Note: This gem is published as parse-stack-next under the neurosynq organization. The documentation below was written when the gem was named parse-stack — references to parse-stack in install instructions, code examples, and links refer to the same codebase. See HEAD on main for current docs.

Parse Stack - The Parse Server Ruby Client SDK

Parse Stack - Extended Edition

A full featured Active Model ORM and Ruby REST API for Parse-Server. Parse Stack is the Parse Server SDK, REST Client and ORM framework for Ruby. It provides a client adapter, a query engine, an object relational mapper (ORM) and a Cloud Code Webhooks rack application.

This is an extended and enhanced fork with additional features including:

  • MongoDB Aggregation Framework support
  • MongoDB Atlas Search - Full-text search, autocomplete, faceted search with direct MongoDB access
  • Direct MongoDB Queries - Bypass Parse Server for high-performance read operations
  • Schema Introspection & Migration - Compare local models with server schema and generate migrations
  • Enhanced Role Management - Helper methods for role hierarchies, user management, and membership queries
  • Read Preference Support - Direct read queries to MongoDB secondary replicas
  • Class-Level Permissions (CLP) - Define and filter protected fields based on roles and user ownership
  • Advanced ACL query constraints (readable_by, writable_by)
  • Owner-aware default ACL policy (acl_policy :owner_else_private) — declare per-class defaults that grant read/write only to the record's owner, with secure or public fallback for server-context creates
  • Full transaction support with automatic retry
  • Comprehensive integration testing with Docker
  • Enhanced change tracking and webhooks
  • Request idempotency system with Retry-After header support
  • Timezone support for date operations
  • Partial fetch with smart autofetch and serialization control
  • Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA/2FA) support
  • LiveQuery real-time subscriptions with TLS/SSL, circuit breaker, health monitoring (experimental)
  • AI/LLM Agent integration with security hardening (rate limiting, injection protection)
  • And many more improvements (see CHANGELOG.md)

Below is a quick start guide. See also the Usage Guide for practical examples covering queries, aggregation, ACLs, and more.

Note: The Modernistik API Reference documents v1.9 only and does not cover features added in v2.x or v3.x.

Credits

This project is based on the excellent Parse Stack framework originally created by Modernistik. We are grateful for their foundational work and continue to build upon it.

Code Status

Gem Version Downloads Releases

Tutorial Videos

  1. Getting Started: https://youtu.be/zoYSGmciDlQ
  2. Custom Classes and Relations: https://youtu.be/tfSesotfU7w
  3. Working with Existing Schemas: https://youtu.be/EJGPT7YWyXA

Any other questions, please post them on StackOverflow with the proper parse-stack / parse-server / ruby tags.

Installation

Add this line to your application's Gemfile:

gem 'parse-stack-next'

The gem is published as parse-stack-next on RubyGems. Older references in this README to parse-stack point to the same codebase — use parse-stack-next in new projects.

And then execute:

$ bundle

Or install it yourself as:

$ gem install parse-stack

Rack / Sinatra

Parse-Stack API, models and webhooks easily integrate in your existing Rack/Sinatra based applications.

Rails

Parse-Stack comes with support for Rails by adding additional rake tasks and generators. After adding parse-stack as a gem dependency in your Gemfile and running bundle, you should run the install script:

$ rails g parse_stack:install

Interactive Command Line Playground

You can also used the bundled parse-console command line to connect and interact with your Parse Server and its data in an IRB-like console. This is useful for trying concepts and debugging as it will automatically connect to your Parse Server, and if provided the master key, automatically generate all the models entities.

$ parse-console -h # see all options
$ parse-console -v -a myAppId -m myMasterKey http://localhost:2337/parse
Server : http://localhost:2337/parse
App Id : myAppId
Master : true
2.4.0 > Parse::User.first

Overview

Parse-Stack is a full stack framework that utilizes several ideas behind DataMapper and ActiveModel to manage and maintain larger scale ruby applications and tools that utilize the Parse Server Platform. If you are familiar with these technologies, the framework should feel familiar to you.

require 'parse/stack'

Parse.setup server_url: 'http://localhost:2337/parse',
            app_id: APP_ID,
            api_key: REST_API_KEY,
            master_key: YOUR_MASTER_KEY # optional

# Automatically build models based on your Parse application schemas.
Parse.auto_generate_models!

# or define custom Subclasses (Highly Recommended)
class Song < Parse::Object
  property :name
  property :play, :integer
  property :audio_file, :file
  property :tags, :array
  property :released, :date
  belongs_to :artist
  # `like` is a Parse Relation to User class
  has_many :likes, as: :user, through: :relation

  # deny public write to Song records by default
  set_default_acl :public, read: true, write: false
end

class Artist < Parse::Object
  property :name
  property :genres, :array
  has_many :fans, as: :user
  has_one :manager, as: :user

  scope :recent, ->(x) { query(:created_at.after => x) }
end

# updates schemas for your Parse app based on your models (non-destructive)
Parse.auto_upgrade!

# login
user = Parse::User.(username, passwd)

artist = Artist.new(name: "Frank Sinatra", genres: ["swing", "jazz"])
artist.fans << user
artist.save

# Query
artist = Artist.first(:name.like => /Sinatra/, :genres.in => ['swing'])

# more examples
song = Song.new name: "Fly Me to the Moon"
song.artist = artist
# Parse files - upload a file and attach to object
song.audio_file = Parse::File.create("http://path_to.mp3")

# relations - find a User matching username and add it to relation.
song.likes.add Parse::User.first(username: "persaud")

# saves both attributes and relations
song.save

# find songs
songs = Song.all(artist: artist, :plays.gt => 100, :released.on_or_after => 30.days.ago)

songs.each { |s| s.tags.add "awesome" }
# batch saves
songs.save

# Call Cloud Code functions
result = Parse.call_function :myFunctionName, {param: value}

What's New in 3.x

Current version: 4.4.3 | Ruby 3.2+ required

4.4.3 - Pointer-Shape Strictness & Pipeline Forward-Pass

  • Parse.strict_pointer_shapes — opt-in flag (or PARSE_STRICT_POINTER_SHAPES=true) that converts unresolvable pointer-shape constraints from a one-shot warning + silent-zero result into a Parse::Query::PointerShapeError raise. Recommended for test/CI and any LLM-driven workload where "0 results" reads as a real answer instead of a shape mismatch.
  • Pipeline forward-pass field tracking — the agent's pipeline access-policy walker now tracks fields introduced by upstream stages ($group._id and accumulator keys, $addFields/$set outputs, $lookup.as). The canonical "group → match → sort → limit" pattern on synthetic accumulator outputs no longer hits :field_denied against the source class's agent_fields allowlist.
  • Pointer query_hint: in get_schema — every Pointer field surfaces an inline shape hint covering equality (objectId string OR full {__type: "Pointer", ...} hash) and $in/$nin (bare-id array with SDK-side normalization). Hidden targets collapse to a <targetClass> placeholder.

4.4.2 - Schema-Aware Walker, Pipeline-Local Aliases

  • Schema-aware expression-value rewriter — the $author → $_p_author pretty-name rewrite inside expression values now consults the queried class's declared properties. References whose name is neither a Parse property nor a universal built-in pass through verbatim, so aliases introduced by an upstream $project/$addFields/$set/$group stage survive into downstream stages exactly as written. Result rows are keyed by the literal alias the caller used.
  • first_or_create! accepts query-option keys in synchronize: — filter-lock fingerprint includes constraint operators (Parse::Operation keys) so locks scoped on inequality/range constraints no longer collide across distinct callers.

4.4.1 - Filter-Lock Compatibility

  • create_lock accepts Parse::Operation keys — the synchronize lock-key derivation handles operator-shaped query attributes (:status.gt => Date.today) the same way Parse::Query does, matching the filter-lock fingerprint against the resolved storage fields.

4.4 - MongoDB Index Management, CLP on Mongo-Direct, Agent ACL Scope

  • Model.describe — operator-facing introspection aggregator on every Parse::Object subclass. Reports local model declarations, server schema, CLP, default ACLs, Atlas Search indexes, and MongoDB indexes. Local-only by default; opt into server fetches with network: true. See docs/mongodb_direct_guide.md.
  • mongo_index DSL — model-declarative MongoDB indexes: mongo_index :title, :year, mongo_index :vin, unique: true, mongo_geo_index :location, mongo_relation_index :users, bidirectional: true. Validation (pointer auto-rewrite, parallel-array rejection, _id guard, 64-cap, idempotency) runs at class load.
  • parse_reference auto-indexing — every parse_reference field auto-registers a unique: true, sparse: true index declaration. Removes the operator-must-remember dedup floor. Opt out per-field with index: false or unique_index: false.
  • Parse::MongoDB.configure_writer — separate write-capable connection for index management (create_index / drop_index / writer_indexes). The reader URI stays read-only. Triple-gated: writer configured + index_mutations_enabled = true + ENV["PARSE_MONGO_INDEX_MUTATIONS"]=1 — all re-checked per call.
  • Parse::Schema::IndexMigrator — reconciles declared indexes against the actual MongoDB state. Plan returns per-collection diff; apply is additive by default (drop: true for orphan removal).
  • rake parse:mongo:indexes:plan / :apply — operator workflow for index migrations. Plan is read-only; apply requires the triple-gate.
  • CLP and protectedFields enforced on mongo-direct — Parse::CLPScope gates Parse::MongoDB.aggregate at the operation level for scoped agents (session_token: / acl_user: / acl_role:) AND strips protectedFields from result rows. The mongo-direct path is the only first-class enforcement surface for ACL + CLP + protectedFields on scoped reads (Parse Server's REST aggregate enforces NEITHER).
  • Parse::Agent.new(acl_user:|acl_role:) — declared identity scope without a session token. Built-in tools auto-promote to mongo-direct so SDK-side enforcement runs. Sub-agent identity must be a subset of the parent's reach.
  • See docs/mongodb_index_optimization_guide.md for when to use each index type and how to budget the 64-per-collection cap.

4.0 - Security Hardening and Modernization

  • Minimum Ruby version bumped to 3.2 (Ruby 3.1 reached EOL March 2025)
  • Minimum Rails/ActiveSupport bumped to 6.1 (was unbounded at 5.x)
  • CI tests against Ruby 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, and 3.5
  • LiveQuery TLS hostname verification (post_connection_check)
  • Webhook endpoint fails closed when no key is configured (opt out via Parse::Webhooks.allow_unauthenticated = true)
  • Parse::Error.new(code, message) two-argument constructor with #code reader
  • included pointer fields now auto-added to keys when a key allowlist is set

3.3 - Ruby Version Update

  • Minimum Ruby version bumped to 3.1 (Ruby 3.0 reached EOL March 2024)
  • CI tests against Ruby 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, and 3.4

3.2 - Class-Level Permissions (CLP)

Define operation permissions and protected fields directly in models:

class Document < Parse::Object
  set_clp :find, public: true
  set_clp :delete, public: false, roles: ["Admin"]
  protect_fields "*", [:internal_notes, :secret_data]
end

3.1 - Atlas Search, MongoDB Direct, Schema Tools

  • MongoDB Atlas Search - Full-text search, autocomplete, faceted search
  • Direct MongoDB Queries - results_direct, first_direct bypassing Parse Server
  • Schema Introspection - Parse::Schema.diff, Parse::Schema.migration
  • Read Preference - read_pref(:secondary) for replica set reads
  • Role Management - find_or_create, add_users, add_child_role, all_users

3.0 - Push, Sessions, AI Agent

  • Push Builder API - Fluent pattern with to_channel, with_alert, silent!, send!
  • Session Management - expired?, time_remaining, logout_all!
  • Installation Channels - subscribe, unsubscribe, subscribed_to?
  • AI/LLM Agent - Parse::Agent with natural language queries
  • MFA Support - TOTP and SMS-based two-factor authentication
  • LiveQuery (Experimental) - Real-time WebSocket subscriptions

What's New in 2.x

Ruby 3.0+ required | See detailed docs in later sections

Key Features

  • Transactions - Parse::Object.transaction with automatic retry
  • MongoDB Aggregation - group_by, count_distinct, custom pipelines
  • ACL Query Constraints - readable_by, writable_by, publicly_readable
  • Request Idempotency - Automatic duplicate prevention (enabled by default)
  • Enhanced Change Tracking - Works correctly in after_save hooks
  • LiveQuery (Experimental) - Real-time subscriptions with circuit breaker

Breaking Changes from 1.x

  • Minimum Ruby 3.0+
  • distinct returns object IDs by default (use return_pointers: true for pointers)
  • Faraday 2.x (removed faraday_middleware)
  • Fixed typo "constaint" to "constraint"

For complete details, see the CHANGELOG and Releases.

