /ask/sessions/:id/stream  → SSE stream for existing session

Compared to ask-agent

`ask-agent`	`ask-rails`
Build external-facing agents	Build an internal admin co-pilot
Bring your own tools	Ships Rails-specific tools
Bring your own UI	Ships an admin chat UI
Any Ruby app	Rails apps only
General purpose	Development, debugging, ops

License

MIT