Ask Ruby Harness

Admin AI copilot for any Ruby project — structured, safe, permission-gated access for coding agents. The language edition of the ask-rb harness family (ask-rails-harness builds on this gem for Rails apps).

What it gives agents

Tool	What it does
QueryDatabase	Read-only SQL (non-SELECT rejected everywhere; SELECT-only in production)
ReadModel	Inspect an ActiveRecord model's columns, associations, validations
ReadLog	Read log files with level/search filtering and rotation support
RunCommand	Run shell commands in the project root, gated by permission rules
SchemaGraph	Full schema introspection: models, tables, columns, associations
RunTests	Structured test results with failure reruns (rails test / rspec / rake test)

Generic file and search capabilities (read, grep, edit) are provided by the agent's native tools; the harness focuses on what only an app-aware layer can give an agent: database access, model introspection, logs, commands, and tests — all structured, permission-gated, and audited.

How it works

• No Rails required. The harness loads in any Ruby project. Database access connects standalone via ASK_DATABASE_URL or config/database.yml when the host hasn't already connected.
• Structured returns, never terminal dumps. Tools return data an agent can act on directly — run_tests reports counts plus per-test file/line/message.
• Minitest JSON reporter. lib/minitest/ask_ruby_harness_plugin.rb is auto-discovered by minitest 5 and injected via RUBYOPT on minitest 6 (which dropped plugin auto-discovery). Only active when the harness starts the run (ASK_TEST_JSON_PATH set); ordinary test runs are untouched.
• Audit logging. Every tool call is recorded in ask_audit_logs (when the table exists) and broadcast as the audit_log.ask_ruby_harness ActiveSupport notification. Sensitive params are redacted.
• Environment permissions. Per-environment mode (full access, read only, ask before changes) and command allow/deny lists.

Usage

Ask::Ruby::Harness.configure do |config|
  config.environment :production do |env|
    env.mode = :read_only
    env.denied_commands = [/rm/, /dropdb/]
  end
end

Ask::Ruby::Harness.discover_tools!
session = Ask::Ruby::Harness.agent_session(model: "gpt-4o")

The Rails edition (ask-rails-harness) mounts an agent at /ask and adds framework-native tools (routes, engine) on top of this gem.

Development

bundle install
bundle exec rake test

License

MIT — see LICENSE.