Table of Contents

Architecture

The architecture of Parse::Stack is broken into four main components.

Parse::Client

This class is the core and low level API for the Parse Server REST interface that is used by the other components. It can manage multiple sessions, which means you can have multiple client instances pointing to different Parse Server applications at the same time. It handles sending raw requests as well as providing Request/Response objects for all API handlers. The connection engine is Faraday, which means it is open to add any additional middleware for features you'd like to implement.

Parse::Query

This class implements the Parse REST Querying interface in the DataMapper finder syntax style. It compiles a set of query constraints and utilizes Parse::Client to send the request and provide the raw results. This class can be used without the need to define models.

Parse::Object

This component is main class for all object relational mapping subclasses for your application. It provides features in order to map your remote Parse records to a local ruby object. It implements the Active::Model interface to provide a lot of additional features, CRUD operations, querying, including dirty tracking, JSON serialization, save/destroy callbacks and others. While we are overlooking some functionality, for simplicity, you will mainly be working with Parse::Object as your superclass. While not required, it is highly recommended that you define a model (Parse::Object subclass) for all the Parse classes in your application.

Parse::Webhooks

Parse provides a feature called Cloud Code Webhooks. For most applications, save/delete triggers and cloud functions tend to be implemented by Parse's own hosted Javascript solution called Cloud Code. However, Parse provides the ability to have these hooks utilize your hosted solution instead of their own, since their environment is limited in terms of resources and tools.

Field Naming Conventions

By convention in Ruby (see Style Guide), symbols and variables are expressed in lower_snake_case form. Parse, however, prefers column names in lower-first camel case (ex. objectId, createdAt and updatedAt). To keep in line with the style guides between the languages, we do the automatic conversion of the field names when compiling the query. As an additional exception to this rule, the field key of id will automatically be converted to the objectId field when used. If you do not want this to happen, you can turn off or change the value Parse::Query.field_formatter as shown below. Though we recommend leaving the default :columnize if possible.

# default uses :columnize
query = Parse::User.query :field_one => 1, :FieldTwo => 2, :Field_Three => 3
query.compile_where # {"fieldOne"=>1, "fieldTwo"=>2, "fieldThree"=>3}

# turn off
Parse::Query.field_formatter = nil
query = Parse::User.query :field_one => 1, :FieldTwo => 2, :Field_Three => 3
query.compile_where # {"field_one"=>1, "FieldTwo"=>2, "Field_Three"=>3}

# force everything camel case
Parse::Query.field_formatter = :camelize
query = Parse::User.query :field_one => 1, :FieldTwo => 2, :Field_Three => 3
query.compile_where # {"FieldOne"=>1, "FieldTwo"=>2, "FieldThree"=>3}

Connection Setup

To connect to a Parse server, you will need a minimum of an application_id, an api_key and a server_url. To connect to the server endpoint, you use the Parse.setup() method below.

  Parse.setup app_id: "YOUR_APP_ID",
              api_key: "YOUR_API_KEY",
              master_key: "YOUR_MASTER_KEY", # optional
              server_url: 'https://localhost:2337/parse' #default

If you wish to add additional connection middleware to the stack, you may do so by utilizing passing a block to the setup method.

  Parse.setup( ... ) do |conn|
    # conn is a Faraday connection object
    conn.use Your::Middleware
    conn.response :logger
    # ....
  end

Calling setup will create the default Parse::Client session object that will be used for all models and requests in the stack. You may retrive this client by calling the class client method. It is possible to create different client connections and have different models point to different Parse applications and endpoints at the same time.

  default_client = Parse.client
                   # alias Parse::Client.client(:default)

Connection Options

There are additional connection options that you may pass the setup method when creating a Parse::Client.

:server_url

The server url of your Parse Server if you are not using the hosted Parse service. By default it will use PARSE_SERVER_URL environment variable available or fall back to https://localhost:2337/parse if not specified.

:app_id

The Parse application id. By default it will use PARSE_SERVER_APPLICATION_ID environment variable if not specified.

:api_key

The Parse REST API Key. By default it will use PARSE_SERVER_REST_API_KEY environment variable if not specified.

:master_key (optional)

The Parse application master key. If this key is set, it will be sent on every request sent by the client and your models. By default it will use PARSE_SERVER_MASTER_KEY environment variable if not specified.

:logging

Controls request/response logging. Accepts:

  • true - Enable logging at :info level (logs method, URL, status, timing)
  • :debug - Enable verbose logging with headers and body content
  • :warn - Only log errors and warnings
  • false or nil - Disable logging (default)
Parse.setup(logging: true, ...)      # info level
Parse.setup(logging: :debug, ...)    # verbose with body content

:logger

A custom Logger instance for request/response logging. Defaults to Logger.new(STDOUT).

Parse.setup(logging: true, logger: Rails.logger, ...)

You can also configure logging programmatically after setup:

Parse.logging_enabled = true     # Enable/disable
Parse.log_level = :debug         # :info, :debug, or :warn
Parse.logger = Rails.logger      # Custom logger
Parse.log_max_body_length = 1000 # Truncate body after N chars (default: 500)

:adapter

The HTTP connection adapter. By default, Parse Stack uses :net_http_persistent for connection pooling, which significantly improves performance by reusing HTTP connections. Set connection_pooling: false to use the standard Net::HTTP adapter instead.

# Use a custom adapter (overrides connection_pooling setting)
Parse.setup(adapter: :excon, ...)

:connection_pooling

Controls HTTP connection pooling for improved performance. Enabled by default using the net_http_persistent adapter.

Benefits:

  • 30-70% latency reduction by eliminating TCP/SSL handshakes per request
  • Reduced server load through connection reuse
  • Better performance for high-throughput applications
# Default: connection pooling enabled
Parse.setup(server_url: "...", app_id: "...", api_key: "...")

# Disable connection pooling
Parse.setup(connection_pooling: false, ...)

# Custom pool configuration
Parse.setup(
  connection_pooling: {
    pool_size: 5,      # Connections per thread (default: 1)
    idle_timeout: 60,  # Seconds before closing idle connections (default: 5)
    keep_alive: 60     # HTTP Keep-Alive timeout in seconds
  },
  ...
)

Configuration Options:

Option Default Description
pool_size 1 Number of connections per thread. Increase if making parallel requests within a thread.
idle_timeout 5 Seconds before closing idle connections. Set higher (30-60s) for frequently-used servers.
keep_alive - HTTP Keep-Alive timeout. Should be less than your Parse Server's keepAliveTimeout.

Recommended settings for Heroku:

Parse.setup(
  connection_pooling: { pool_size: 2, idle_timeout: 60, keep_alive: 60 },
  ...
)

If faraday-net_http_persistent is not available, Parse Stack automatically falls back to the standard adapter with a warning.

:cache

A caching adapter of type Moneta::Transformer. Caching queries and object fetches can help improve the performance of your application, even if it is for a few seconds. Only successful GET object fetches and queries (non-empty) will be cached. You may set the default expiration time with the expires option. See related: Moneta. At any point in time you may clear the cache by calling the clear_cache! method on the client connection.

  store = Moneta.new :Redis, url: 'redis://localhost:6379'
   # use a Redis cache store with an automatic expire of 10 seconds.
  Parse.setup(cache: store, expires: 10, ...)

As a shortcut, if you are planning on using REDIS and have configured the use of redis in your Gemfile, you can just pass the REDIS connection string directly to the cache option.

  Parse.setup(cache: 'redis://localhost:6379', ...)

:expires

Sets the default cache expiration time (in seconds) for successful non-empty GET requests when using the caching middleware. The default value is 3 seconds. If :expires is set to 0, caching will be disabled. You can always clear the current state of the cache using the clear_cache! method on your Parse::Client instance.

:faraday

You may pass a hash of options that will be passed to the Faraday constructor.

Global Settings

Parse.warn_on_query_issues

Controls whether query validation warnings are displayed. When enabled (default: true), Parse-Stack will print helpful warnings about common query mistakes:

  • Warning when including non-pointer fields (e.g., including a string field that doesn't need include)
  • Warning when including a pointer AND specifying subfield keys (redundant - the full object makes the subfield keys unnecessary)
# Disable query validation warnings globally
Parse.warn_on_query_issues = false

# Example warnings that may be shown when enabled:
# [Parse::Query] Warning: 'filename' is a string field, not a pointer/relation - it does not need to be included
# [Parse::Query] Warning: including 'project' returns the full object - keys ["project.name"] are unnecessary

N+1 Query Detection

Parse Stack can detect N+1 query patterns - a common performance issue where accessing associations in a loop triggers separate queries for each item.

Enable Detection:

# Warning mode (logs warnings)
Parse.n_plus_one_mode = :warn

# Or use the legacy API
Parse.warn_on_n_plus_one = true

Example:

Parse.n_plus_one_mode = :warn

songs = Song.all(limit: 100)
songs.each do |song|
  song.artist.name  # Warning: N+1 query detected!
end

# Output:
# [Parse::N+1] Warning: N+1 query detected on Song.artist (3 separate fetches for Artist)
#   Location: app/controllers/songs_controller.rb:42 in `index`
#   Suggestion: Use `.includes(:artist)` to eager-load this association

Fix with Includes:

# Eager-load associations to avoid N+1
songs = Song.all(limit: 100, includes: [:artist])
songs.each do |song|
  song.artist.name  # No warning - already loaded
end

Available Modes:

Mode Behavior
:ignore Detection disabled (default)
:warn Log warnings when N+1 detected
:raise Raise Parse::NPlusOneQueryError - ideal for CI/tests

Strict Mode for CI/Tests:

# In test_helper.rb or rails_helper.rb
Parse.n_plus_one_mode = :raise

# Now N+1 queries will fail your tests!

Custom Callbacks:

# Track N+1 patterns in your metrics
Parse.on_n_plus_one do |source_class, association, target_class, count, location|
  StatsD.increment("n_plus_one.#{source_class}.#{association}")
end

Configuration:

Parse.configure_n_plus_one do |config|
  config.detection_window = 5.0   # Seconds to track related fetches (default: 2.0)
  config.fetch_threshold = 5      # Fetches to trigger warning (default: 3)
end

Working With Existing Schemas

If you already have a Parse application with defined schemas and collections, you can have Parse-Stack automatically generate the ruby Parse::Object subclasses instead of writing them on your own. Through this process, the framework will download all the defined schemas of all your collections, and infer the properties and associations defined. While this method is useful for getting started with the framework with an existing app, we highly recommend defining your own models. This would allow you to customize and utilize all the features available in Parse Stack.

  # after you have called Parse.setup
  # Assume you have a Song and Artist collections defined remotely
  Parse.auto_generate_models!

  # You can now use them as if you defined them
  artist = Artist.first
  Song.all(artist: artist)

You can always combine both approaches by defining special attributes before you auto generate your models:

  # create a Song class, but only create the artist array pointer association.
  class Song < Parse::Object
    has_many :artists, through: :array
  end

  # Now let Parse Stack generate the rest of the properties and associations
  # based on your remote schema. Assume there is a `title` field for the `Song`
  # collection.
  Parse.auto_generate_models!

  song = Song.first
  song.artists # created with our definition above
  song.title # auto-generated property

Parse Config

Getting your configuration variables once you have a default client setup can be done with Parse.config. The first time this method is called, Parse-Stack will get the configuration from Parse Server, and cache it. To force a reload of the config, use config!. You

  Parse.setup( ... )

  val = Parse.config["myKey"]
  val = Parse.config["myKey"] # cached

  # update a config with Parse
  Parse.set_config "myKey", "someValue"

  # batch update several
  Parse.update_config({fieldEnabled: true, searchMiles: 50})

  # Force fetch of config!
  val = Parse.config!["myKey"]

Core Classes

While some native data types are similar to the ones supported by Ruby natively, other ones are more complex and require their dedicated classes.

Parse::Pointer

An important concept is the Parse::Pointer class. This is the superclass of Parse::Object and represents the pointer type in Parse. A Parse::Pointer only contains data about the specific Parse class and the id for the object. Therefore, creating an instance of any Parse::Object subclass with only the :id field set will be considered in "pointer" state even though its specific class is not Parse::Pointer type. The only case that you may have a Parse::Pointer is in the case where an object was received for one of your classes and the framework has no registered class handler for it. Using the example above, assume you have the tables Post, Comment and Author defined in your remote Parse application, but have only defined Post and Commentary locally.

 # assume the following
class Post < Parse::Object
end

class Commentary < Parse::Object
  parse_class "Comment"
    belongs_to :post
    #'Author' class not defined locally
    belongs_to :author
end

comment = Commentary.first
comment.post? # true because it is non-nil
comment.artist? # true because it is non-nil

# both are true because they are in a Pointer state
comment.post.pointer? # true
comment.author.pointer? # true

 # we have defined a Post class handler
comment.post # <Post @parse_class="Post", @id="xdqcCqfngz">

 # we have not defined an Author class handler
comment.author # <Parse::Pointer @parse_class="Author", @id="hZLbW6ofKC">


comment.post.fetch # fetch the relation
comment.post.pointer? # false, it is now a full object.

Auto-fetch on Property Access

When you have a Parse::Pointer for a registered model class, you can access properties directly and the object will be automatically fetched:

# Create a pointer (not yet fetched)
pointer = Post.pointer("abc123")
pointer.pointer? # true - no data yet

# Accessing a property auto-fetches and returns the value
pointer.title # Fetches the object, returns "My Post Title"

# Subsequent accesses use the cached fetched object (no additional network request)
pointer.content # Returns content without another fetch
pointer.author  # Returns author without another fetch

# The pointer remembers the fetched object
pointer.pointer? # false - now has data

This auto-fetch behavior respects the Parse.autofetch_raise_on_missing_keys setting:

Parse.autofetch_raise_on_missing_keys = true
pointer = Post.pointer("abc123")
pointer.title # Raises Parse::AutofetchTriggeredError instead of fetching

The effect is that for any unknown classes that the framework encounters, it will generate Parse::Pointer instances until you define those classes with valid properties and associations. While this might be ok for some classes you do not use, we still recommend defining all your Parse classes locally in the framework.

Parse::File

This class represents a Parse file pointer. Parse::File has helper methods to upload Parse files directly to Parse and manage file associations with your classes. Using our Song class example:

  song = Song.first
  file = song.audio_file # Parse::File
  file.url # URL in the Parse file storage system

  file = File.open("file_path.jpg")
  contents = file.read
  file = Parse::File.new("myimage.jpg", contents , "image/jpeg")
  file.saved? # false. Hasn't been uploaded to Parse
  file.save # uploads to Parse.

  file.url # https://files.parsetfss.com/....

  # or create and upload a remote file (auto-detected mime type)
  file = Parse::File.create(some_url)
  song.file = file
  song.save

The default MIME type for all files is image/jpeg. This can be default can be changed by setting a value to Parse::File.default_mime_type. Other ways of creating a Parse::File are provided below. The created Parse::File is not uploaded until you call save.

  # urls
  file = Parse::File.new "http://example.com/image.jpg"
  file.name # image.jpg

  # file objects
  file = Parse::File.new File.open("myimage.jpg")

  # non-image files work too
  file = Parse::File.new "http://www.example.com/something.pdf"
  file.mime_type = "application/octet-stream" #set the mime-type!

  # or another Parse::File object
  file = Parse::File.new parse_file

If you are using displaying these files on a secure site and want to make sure that urls returned by a call to url are https, you can set Parse::File.force_ssl to true.

# Assume file is a Parse::File

file.url # => http://www.example.com/file.png

Parse::File.force_ssl = true # make all urls be https

file.url # => https://www.example.com/file.png

Parse::Date

This class manages dates in the special JSON format it requires for properties of type :date. Parse::Date subclasses DateTime, which allows you to use any features or methods available to DateTime with Parse::Date. While the conversion between Time and DateTime objects to a Parse::Date object is done implicitly for you, you can use the added special methods, DateTime#parse_date and Time#parse_date, for special occasions.

  song = Song.first
  song.released = DateTime.now # converted to Parse::Date
  song.save # ok

Parse::GeoPoint

This class manages the GeoPoint data type that Parse provides to support geo-queries. To define a GeoPoint property, use the :geopoint data type. Please note that latitudes should not be between -90.0 and 90.0, and longitudes should be between -180.0 and 180.0.

  class PlaceObject < Parse::Object
    property :location, :geopoint
  end

  san_diego = Parse::GeoPoint.new(32.8233, -117.6542)
  los_angeles = Parse::GeoPoint.new [34.0192341, -118.970792]
  san_diego == los_angeles # false

  place = PlaceObject.new
  place.location = san_diego
  place.save

Calculating Distances between locations

We include helper methods to calculate distances between GeoPoints: distance_in_miles and distance_in_km.

    san_diego = Parse::GeoPoint.new(32.8233, -117.6542)
    los_angeles = Parse::GeoPoint.new [34.0192341, -118.970792]

    # Haversine calculations
    san_diego.distance_in_miles(los_angeles)
    # ~112.33 miles

    san_diego.distance_in_km(los_angeles)
    # ~180.793 km

Parse::Bytes

The Bytes data type represents the storage format for binary content in a Parse column. The content is needs to be encoded into a base64 string.

  bytes = Parse::Bytes.new( base64_string )
  # or use helper method
  bytes = Parse::Bytes.new
  bytes.encode( content ) # same as Base64.encode64

  decoded = bytes.decoded # same as Base64.decode64

Parse::TimeZone

While Parse does not provide a native time zone data type, Parse-Stack provides a class to make it easier to manage time zone attributes, usually stored IANA string identifiers, with your ruby code. This is done by utilizing the features provided by ActiveSupport::TimeZone. In addition to setting a column as a time zone field, we also add special validations to verify it is of the right IANA identifier.

class Event < Parse::Object
  # an event occurs in a time zone.
  property :time_zone, :timezone, default: 'America/Los_Angeles'
end

event = Event.new
event.time_zone.name # => 'America/Los_Angeles'
event.time_zone.valid? # => true

event.time_zone.zone # => ActiveSupport::TimeZone
event.time_zone.formatted_offset # => "-08:00"

event.time_zone = 'Europe/Paris'
event.time_zone.formatted_offset # => +01:00"

event.time_zone = 'Galaxy/Andromeda'
event.time_zone.valid? # => false

Parse::ACL

The ACL class represents the access control lists for each record. An ACL is represented by a JSON object with the keys being Parse::User object ids or the special key of *, which indicates the public access permissions. The value of each key in the hash is a Parse::ACL::Permission object which defines the boolean permission state for read and write.

The example below illustrates a Parse ACL JSON object where there is a public read permission, but public write is prevented. In addition, the user with id 3KmCvT7Zsb and the Admins role, are allowed to both read and write on this record.

{
  "*": { "read": true },
  "3KmCvT7Zsb": {  "read": true, "write": true },
  "role:Admins": {  "read": true, "write": true }
}

All Parse::Object subclasses have an acl property by default. With this property, you can apply and delete permissions for this particular Parse object record.

  user = Parse::User.first
  artist = Artist.first

  artist.acl # "*": { "read": true, "write": true }

  # apply public read, but no public write
  artist.acl.everyone true, false

  # allow user to have read and write access
  artist.acl.apply user.id, true, true

  # remove all permissions for this user id
  artist.acl.delete user.id

  # allow the 'Admins' role read and write
  artist.acl.apply_role "Admins", true, true

  # remove write from all attached privileges
  artist.acl.no_write!

  # remove all attached privileges
  artist.acl.master_key_only!

  artist.save

You may also set default ACLs for newly created instances of your subclasses using set_default_acl:

class AdminData < Parse::Object

  # Disable public read and write
  set_default_acl :public, read: false, write: false

  # but allow members of the Admin role to read and write
  set_default_acl 'Admin', role: true, read: true, write: true

end

data = AdminData.new
data.acl # => ACL({"role:Admin"=>{"read"=>true, "write"=>true}})

Declarative ACL Policy (acl_policy)

For owner-aware defaults — where the record's ACL should grant read/write to a specific user pointer at save time — declare an acl_policy instead of (or in addition to) set_default_acl. The policy is resolved by a before_save callback that walks as: user → owner-field pointer → policy fallback, and stamps the resolved ACL onto the record. Any explicit obj.acl = … change by the caller is always respected.

There are four policies:

Policy When an owner is resolvable When no owner is resolvable
:public public read + write public read + write
:private master-key only master-key only
:owner_else_public owner read + write only public read + write
:owner_else_private owner read + write only master-key only 
class Post < Parse::Object
  property :title, :string
  belongs_to :author, as: :user

  # Posts grant read/write to their author; server-side creates with no
  # author resolvable fall back to master-key-only.
  acl_policy :owner_else_private, owner: :author
end

# Owner resolved from the belongs_to pointer:
Post.create!(title: "draft", author: current_user)
# => ACL { "<current_user.id>": { read: true, write: true } }

# Or pass the owner explicitly with `as:`:
Post.create!(title: "draft", as: current_user)

# Server-side, no owner: master-key-only fallback.
Post.create!(title: "system note")
# => ACL { } (only the master key can read or write)

Resolution order at save (only when the caller has not set the ACL):

  1. obj.acl = … or in-place mutation of obj.acl by the caller — always wins
  2. as: user passed at construction
  3. Owner pointer from the property named by owner:
  4. The "else" half of the policy — public R/W or master-key-only

The :as key may be a Parse::User, a Parse::Pointer to a user, or a raw objectId string. It is popped from the opts hash before attributes are applied, so it never reaches apply_attributes! and never appears as a property.

Subclasses inherit the parent's policy and owner field. Classes that already call set_default_acl are detected automatically and opt out of the policy resolver, so legacy callers retain pre-4.1 behavior without changes.

Owner resolution is strictly type-gated. The as: kwarg and any owner: pointer accept a Parse::User instance, a Parse::Pointer whose parse_class == "_User", or a raw objectId String. Pointers to non-User classes and arbitrary objects responding to #id are silently rejected and the policy falls through to its else-half, so a stray pointer to a non-user record cannot accidentally grant ACL access to a user record that happens to share the same objectId.

You may not combine acl_policy with set_default_acl on the same class — the two APIs have ambiguous interactions at save time. Calling the second one raises ArgumentError. Pick one configuration approach per class.

Self-Owned Users (owner: :self)

Parse::User records are special: the record IS the owner. The SDK provides owner: :self as a Parse::User-only shorthand for "this user owns themselves." The save-time resolver pre-generates a Parse-compatible objectId client-side (via the same helper that backs parse_reference precompute: true) when none is set, then stamps the ACL as { <generated-id>: { read: true, write: true } }. The signup body then carries both the objectId and the ACL in a single POST.

class Parse::User
  # New users: only the user can read or write their own profile.
  acl_policy :owner_else_private, owner: :self
end

new_user = Parse::User.new(username: "alice", password: "secret")
new_user.save
# Single roundtrip. After save, new_user.id is a 10-char Parse id and
# the persisted record's ACL is { "<that id>": { read: true, write: true } }.
# Other clients (including unauthenticated) cannot see this user.

owner: :self is rejected at class-definition time on any non-User class — there's no sensible interpretation when the record's objectId is not a user id.

The signup request body normally has objectId and ACL stripped (a security mitigation against client-planted permissive ACLs). When owner: :self is declared, those two fields are allowed through only when they match the narrow self-only ownership pattern: objectId is the 10-char Parse format, and ACL has exactly one entry granting read+write to that same objectId. Any deviation — multiple keys, a * (public) entry, a role: entry, half-permissions, mismatched id — still triggers the full strip and Parse Server applies its own default.

acl_policy ..., owner: :self is orthogonal to parse_reference precompute: true. Both reuse Parse::Core::ParseReference.generate_object_id for client-side id generation; neither installs the other's side effects. Declare both if you want both the ACL self-ownership AND the canonical reference column.

Breaking Change in v4.1: Secure-by-Default ACL Policy

Starting with v4.1, the gem-wide default ACL policy for Parse::Object subclasses is :owner_else_private. Records created with no resolvable owner (no as: kwarg, no owner: field) and no class-level acl_policy or set_default_acl declaration are saved with an empty ACL — readable and writable only with the master key.

This is a behavioral change. Pre-4.1, the same class would have produced records with public read + public write. Applications that depend on the historical default for client-side reads of unowned records will see those reads return empty result sets until they update their model declarations.

Migration recipes:

# A class whose records should remain publicly readable + writable:
class PublicNotice < Parse::Object
  property :body, :string
  acl_policy :public
end

# A class whose records belong to a user:
class JournalEntry < Parse::Object
  property :text, :string
  belongs_to :author, as: :user
  acl_policy :owner_else_private, owner: :author
end

# A class whose records are written client-side but readable by anyone:
class Post < Parse::Object
  property :title, :string
  belongs_to :author, as: :user
  acl_policy :owner_else_public, owner: :author
end

When a class explicitly opts into a permissive policy (:public or :owner_else_public), a one-time per-class warning is emitted on first instance creation to make the choice visible in logs:

[Parse::Stack security] PublicNotice uses permissive default ACL policy
`public`. New records can be modified by anyone unless an owner is
resolved at save. Call `acl_policy :owner_else_private` or `:private`
in the class to silence this warning.

The warning fires once per class per process and is automatically suppressed for the SDK's own built-in classes (Parse::User, Parse::Installation, Parse::Session, Parse::Role, Parse::Product, Parse::PushStatus, Parse::Audience, Parse::JobStatus, Parse::JobSchedule). To silence it globally — for example in test suites or in applications that have reviewed and accepted permissive defaults — set either:

Parse::Object.suppress_permissive_acl_warning = true
# or, via the environment:
ENV["PARSE_SUPPRESS_PERMISSIVE_ACL_WARNING"] = "1"

For more information about Parse record ACLs, see the documentation at Security

Parse::CLP (Class-Level Permissions)

Class-Level Permissions (CLPs) control access at the schema level, determining who can perform operations on a class and which fields are visible to different users/roles. Unlike ACLs (which are per-object), CLPs apply to the entire class.

Defining CLPs in Models

Use the set_clp and protect_fields DSL methods to define CLPs:

class Song < Parse::Object
  property :title, :string
  property :artist, :string
  property :internal_notes, :string
  property :royalty_data, :string
  belongs_to :owner

  # Set operation-level permissions
  set_clp :find, public: true
  set_clp :get, public: true
  set_clp :create, public: false, roles: ["Admin", "Editor"]
  set_clp :update, public: false, roles: ["Admin", "Editor"]
  set_clp :delete, public: false, roles: ["Admin"]

  # Protect fields from certain users (use camelCase for JSON field names)
  protect_fields "*", [:internalNotes, :royaltyData]  # Hidden from everyone
  protect_fields "role:Admin", []                      # Admins see everything
  protect_fields "userField:owner", []                 # Owners see their own data
end

Supported Operations: :find, :get, :count, :create, :update, :delete, :addField

Supported Patterns:

  • "*" - Public (everyone)
  • "role:RoleName" - Users with specific role
  • "userField:fieldName" - Users referenced in a pointer field
  • "authenticated" - Any authenticated user
  • User objectId string - Specific user

Filtering Data for Webhook Responses

When returning data from webhooks, use filter_for_user to apply CLP field protection:

# In a webhook handler
def after_find(request)
  user = request.user
  roles = Song.roles_for_user(user)

  # Filter each object for the requesting user
  filtered_results = request.objects.map do |song|
    song.filter_for_user(user, roles: roles)
  end

  # Or use the class method for arrays
  filtered_results = Song.filter_results_for_user(request.objects, user, roles: roles)

  { objects: filtered_results }
end

Protected Fields Intersection Logic

When a user matches multiple patterns, the protected fields are the intersection of all matching patterns. A field is only hidden if it's protected by ALL patterns that apply to the user:

protect_fields "*", [:owner, :secret, :internal]  # Hide from everyone
protect_fields "role:Admin", [:owner]             # Admins: only owner hidden
protect_fields "userField:owner", []              # Owners see everything

# User with Admin role matches "*" and "role:Admin":
# - "*" protects: [owner, secret, internal]
# - "role:Admin" protects: [owner]
# - Intersection: [owner] - only this field is hidden
# - "secret" and "internal" become visible (cleared by role pattern)

# An empty array [] means "no fields protected" (user sees everything)
# If ANY matching pattern has [], the intersection is empty (nothing hidden)

Push CLPs to Parse Server

CLPs are automatically included when upgrading schemas:

# Include CLPs in schema upgrade (default)
Song.auto_upgrade!

# Skip CLPs during schema upgrade
Song.auto_upgrade!(include_clp: false)

# Update only CLPs (no schema changes)
Song.update_clp!

Fetch and Inspect CLPs

# Fetch current CLPs from server
clp = Song.fetch_clp

# Check operation permissions
clp.find_allowed?("*")           # => true (public find allowed)
clp.create_allowed?("*")         # => false (public create denied)
clp.role_allowed?(:create, "Admin")  # => true
clp.requires_authentication?(:update)  # => false

# Get protected fields for a pattern
clp.protected_fields_for("*")          # => ["internalNotes", "royaltyData"]
clp.protected_fields_for("role:Admin") # => []

# Use fetched CLP for filtering
filtered = song.filter_for_user(user, roles: roles, clp: clp)

Owner-Based Access with userField

The userField:fieldName pattern allows owners (users referenced in a pointer field) to have different visibility:

class Document < Parse::Object
  property :content, :string
  property :secret, :string
  belongs_to :owner

  # Hide secret and owner from everyone
  protect_fields "*", [:secret, :owner]
  # But owners of the document can see everything
  protect_fields "userField:owner", []
end

# When filtering:
doc_data = {
  "content" => "Public content",
  "secret" => "Private data",
  "owner" => { "objectId" => "user123", "__type" => "Pointer" }
}

clp = Document.class_permissions

# Owner sees everything
clp.filter_fields(doc_data, user: "user123")
# => { "content" => "...", "secret" => "...", "owner" => {...} }

# Non-owner has protected fields hidden
clp.filter_fields(doc_data, user: "other_user")
# => { "content" => "..." }

This also works with arrays of pointers (e.g., owners: [user1, user2]).

Parse::Session

This class represents the data and columns contained in the standard Parse _Session collection. You may add additional properties and methods to this class. See Session API Reference. You may call Parse.use_shortnames! to use Session in addition to Parse::Session.

You can get a specific Parse::Session given a session_token by using the session method. You can also find the user tied to a specific Parse session or session token with Parse::User.session.

session = Parse::Session.session(token)

session.user # the Parse user for this session

# or fetch user with a session token
user = Parse::User.session(token)

# save an object with the privileges (ACLs) of this user
some_object.save( session: user.session_token )

# delete an object with the privileges of this user
some_object.destroy( session: user.session_token )

Parse::Installation

This class represents the data and columns contained in the standard Parse _Installation collection. You may add additional properties and methods to this class. See Installation API Reference. You may call Parse.use_shortnames! to use Installation in addition to Parse::Installation.

Parse::Product

This class represents the data and columns contained in the standard Parse _Product collection. You may add additional properties and methods to this class. See Product API Reference. You may call Parse.use_shortnames! to use Product in addition to Parse::Product.

The _Product collection backs the original Parse iOS SDK's PFProduct downloadable-content in-app-purchase flow. That feature was tied to hosted Parse and is not actively used by modern Parse Server deployments — most apps now verify in-app purchase receipts directly against the Apple App Store or Google Play. The class is retained for backwards compatibility with legacy applications that still read or write product metadata. It is also marked agent_hidden by default so it does not surface through MCP / agent tooling; applications that genuinely need agent access can call Parse::Product.agent_unhidden at boot.

Parse::Role

This class represents the data and columns contained in the standard Parse _Role collection. You may add additional properties and methods to this class. See Roles API Reference. You may call Parse.use_shortnames! to use Role in addition to Parse::Role.

Default ACL (master-only)

Parse Server requires every _Role row to ship with an ACL — the requirement is hard-coded in SchemaController.requiredColumns and cannot be disabled by config. Parse::Role declares acl_policy :private, so every role saved without an explicit ACL is stamped with {} (master-key only). This is intentional: anonymous and authenticated-but-non-master clients cannot enumerate role names, read membership, or walk the role hierarchy. Parse Server's internal role-membership expansion (used during ACL evaluation) runs with master context, so the master-only default does not break permission checks on other classes.

To opt into broader access, pass an explicit ACL:

acl = Parse::ACL.new
acl.everyone(true, false) # public read, no public write
admin = Parse::Role.find_or_create("Admin", acl: acl)

# or on an instance:
role = Parse::Role.new(name: "Editor")
role.acl = acl
role.save

The explicit ACL bypasses the policy resolver — caller-supplied ACLs are never overwritten.

Role Management Helpers

Parse::Role provides convenient methods for managing users and role hierarchies:

# Find or create roles
admin = Parse::Role.find_by_name("Admin")
moderator = Parse::Role.find_or_create("Moderator")

# Manage users
admin.add_user(user).save
admin.add_users(user1, user2, user3).save
admin.remove_user(user).save
admin.has_user?(user)  # => true

# Role hierarchy (Admins inherit Moderator permissions)
admin.add_child_role(moderator).save
admin.has_child_role?(moderator)  # => true
admin.all_child_roles              # => All child roles recursively
admin.all_users                    # => Users from this role AND child roles

# Counts
admin.users_count        # Direct users
admin.child_roles_count  # Direct child roles
admin.total_users_count  # All users including child roles

Parse::JobStatus

This class represents the data and columns contained in the standard Parse _JobStatus collection. Parse Server writes a row here every time a background job — registered server-side via Parse.Cloud.job(...) — runs, recording its outcome and any status/message updates emitted via request.message(...).

This Ruby SDK cannot define a job (cloud-code registrations live in server-side JavaScript), but you can read from _JobStatus to display the most recent run of a job, count failed runs, or sweep old history rows. Parse::JobStatus is marked agent_hidden by default — _JobStatus carries operational signal (job names, error traces, scheduler parameters) that an LLM-driven agent should not enumerate unsolicited. Applications that need agent visibility can call Parse::JobStatus.agent_unhidden at boot.

# Did the nightly cleanup run today? What's the latest state?
latest = Parse::JobStatus.latest_for("nightlyCleanup")
puts "#{latest.status} at #{latest.created_at}"
puts "Duration: #{latest.duration}s" if latest.finished?

# Find failed jobs in the last 24h
yesterday = Time.now - 86_400
Parse::JobStatus.failed.where(:created_at.gt => yesterday).all

# Status scopes
Parse::JobStatus.running       # => Parse::Query
Parse::JobStatus.succeeded     # => Parse::Query
Parse::JobStatus.failed        # => Parse::Query
Parse::JobStatus.recent(limit: 50)

# Instance predicates
js.running?    # status == "running"
js.succeeded?  # status == "succeeded"
js.failed?     # status == "failed"
js.finished?   # finished_at present OR status terminal
js.duration    # finished_at - created_at, or nil while in-flight

Cleanup helper

Parse Server does not garbage-collect _JobStatus rows on its own; long-running deployments accumulate run history indefinitely. Parse::JobStatus.cleanup_older_than! mirrors Parse::Installation.cleanup_stale_tokens! for this case:

# Default: only destroy rows in a terminal state (succeeded/failed)
# and older than 30 days. Orphaned `status == "running"` rows (from a
# crashed worker) are PRESERVED so an in-flight job is never reaped
# mid-execution.
deleted_count = Parse::JobStatus.cleanup_older_than!(days: 30)

# Explicit orphan cleanup: drop the status guard.
Parse::JobStatus.cleanup_older_than!(days: 7, terminal_only: false)

The helper requires master-key access (Parse Server's default _JobStatus CLP). Run from a periodic cron or scheduled job to keep _JobStatus from growing unboundedly.

Parse::JobSchedule

This class represents the data and columns contained in the standard Parse _JobSchedule collection. Rows here define recurring runs for background jobs registered via Parse.Cloud.job(...). The collection is populated by the Parse Dashboard's "Schedule a Job" UI.

Note: Parse Server itself does not auto-trigger jobs from _JobSchedule rows. The actual dispatch is performed by external scheduling tooling (e.g. parse-server-scheduler, dashboard-driven cron wrappers, or a sidecar process) that reads _JobSchedule and fires POST /parse/jobs/<name> at the appropriate times. Run-status rows then appear in Parse::JobStatus.

Parse::JobSchedule is marked agent_hidden by default because params may carry credentials or destination configuration written by external schedulers.

schedule = Parse::JobSchedule.for_job("nightlyCleanup").first
schedule.time_of_day   # => "03:00:00"
schedule.days_of_week  # => ["mon","tue","wed","thu","fri"]
schedule.parsed_params # => { "dryRun" => false }  — JSON-decoded

params is stored on the wire as a JSON-encoded string per Parse Server's canonical schema (Object columns reject $ and . in nested keys, which would otherwise break common payload shapes). Use #parsed_params to decode; it returns nil for blank or invalid JSON instead of raising. last_run is a raw Number whose unit is scheduler-defined — most external schedulers write Date.now() milliseconds, but the canonical schema does not pin a unit.

Parse::User

This class represents the data and columns contained in the standard Parse _User collection. You may add additional properties and methods to this class. See User API Reference. You may call Parse.use_shortnames! to use User in addition to Parse::User.

Signup

You can signup new users in two ways. You can either use a class method Parse::User.signup to create a new user with the minimum fields of username, password and email, or create a Parse::User object can call the signup! method. If signup fails, it will raise the corresponding exception.

user = Parse::User.(username, password, email)

#or
user = Parse::User.new username: "user", password: "s3cret"
user.signup!
Third-Party Services

You can signup users using third-party services like Facebook and Twitter as described in: Signing Up and Logging In. To do this with Parse-Stack, you can call the Parse::User.autologin_service method by passing the service name and the corresponding authentication hash data. For a listing of supported third-party authentication services, see OAuth.

fb_auth = {}
fb_auth[:id] = "123456789"
fb_auth[:access_token] = "SaMpLeAAiZBLR995wxBvSGNoTrEaL"
fb_auth[:expiration_date] = "2025-02-21T23:49:36.353Z"

# signup or login a user with this auth data.
user = Parse::User.autologin_service(:facebook, fb_auth)

You may also combine both approaches of signing up a new user with a third-party service and set additional custom fields. For this, use the method Parse::User.create.

# or to signup a user with additional data, but linked to Facebook
data = {
  username: "johnsmith",
  name: "John",
  email: "user@example.com",
  authData: { facebook: fb_auth }
}
user = Parse::User.create data

Login and Sessions

With the Parse::User class, you can also perform login and logout functionality. The class special accessors for session_token and session to manage its authentication state. This will allow you to authenticate users as well as perform Parse queries as a specific user using their session token. To login a user, use the Parse::User.login method by supplying the corresponding username and password, or if you already have a user record, use login! with the proper password.

user = Parse::User.(username,password)
user.session_token # session token from a Parse::Session
user.session # Parse::Session tied to the token

 # You can login user records
user = Parse::User.first
user.session_token # nil

passwd = 'p_n7!-e8' # corresponding password
user.login!(passwd) # true

user.session_token # 'r:pnktnjyb996sj4p156gjtp4im'

 # logout to delete the session
user.logout

If you happen to already have a valid session token, you can use it to retrieve the corresponding Parse::User.

# finds user with session token
user = Parse::User.session(session_token)

user.logout # deletes the corresponding session

Linking and Unlinking

You can link or unlink user accounts with third-party services like Facebook and Twitter as described in: Linking and Unlinking Users. To do this, you must first get the corresponding authentication data for the specific service, and then apply it to the user using the linking and unlinking methods. Each method returns true or false if the action was successful. For a listing of supported third-party authentication services, see OAuth.


user = Parse::User.first

fb_auth = { ... } # Facebook auth data

# Link this user's Facebook account with Parse
user.link_auth_data! :facebook, fb_auth

# Unlinks this user's Facebook account from Parse
user.unlink_auth_data! :facebook

Request Password Reset

You can reset a user's password using the Parse::User.request_password_reset method.

user = Parse::User.first

# pass a user object
Parse::User.request_password_reset user
# or email
Parse::User.request_password_reset("user@example.com")

Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)

Parse-Stack provides comprehensive MFA support that integrates with Parse Server's built-in MFA adapter. This enables TOTP (Time-based One-Time Password) authentication with apps like Google Authenticator, Authy, or 1Password.

Prerequisites:

  • Parse Server must have the MFA adapter enabled
  • Add optional gems to your Gemfile: gem 'rotp' and gem 'rqrcode'

Parse Server Configuration:

{
  auth: {
    mfa: {
      enabled: true,
      options: ["TOTP"],
      digits: 6,
      period: 30,
      algorithm: "SHA1"
    }
  }
}

Setting Up MFA:

# Configure the issuer name shown in authenticator apps
Parse::MFA.configure do |config|
  config[:issuer] = "MyApp"
end

# Step 1: Generate a TOTP secret
secret = Parse::MFA.generate_secret

# Step 2: Display QR code to the user
qr_svg = user.mfa_qr_code(secret, issuer: "MyApp")
# Render in HTML: <%= raw qr_svg %>

# Step 3: User scans QR and enters code from their authenticator
recovery_codes = user.setup_mfa!(secret: secret, token: "123456")
# IMPORTANT: Display recovery codes to user - they can only see them once!

Logging In with MFA:

# Login with username, password, and MFA token
user = Parse::User.("username", "password", "123456")

# Check if MFA is required before login
if Parse::User.mfa_required?("username")
  # Prompt for MFA token
end

Managing MFA:

# Check MFA status
user.mfa_enabled?  # => true
user.mfa_status    # => :enabled, :disabled, or :unknown

# Disable MFA (requires current token)
user.disable_mfa!(current_token: "123456")

# Admin reset (requires master key)
user.disable_mfa_admin!

SMS MFA (requires Parse Server SMS callback):

# Initiate SMS setup
user.setup_sms_mfa!(mobile: "+1234567890")

# Confirm with received code
user.confirm_sms_mfa!(mobile: "+1234567890", token: "123456")

Error Handling:

begin
  user = Parse::User.(username, password, token)
rescue Parse::MFA::RequiredError
  # MFA token was not provided but is required
rescue Parse::MFA::VerificationError
  # Invalid MFA token
end

Modeling and Subclassing

For the general case, your Parse classes should inherit from Parse::Object. Parse::Object utilizes features from ActiveModel to add several features to each instance of your subclass. These include Dirty, Conversion, Callbacks, Naming and Serializers::JSON.

To get started use the property and has_many methods to setup declarations for your fields. Properties define literal values that are columns in your Parse class. These can be any of the base Parse data types. You will not need to define classes for the basic Parse class types - this includes "_User", "_Installation", "_Session" and "_Role". These are mapped to Parse::User, Parse::Installation, Parse::Session and Parse::Role respectively.

To get started, you define your classes based on Parse::Object. By default, the name of the class is used as the name of the remote Parse class. For a class Post, we will assume there is a remote camel-cased Parse table called Post. If you need to map the local class name to a different remote class, use the parse_class method.

class Post < Parse::Object
    # assumes Parse class "Post"
end

class Commentary < Parse::Object
    # set remote class "Comment"
    parse_class "Comment"
end

Defining Properties

Properties are considered a literal-type of association. This means that a defined local property maps directly to a column name for that remote Parse class which contain the value. All properties are implicitly formatted to map to a lower-first camelcase version in Parse (remote). Therefore a local property defined as like_count, would be mapped to the remote column of likeCount automatically. The only special behavior to this rule is the :id property which maps to objectId in Parse. This implicit conversion mapping is the default behavior, but can be changed on a per-property basis. All Parse data types are supported and all Parse::Object subclasses already provide definitions for :id (objectId), :created_at (createdAt), :updated_at (updatedAt) and :acl (ACL) properties.

  • :string (default) - a generic string. Can be used as an enum field, see Enum.
  • :integer (alias :int) - basic number. Will also generate atomic _increment! helper method.
  • :float - a floating numeric value. Will also generate atomic _increment! helper method.
  • :boolean (alias :bool) - true/false value. This will also generate a class scope helper. See Query Scopes.
  • :date - a Parse date type. See Parse::Date.
  • :timezone - a time zone object. See Parse::TimeZone.
  • :array - a heterogeneous list with dirty tracking. See Parse::CollectionProxy.
  • :file - a Parse file type. See Parse::File.
  • :geopoint - a GeoPoint type. See Parse::GeoPoint.
  • :bytes - a Parse bytes data type managed as base64. See Parse::Bytes.
  • :object - an object "hash" data type. See ActiveSupport::HashWithIndifferentAccess.

For completeness, the :id and :acl data types are also defined in order to handle the Parse objectId field and the ACL object. Those are special and should not be used in your class (unless you know what you are doing). New data types can be implemented through the internal typecast interface. TODO: discuss typecast interface in the future

When declaring a :boolean data type, it will also create a special method that uses the ? convention. As an example, if you have a property named approved, the normal getter obj.approved can return true, false or nil based on the value in Parse. However with the obj.approved? method, it will return true if it set to true, false for any other value.

When declaring an :integer or :float type, it will also create a special method that performs an atomic increment of that field through the _increment! and _decrement! methods. If you have defined a property named like_count for one of these numeric types, which would create the normal getter/setter obj.like_count; you can now also call obj.like_count_increment! or obj.like_count_decrement! to perform the atomic operations (done server side) on this field. You may also pass an amount as an argument to these helper methods such as obj.like_count_increment!(3).

Using the example above, we can add the base properties to our classes.

class Post < Parse::Object
  property :title
  property :content, :string # explicit

  # treat the values of this field as symbols instead of strings.
  property :category, :string, symbolize: true

  # maybe a count of comments.
  property :comment_count, :integer, default: 0

  # use lambda to access the instance object.
  # Set draft_date to the created_at date if empty.
  property :draft_date, :date, default: lambda { |x| x.created_at }
  # the published date. Maps to "publishDate"
  property :publish_date, :date, default: lambda { |x| DateTime.now }

  # maybe whether it is currently visible
  property :visible, :boolean

  # a list using
  property :tags, :array

  # string column as enumerated type. see :enum
  property :status, enum: [:active, :archived]

  # Maps to "featuredImage" column representing a File.
  property :featured_image, :file

  property :location, :geopoint

  # Support bytes
  property :data, :bytes

  # A field that contains time zone information (ex. 'America/Los_Angeles')
  property :time_zone, :timezone

  # store SEO information. Make sure we map it to the column
  # "SEO", otherwise it would have implicitly used "seo"
  # as the remote column name
  property :seo, :object, field: "SEO"
end

After properties are defined, you can use appropriate getter and setter methods to modify the values. As properties become modified, the model will keep track of the changes using the dirty tracking feature of ActiveModel. If an attribute is modified in-place then make use of [attribute_name]_will_change! to mark that the attribute is changing. Otherwise ActiveModel can't track changes to in-place attributes.

To support dirty tracking on properties of data type of :array, we utilize a proxy class called Parse::CollectionProxy. This class has special functionality which allows lazy loading of content as well and keeping track of the changes that are made. While you are able to access the internal array on the collection through the #collection method, it is important not to make in-place edits to the object. You should use the preferred methods of #add and #remove to modify the contents of the collection. When #save is called on the object, the changes will be committed to Parse.

post = Post.first
post.tags.each do |tag|
  puts tag
end
post.tags.empty? # false
post.tags.count # 3
array = post.tags.to_a # get array

# Add
post.tags.add "music", "tech"
post.tags.remove "stuff"
post.save # commit changes

Accessor Aliasing

To enable easy conversion between incoming Parse attributes, which may be different than the locally labeled attribute, we make use of aliasing accessors with their remote field names. As an example, for a Post instance and its publish_date property, it would have an accessor defined for both publish_date and publishDate (or whatever value you passed as the :field option) that map to the same attribute. We highly discourage turning off this feature, but if you need to, you can pass the value of false to the :alias option when defining the property.

 # These are equivalent
post.publish_date = DateTime.now
post.publishDate = DateTime.now
post.publish_date == post.publishDate

post.seo # ok
post.SEO # the alias method since 'field: "SEO"'

Property Options

These are the supported options when defining properties. Parse::Objects are backed by ActiveModel, which means you can add additional validations and features supported by that library.

:required

A boolean property. This option provides information to the property builder that it is a required property. The requirement is not strongly enforced for a save, which means even though the value for the property may not be present, saves and updates can be successfully performed. However, the setting required to true, it will set some ActiveModel validations on the property to be used when calling valid?. By default it will add a validates_presence_of for the property key. If the data type of the property is either :integer or :float, it will also add a validates_numericality_of validation. Default false.

:field

This option allows you to set the name of the remote column for the Parse table. Using this will explicitly set the remote property name to the value of this option. The value provided for this option will affect the name of the alias method that is generated when alias option is used. By default, the name of the remote column is the lower-first camelcase version of the property name. As an example, for a property with key :my_property_name, the framework will implicitly assume that the remote column is myPropertyName.

:default

This option provides you to set a default value for a specific property when the getter accessor method is used and the internal value of the instance object's property is nil. It can either take a literal value or a Proc/lambda.

class SomeClass < Parse::Object
    # default value
    property :category, default: "myValue"
    # default value Proc style
    property :date, default: lambda { |x| DateTime.now }
end
:alias

A boolean property. It is highly recommended that this is set to true, which is the default. This option allows for the generation of the additional accessors with the value of :field. By allowing two accessors methods, aliased to each other, allows for easier importing and automatic object instantiation based on Parse object JSON data into the Parse::Object subclass.

:symbolize

A boolean property. This option is only available for fields with data type of :string. This allows you to utilize the values for this property as symbols instead of the literal strings, which is Parse's storage format. This feature is useful if a particular property represents a set of enumerable states described in string form. As an example, if you have a Post object which has a set of publish states stored in Parse as "draft","scheduled", and "published" - we can use ruby symbols to make our code easier.

class Post < Parse::Object
    property :state, :string, symbolize: true
end

post = Post.first
 # the value returned is auto-symbolized
if post.state == :draft
    # will be converted to string when updated in Parse
    post.state = :published
    post.save
end
:enum

The enum option allows you to define an array of possible values that the particular :string property should hold. This feature has similarities in the methods and accessors generated for you as described in ActiveRecord::Enum. Using the example in that documentation:

class Conversation < Parse::Object
  property :status, enum: [ :active, :archived ]
end

Conversation.statuses # => [ :active, :archived ]

# named scopes
Conversation.active # where status: :active
Conversation.archived(limit: 10) # where status: :archived, limit 10

conversation.active! # sets status to active!
conversation.active? # => true
conversation.status  # => :active

conversation.archived!
conversation.archived? # => true
conversation.status    # => :archived

# equivalent
conversation.status = "archived"
conversation.status = :archived

# allowed by the setter
conversation.status = :banana
conversation.status_valid? # => false

Similar to ActiveRecord::Enum, you can use the :_prefix or :_suffix options when you need to define multiple enums with same values. If the passed value is true, the methods are prefixed/suffixed with the name of the enum. It is also possible to supply a custom value:

class Conversation < Parse::Object
  property :status, enum: [:active, :archived], _suffix: true
  property :comments_status, enum: [:active, :inactive], _prefix: :comments
  # combined
  property :discussion, enum: [:casual, :business], _prefix: :talk, _suffix: true
end

Conversation.statuses # => [:active, :archived]
Conversation.comments # => [:active, :inactive]
Conversation.talks # => [:casual, :business]

# affects scopes names
Conversation.archived_status
Conversation.comments_inactive
Conversation.business_talk

conversation.active_status!
conversation.archived_status? # => false

conversation.status = :banana
conversation.valid_status? # => false

conversation.comments_inactive!
conversation.comments_active? # => false

conversation.casual_talk!
conversation.business_talk? # => false
:scope

A boolean property. For some data types like :boolean and enums, some query scopes are generated to more easily query data. To prevent generating these scopes for a particular property, set this value to false.

Associations

Parse supports a three main types of relational associations. One type of relation is the One-to-One association. This is implemented through a specific column in Parse with a Pointer data type. This pointer column, contains a local value that refers to a different record in a separate Parse table. This association is implemented using the :belongs_to feature. The second association is of One-to-Many. This is implemented is in Parse as a Array type column that contains a list of of Parse pointer objects. It is recommended by Parse that this array does not exceed 100 items for performance reasons. This feature is implemented using the :has_many operation with the plural name of the local Parse class. The last association type is a Parse Relation. These can be used to implement a large Many-to-Many association without requiring an explicit intermediary Parse table or class. This feature is also implemented using the :has_many method but passing the option of :relation.

Belongs To

This association creates a one-to-one association with another Parse model. This association says that this class contains a foreign pointer column which references a different class. Utilizing the belongs_to method in defining a property in a Parse::Object subclass sets up an association between the local table and a foreign table. Specifying the belongs_to in the class, tells the framework that the Parse table contains a local column in its schema that has a reference to a record in a foreign table. The argument to belongs_to should be the singularized version of the foreign Parse::Object class. you should specify the foreign table as the snake_case singularized version of the foreign table class. It is important to note that the reverse relationship is not generated automatically.

class Author < Parse::Object
    property :name
end

class Comment < Parse::Object
    belongs_to :user # Parse::User
end

class Post < Parse::Object
    belongs_to :author
end

post = Post.first
 # Follow the author pointer and get name
post.author.name

other_author = Author.first
 # change author by setting new pointer
post.author = other_author
post.save
Options

You can override some of the default functionality when creating both belongs_to, has_one and has_many associations.

:required

A boolean property. Setting the requirement, automatically creates an ActiveModel validation of validates_presence_of for the association. This will not prevent the save, but affects the validation check when valid? is called on an instance. Default is false.

:as

This option allows you to override the foreign Parse class that this association refers while allowing you to have a different accessor name. As an example, you may have a class Band which has a manager who is of type Parse::User and a set of band members, represented by the class Artist. You can override the default casting class as follows:

 # represents a member of a band or group
class Artist < Parse::Object
end

class Band < Parse::Object
    belongs_to :manager, as: :user
    belongs_to :lead_singer, as: :artist
    belongs_to :drummer, as: :artist
end

band = Band.first
band.manager # Parse::User object
band.lead_singer # Artist object
band.drummer # Artist object
:field

This option allows you to set the name of the remote Parse column for this property. Using this will explicitly set the remote property name to the value of this option. The value provided for this option will affect the name of the alias method that is generated when alias option is used. By default, the name of the remote column is the lower-first camel case version of the property name. As an example, for a property with key :my_property_name, the framework will implicitly assume that the remote column is myPropertyName.

Has One

The has_one creates a one-to-one association with another Parse class. This association says that the other class in the association contains a foreign pointer column which references instances of this class. If your model contains a column that is a Parse pointer to another class, you should use belongs_to for that association instead.

Defining a has_one property generates a helper query method to fetch a particular record from a foreign class. This is useful for setting up the inverse relationship accessors of a belongs_to. In the case of the has_one relationship, the :field option represents the name of the column of the foreign class where the Parse pointer is stored. By default, the lower-first camel case version of the Parse class name is used.

In the example below, a Band has a local column named manager which has a pointer to a Parse::User record. This setups up the accessor for Band objects to access the band's manager.

# every band has a manager
class Band < Parse::Object
    belongs_to :manager, as: :user
end

band = Band.first id: '12345'
# the user represented by this manager
user = band.manger

Since we know there is a column named manager in the Band class that points to a single Parse::User, you can setup the inverse association read accessor in the Parse::User class. Note, that to change the association, you need to modify the manager property on the band instance since it contains the belongs_to property.

# every user manages a band
class Parse::User
  # inverse relationship to `Band.belongs_to :manager`
  has_one :band, field: :manager
end

user = Parse::User.first
# use the generated has_one accessor `band`.
user.band # similar to query: Band.first(:manager => user)

You may optionally use has_one with scopes, in order to fine tune the query result. Using the example above, you can customize the query with a scope that only fetches the association if the band is approved. If the association cannot be fetched, nil is returned.

# adding to previous example
class Band < Parse::Object
  property :approved, :boolean
  property :approved_date, :date
end

# every user manages a band
class Parse::User
  has_one :recently_approved, ->{ where(order: :approved_date.desc) }, field: :manager, as: :band
  has_one :band_by_status, ->(status) { where(approved: status) },  field: :manager, as: :band
end

# gets the band most recently approved
user.recently_approved
# equivalent: Band.first(manager: user, order: :approved_date.desc)

# fetch the managed band that is not approved
user.band_by_status(false)
# equivalent: Band.first(manager: user, approved: false)

Has Many

Parse has many ways to implement one-to-many and many-to-many associations: Array, Parse Relation or through a Query. How you decide to implement your associations, will affect how has_many works in Parse-Stack. Parse natively supports one-to-many and many-to-many relationships using Array and Relations, as described in Relational Data. Both of these methods require you define a specific column type in your Parse table that will be used to store information about the association.

In addition to Array and Relation, Parse-Stack also implements the standard has_many behavior prevalent in other frameworks through a query where the associated class contains a foreign pointer to the local class, usually the inverse of a belongs_to. This requires that the associated class has a defined column that contains a pointer the refers to the defining class.

Query

In this implementation, a has_many association for a Parse class requires that another Parse class will have a foreign pointer that refers to instances of this class. This is the standard way that has_many relationships work in most databases systems. This is usually the case when you have a class that has a belongs_to relationship to instances of the local class.

In the example below, many songs belong to a specific artist. We set this association by setting :belongs_to relationship from Song to Artist. Knowing there is a column in Song that points to instances of an Artist, we can setup a has_many association to Song instances in the Artist class. Doing so will generate a helper query method on the Artist instance objects.

class Song < Parse::Object
  property :released, :date
  # this class will have a pointer column to an Artist
  belongs_to :artist
end

class Artist < Parse::Object
  has_many :songs
end

artist = Artist.first

artist.songs # => [all songs belonging to artist]
# equivalent: Song.all(artist: artist)

# filter also by release date
artist.songs(:released.after => 1.year.ago)
# equivalent: Song.all(artist: artist, :released.after => 1.year.ago)

In order to modify the associated objects (ex. songs), you must modify their corresponding belongs_to field (in this case song.artist), to another record and save it.

Options for has_many using this approach are :as and :field. The :as option behaves similarly to the :belongs_to counterpart. The :field option can be used to override the derived column name located in the foreign class. The default value for :field is the columnized version of the Parse subclass parse_class method.

class Parse::User
  # since the foreign column name is :agent
  has_many :artists, field: :agent
end

class Artist < Parse::Object
  belongs_to :manager, as: :user, field: :agent
end

artist.manager # => Parse::User object

user.artists # => [artists where :agent column is user]

When using this approach, you may also employ the use of scopes to filter the particular data from the has_many association.

class Artist
  has_many :songs, ->(timeframe) { where(:created_at.after => timeframe) }
end

artist.songs(6.months.ago)
# => [artist's songs created in the last 6 months]

You may also call property methods in your scopes related to the local class. You also have access to the instance object for the local class through a special :i method in the scope.

class Concert
  property :city
  belongs_to :artist
end

class Artist
  property :hometown
  has_many :local_concerts, -> { where(:city => hometown) }, as: :concerts
end

# assume
artist.hometown = "San Diego"

# artist's concerts in their hometown of 'San Diego'
artist.local_concerts
# equivalent: Concert.all(artist: artist, city: artist.hometown)
Array

In this implementation, you can designate a column to be of Array type that contains a list of Parse pointers. Parse-Stack supports this by passing the option through: :array to the has_many method. If you use this approach, it is recommended that this is used for associations where the quantity is less than 100 in order to maintain query and fetch performance. You would be in charge of maintaining the array with the proper list of Parse pointers that are associated to the object. Parse-Stack does help by wrapping the array in a Parse::PointerCollectionProxy which provides dirty tracking.

class Artist < Parse::Object
end

class Band < Parse::Object
    has_many :artists, through: :array
end

artist = Artist.first

# find all bands that contain this artist
bands = Band.all( :artists.in => [artist.pointer] )

band = bands.first
band.artists # => [array of Artist pointers]

# remove artists
band.artists.remove artist

# add artist
band.artists.add artist

# save changes
band.save
Parse Relation

Other than the use of arrays, Parse supports native one-to-many and many-to-many associations through what is referred to as a Parse Relation. This is implemented by defining a column to be of type Relation which refers to a foreign class. Parse-Stack supports this by passing the through: :relation option to the has_many method. Designating a column as a Parse relation to another class type, will create a one-way intermediate "join-list" between the local class and the foreign class. One important distinction of this compared to other types of data stores (ex. PostgresSQL) is that:

  1. The inverse relationship association is not available automatically. Therefore, having a column of artists in a Band class that relates to members of the band (as Artist class), does not automatically make a set of Band records available to Artist records for which they have been related. If you need to maintain both the inverse relationship between a foreign class to its associations, you will need to manually manage that by adding two Parse relation columns in each class, or by creating a separate class (ex. ArtistBands) that is used as a join table.
  2. Querying the relation is actually performed against the implicit join table, not the local one.
  3. Applying query constraints for a set of records within a relation is performed against the foreign table class, not the class having the relational column.

The Parse documentation provides more details on associations, see Parse Relations Guide. Parse-Stack will handle the work for (2) and (3) automatically.

In the example below, a Band can have thousands of Fans. We setup a Relation<Fan> column in the Band class that references the Fan class. Parse-Stack provides methods to manage the relationship under the Parse::RelationCollectionProxy class.


class Fan < Parse::Object
  # .. lots of properties ...
    property :location, :geopoint
end

class Band < Parse::Object
    has_many :fans, through: :relation 
end

band = Band.first

 # the number of fans in the relation
band.fans.count

# get the first object in relation
fan = bands.fans.first # => Parse::User object

# use `add` or `remove` to modify relations
band.fans.add user
band.fans.add_unique user # no op
bands.fans.remove user

# updates the relation as well as changes to `band`
band.fans.save

# Find 50 fans who are near San Diego, CA
downtown = Parse::GeoPoint.new(32.82, -117.23)
fans = band.fans.all :location.near => downtown

You can perform atomic additions and removals of objects from has_many relations. Parse allows this by providing a specific atomic operation request. You can use the methods below to perform these types of atomic operations. Note: The operation is performed directly on Parse server and not on your instance object.


# atomically add/remove
band.artists.add! objects  # { __op: :AddUnique }
band.artists.remove! objects  # { __op: :AddUnique }

# atomically add unique Artist
band.artists.add_unique! objects  # { __op: :AddUnique }

# atomically add/remove relations
band.fans.add! users # { __op: :Add }
band.fans.remove! users # { __op: :Remove }

# atomically perform a delete operation on this field name
# this should set it as `undefined`.
band.op_destroy!("category") # { __op: :Delete }

You can also perform queries against class entities to find related objects. Assume that users can like a band. The Band class can have a likes column that is a Parse relation to the Parse::User class containing the users who have liked a specific band.

  # assume the schema
  class Band < Parse::Object
    # likes is a Parse relation column of user objects.
    has_many :likes, through: :relation, as: :user
  end

You can now find all Parse::User records that have "liked" a specific band. In the example below, the :likes key refers to the likes column defined in the Band collection which contains the set of user records.

  band = Band.first # get a band
  # find all users who have liked this band, where :likes is a column
  # in the Band collection - NOT in the User collection.
  users = Parse::User.all :likes.related_to => band

  # or use the relation accessor in band. It is equivalent since Band is
  # declared with a :has_many association.
  band.likes.all # => array of Parse::Users who liked the band

You can also find all bands that a specific user has liked.

  user = Parse::User.first
  # find all bands where this user is contained in the `likes` Parse relation column
  # of the Band collection
  bands_liked_by_user = Band.all :likes => user
Options

Options for has_many are the same as the belongs_to counterpart with support for :required, :as and :field. It has these additional options.

:through

This sets the type of the has_many relation whose possible values are :array, :relation or :query (implicit default). If set to :array, it defines the column in Parse as being an array of Parse pointer objects and will be managed locally using a Parse::PointerCollectionProxy. If set to :relation, it defines a column of type Parse Relation with the foreign class and will be managed locally using a Parse::RelationCollectionProxy. If set to :query, no storage is required on the local class as the associated records will be fetched using a Parse query.

:scope_only

Setting this option to true, makes the association fetch based only on the scope provided and does not use the local instance object as a foreign pointer in the query. This allows for cases where another property of the local class, is needed to match the resulting records in the association.

In the example below, the Post class does not have a :belongs_to association to Author, but using the author's name, we can find related posts.


class Author < Parse::Object
  property :name
  has_many :posts, ->{ where :tags.in => name.downcase }, scope_only: true
end

class Post < Parse::Object
  property :tags, :array
end

author.posts # => Posts where author's name is a tag
# equivalent: Post.all( :tags.in => artist.name.downcase )

Creating, Saving and Deleting Records

This section provides some of the basic methods when creating, updating and deleting objects from Parse. Additional documentation for these APIs can be found under Parse::Core::Actions. To illustrate the various methods available for saving Parse records, we use this example class:


class Artist < Parse::Object
  property :name
  belongs_to :manager, as: :user
end

class Song < Parse::Object
    property :name
    property :audio_file, :file
    property :released, :date
    property :available, :boolean, default: true
    belongs_to :artist
    has_many :fans, as: :user, through: :relation
end

Create

To create a new object you can call #new while passing a hash of attributes you want to set. You can then use the property accessors to also modify individual properties. As you modify properties, you can access dirty tracking state and data using the generated ActiveModel::Dirty features. When you are ready to commit the new object to Parse, you can call #save.

song = Song.new name: "My Old Song"
song.new? # true
song.id # nil
song.released = DateTime.now
song.changed? # true
song.changed # ['name', 'released']
song.name_changed? # true

# commit changes
song.save

song.new? # false
song.id # 'hZLbW6ofKC'
song.name = "My New Song"
song.name_was # "My Old Song"
song.changed # ['name']

Upsert Operations

Parse-Stack provides Rails-style upsert methods that follow ActiveRecord conventions for finding or creating objects with optimized performance.

first_or_create

Find the first object matching the query conditions, or create a new unsaved object with the attributes. This follows Rails conventions where existing objects are returned unchanged, and new objects are created but not automatically saved.

# Find existing song or create new unsaved object
song = Song.first_or_create(name: "Awesome Song", available: true)
if song.new?
  song.released = 1.day.from_now
  song.save  # Manually save when ready
end

# If found, returns existing object unchanged
song = Song.first_or_create(name: "Awesome Song", available: true)
song.id # 'xyz1122df' - found existing object

You can separate query conditions from creation attributes by using two hash parameters:

# Query by name, but set additional attributes only if creating
song = Song.first_or_create(
  { name: "Long Way Home" },           # Query conditions  
  { released: DateTime.now, genre: "rock" }  # Additional attributes for new objects
)

first_or_create!

Similar to first_or_create, but automatically saves new objects. Existing objects are returned unchanged.

# Find existing OR create and save new object
song = Song.first_or_create!(name: "New Song", available: true)
song.id # Always has an objectId (either found or newly saved)

create_or_update!

Find the first object matching query conditions and update it with new attributes, or create a new saved object. Includes performance optimizations to skip saves when no changes are detected.

# Update existing song or create new one
song = Song.create_or_update!(
  { name: "My Song" },                    # Query conditions
  { released: Time.now, plays: 100 }     # Attributes to update/set
)

# Performance optimization: no save occurs if attributes are identical
song = Song.create_or_update!(
  { name: "My Song" },
  { released: song.released }  # Same value - no save performed
)

Key Benefits:

  • Performance optimized: Only saves when actual changes are detected
  • Rails conventions: first_or_create doesn't modify existing objects
  • Flexible: Separate query and attribute parameters for complex scenarios
  • Batch friendly: Unsaved objects can be grouped for efficient batch operations

Concurrency-safe upsert with synchronize:

By default first_or_create! and create_or_update! have a TOCTOU window: two concurrent callers can both find no match, both create, and both succeed — producing duplicates. Pass synchronize: true to serialize the find→create→save sequence through a Moneta-backed mutex (typically Redis):

# Per-call opt-in
User.first_or_create!({ email: e }, { name: n }, synchronize: true)

# Tune the lock parameters per call
Order.create_or_update!({ ref: r }, { status: "open" },
                        synchronize: { ttl: 5, wait: 1.0 })

# Enable globally for the whole app
Parse.synchronize_create_default = true
# or set ENV["PARSE_STACK_SYNCHRONIZE_CREATE"]=true at process start

# Per-class default
class User < Parse::Object
  self.synchronize_create_default = true
end

# Pass synchronize: false to override the global / per-class default
User.first_or_create!({ email: e }, {}, synchronize: false)

# Restrict the lock surface to specific classes (recommended when enabling globally)
Parse.synchronize_classes = [User, Device, Subscription]

The lock is a latency optimization; the durable correctness floor is a MongoDB unique index on the dedup tuple. When such an index exists, the synchronize wrapper rescues Parse code 137 (DuplicateValue) and re-queries inside the held lock to return the winner. On a process-local Moneta store (no Redis), the lock degrades to a per-key Mutex and emits a [Parse::CreateLock] warning. Configure Parse.synchronize_create_secret (or ENV["PARSE_STACK_LOCK_SECRET"]) to HMAC the lock keys against query_attrs content exposure via Redis MONITOR / snapshots.

Saving

To commit a new record or changes to an existing record to Parse, use the #save method. The method will automatically detect whether it is a new object or an existing one and call the appropriate workflow. The use of ActiveModel dirty tracking allows us to send only the changes that were made to the object when saving. Saving a record will take care of both saving all the changed properties, and associations. However, any modified linked objects (ex. belongs_to) need to be saved independently.

 song = Song.new(name: "Awesome Song") # Pass in a hash to the new method
 song.name = "Super Song" # Set individual property

 # Set multiple properties at once
 song.attributes = { name: "Best Song", released: DateTime.now }

 song.artist = Artist.first
 song.artist.name = "New Band Name"
 # add a fan to this song. Note this is a Parse Relation
 song.fans.add = Parse::User.first

 # saves changed properties, associations and relations.
 song.save

 song.artist.save # to commit the changes made to 'name'.

 songs = Song.all( :available => false)
 songs.each { |song| song.available = true }

 # uses a Parse batch operation for efficiency
 songs.save # save the rest of the items

The save operation can handle both creating and updating existing objects. If you do not want to update the association data of a changed object, you may use the #update method to only save the changed property values. In the case where you want to force update an object even though it has not changed, to possibly trigger your before_save hooks, you can use the #update! method. In addition, just like with other ActiveModel objects, you may call reload! to fetch the current record again from the data store.

Saving applying User ACLs

You may save and delete objects from Parse on behalf of a logged in user by passing the session token to the call to save or destroy. Doing so will allow Parse to apply the ACLs of this user against the record to see if the user is authorized to read or write the record. See Parse::Actions.

  user = Parse::User.('myuser','pass')

  song = Song.first
  song.title = "My New Title"
  # save this song as if you were this user.
  # If the user does not have access rights, it will fail
  song.save session: user.session_token
  # shorthand: song.save session: user

Raising an exception when save fails

By default, we return true or false for save and destroy operations. If you prefer to have Parse::Object raise an exception instead, you can tell to do so either globally or on a per-model basis. When a save fails, it will raise a Parse::RecordNotSaved.

 # globally across all models
 Parse::Model.raise_on_save_failure = true
 Song.raise_on_save_failure = true  # per-model

 # or per-instance raise on failure
 song.save!

When enabled, if an error is returned by Parse due to saving or destroying a record, due to your before_save or before_delete validation cloud code triggers, Parse::Object will return the a Parse::RecordNotSaved exception type. This exception has an instance method of #object which contains the object that failed to save.

Enhanced Object Fetching

Parse-Stack provides enhanced methods for fetching object data from Parse Server with improved consistency and flexibility.

fetch and fetch_object

Both Parse::Pointer and Parse::Object support enhanced fetching methods that provide consistent behavior across different object types.

# Enhanced fetch method with returnObject parameter (defaults to true)
pointer = Parse::Pointer.new("Song", "xyz123")
song_object = pointer.fetch(true)  # Returns fetched Parse::Object
song_data = pointer.fetch(false)   # Returns raw hash data

# Convenience method - always returns object
song_object = pointer.fetch_object  # Equivalent to fetch(true)

# Same methods work on existing Parse::Object instances
song = Song.first
refreshed_song = song.fetch_object  # Re-fetches and returns object

Key Features:

  • Consistent API: Same methods work for both Parse::Pointer and Parse::Object
  • Flexible return types: Choose between object instances or raw data
  • Change tracking preservation: Fetched objects maintain proper dirty tracking state
  • Backwards compatible: Existing fetch behavior preserved

Partial Fetch on Existing Objects

You can partially fetch specific fields on existing objects or pointers using the keys: and includes: parameters. This is useful when you only need specific fields without fetching the entire object.

# Partial fetch on a pointer - returns a new partially fetched object
pointer = Post.pointer("abc123")
post = pointer.fetch(keys: [:title, :content])
post.partially_fetched?           # true
post.field_was_fetched?(:title)   # true
post.field_was_fetched?(:author)  # false

# Partial fetch on an existing object - updates self
post = Post.find("abc123")
post.fetch(keys: [:view_count])   # Fetches only view_count, updates self

# Incremental partial fetch - keys are merged
post = Post.first(keys: [:title])
post.field_was_fetched?(:title)   # true
post.field_was_fetched?(:content) # false
post.fetch(keys: [:content])      # Add content to fetched keys
post.field_was_fetched?(:title)   # true - still tracked
post.field_was_fetched?(:content) # true - now tracked

Nested Fields with Dot Notation

Use dot notation in keys: to fetch specific fields from related objects. Parse Server automatically resolves the pointer.

# Partial fetch with nested fields (pointer auto-resolved)
post = Post.pointer("abc123").fetch(keys: ["author.name", "author.email"])
post.author.pointer?                    # false - expanded to object
post.author.partially_fetched?          # true
post.author.field_was_fetched?(:name)   # true
post.author.field_was_fetched?(:age)    # false

# Access unfetched nested field triggers autofetch
post.author.age  # Automatically fetches the full author object

fetch_json for Raw Data

Use fetch_json to get raw JSON data without updating the object:

post = Post.find("abc123")
json = post.fetch_json(keys: [:title, :view_count])
# json is a Hash: {"objectId" => "abc123", "title" => "...", "viewCount" => 100}
# post is unchanged

Dirty Tracking During Fetch

By default, fetch discards local changes to fetched fields and applies server values. Use preserve_changes: true to keep local changes.

# Default behavior: server values are applied, local changes discarded
post = Post.find("abc123")
post.title = "Modified Title"
post.fetch                    # Warning logged, local change discarded
post.title                    # => "Original Title" (server value)
post.title_changed?           # false

# Preserve local changes with preserve_changes: true
post = Post.find("abc123")
post.title = "Modified Title"
post.fetch(preserve_changes: true)  # Local changes preserved
post.title                          # => "Modified Title"
post.title_changed?                 # true

# Unfetched dirty fields are ALWAYS preserved (regardless of preserve_changes)
post = Post.find("abc123")
post.title = "Modified Title"
post.category = "tech"
post.fetch(keys: [:title])    # Only fetch title, not category
post.title_changed?           # false - title was fetched, server value applied
post.category_changed?        # true - category NOT fetched, dirty preserved
post.category                 # => "tech" (local value preserved)

Important: Base fields (id, created_at, updated_at) always accept server values regardless of preserve_changes setting.

Dirty Tracking on Embedded/Pointer Objects

When you have an embedded object (e.g., from a belongs_to association) that's in pointer state (has id but not yet fully fetched), setting fields on it will correctly mark those fields as dirty. The object will be auto-fetched before the change is tracked.

# report has an embedded scheduled_report that's in pointer state
report = Report.first(id: "abc123")
scheduled = report.scheduled_report  # Pointer state (only has id)

# Setting a field auto-fetches and correctly tracks the change
scheduled.status = :completed
scheduled.dirty?          # => true
scheduled.status_changed? # => true
scheduled.save            # Saves the change to Parse

Array Dirty Tracking

For has_many associations (arrays of pointers), only structural changes to the array mark the parent as dirty:

artist = Artist.first
artist.songs.clear_changes!

# Modifying a nested object does NOT mark parent dirty
artist.songs.first.plays = 100
artist.dirty?        # => false (array structure unchanged)
artist.songs.first.dirty?  # => true (the song itself is dirty)

# Adding/removing items DOES mark parent dirty
artist.songs.add(new_song)
artist.dirty?        # => true (array structure changed)

artist.songs.remove(old_song)
artist.dirty?        # => true

Object Identity and Equality

Parse objects are compared by identity (parse_class and id), not by their field values or dirty state:

# Pointer, partial object, and full object with same id are equal
pointer = Song.pointer("abc123")
partial = Song.first(id: "abc123", keys: [:title])
full = Song.find("abc123")

pointer == partial  # => true (same id)
partial == full     # => true (same id)

# Works correctly with array operations
[pointer, partial, full].uniq.size  # => 1 (all same identity)

Modifying Associations

Similar to :array types of properties, a has_many association is backed by a collection proxy class and requires the use of #add and #remove to modify the contents of the association in order for it to correctly manage changes and updates with Parse. Using has_many for associations has the additional functionality that we will only add items to the association if they are of a Parse::Pointer or Parse::Object type. By default, these associations are fetched with only pointer data. To fetch all the objects in the association, you can call #fetch or #fetch! on the collection. Note that because the framework supports chaining, it is better to only request the objects you need by utilizing their accessors.

  class Artist < Parse::Object
    has_many :songs # array association
  end

  artist = Artist.first
  artist.songs # Song pointers

  # fetch all the objects in this association
  artist.songs.fetch # fetches with parallel requests

  # add another song
  artist.songs.add Song.first
  artist.songs.remove other_song
  artist.save # commits changes

For the cases when you want to modify the items in this association without having to fetch all the objects in the association, we provide the methods #add!, #add_unique!, #remove! and #destroy that perform atomic Parse operations. These Parse operations are made directly to Parse compared to the non-bang versions which are batched with the rest of the pending object changes.

  artist = Artist.first
  artist.songs.add! song # Add operation
  artist.songs.add_unique! other_song # AddUnique operation
  artist.songs.remove! another_song # Remove operation
  artist.save # no-op. (no operations were sent directly to Parse)

  artist.songs.destroy! # Delete operation of all Songs

The has_many Parse Relation associations are handled similarly as in the array cases above. However, since a Parse Relation represents a separate table, there are additional methods provided in order to query the intermediate relational table.

  song = Song.first

  # Standard methods, but through relation table
  song.fans.count # efficient counting
  song.fans.add user
  song.fans.remove another_user
  song.save # commit changes

  # OR use to commit ONLY relational changes
  song.fans.save

  # Additional filtering methods

  # Find objects within the relation that match query constraints
  song.fans.all( ... constraints ... )

  # get a foreign relational query, related to this object
  query = song.fans.query

  # Atomic operations
  song.fans.add! user # AddRelation operation
  song.fans.remove! user # RemoveRelation operation
  song.fans.destroy! #noop since Relations cannot be emptied.

Batch Requests

Batch requests are supported implicitly and intelligently through an extension of Array. When an array of Parse::Object subclasses is saved, Parse-Stack will batch all possible save operations for the objects in the array that have changed. It will also batch save 50 at a time until all items in the array are saved. The objects do not have to be of the same collection in order to be supported in the batch request. Note: Parse does not allow batch saving Parse::User objects.

songs = Songs.first 1000 #first 1000 songs
songs.each do |song|
  .... modify them ...
end

# will batch save 50 items at a time until all are saved.
songs.save

# you can also destroy a set of objects
songs.destroy

Magic save_all

By default, all Parse queries have a maximum fetch limit of 1000. While using the :max option, Parse-Stack can increase this up to 11,000. In the cases where you need to update a large number of objects, you can utilize the Parse::Object#save_all method to fetch, modify and save objects.

This methodology works by continually fetching and saving older records related to the time you begin a save_all request (called an "anchor date"), until there are no records left to update. To enable this to work, you must have confidence that any modifications you make to the records will successfully save through you validations that may be present in your before_save. This is important, as saving a record will set its updated_at date to one newer than the "anchor date" of when the save_all started. This save_all process will stop whenever no more records match the provided constraints that are older than the "anchor date", or when an object that was previously updated, is seen again in a future fetch (which means the object failed to save). Note that save_all will automatically manage the correct updated_at constraints in the query, so it is recommended that you do not use it as part of the initial constraints.

  # Add any constraints except `updated_at`.
  Song.save_all( available: false) do |song|
    song.available = true # make all songs available
    # only objects that were modified will be updated
    # do not call save. We will batch objects for saving.
  end

If you plan on using this feature in a lot of places, we recommend making sure you have set a MongoDB index of at least { "_updated_at" : 1 }.

Atomic Transactions

Parse-Stack provides full atomic transaction support to ensure data consistency across multiple operations. All operations within a transaction either succeed completely or fail completely with automatic rollback.

Basic Transaction Usage

Use Parse::Object.transaction with a block to group operations atomically:

# Explicit batch operations
Parse::Object.transaction do |batch|
  # Update existing objects
  user = Parse::User.first
  user.score = 100
  batch.add(user)

  # Create new objects
  achievement = Achievement.new(user: user, name: "High Score")
  batch.add(achievement)

  # All operations execute atomically
end

Auto-Batching with Return Values

You can also return objects from the transaction block for automatic batching:

# Objects returned from block are automatically batched
Parse::Object.transaction do
  user1 = Parse::User.first
  user1.score = 200

  user2 = Parse::User.first(username: "player2")
  user2.score = 150

  [user1, user2]  # Auto-batched for atomic save
end

Transaction Features

  • Atomic operations: All operations succeed or all fail with rollback
  • Automatic retries: Conflicts (error 251) are automatically retried with configurable limits
  • Mixed operations: Support create, update, and delete operations in single transaction
  • Error handling: Comprehensive error handling with meaningful exception messages
  • Object ID assignment: New objects automatically receive their objectId, createdAt, and updatedAt from the server response after successful transaction
# Transaction with custom retry limit and error handling
begin
  Parse::Object.transaction(retries: 10) do |batch|
    # Complex business operations
    order = Order.create!(items: cart_items, customer: customer)
    inventory.update!(quantity: inventory.quantity - order.total_items)
    customer.update!(last_order: order)

    [order, inventory, customer]
  end
rescue Parse::Error => e
  puts "Transaction failed: #{e.message}"
  # Handle failure (all changes rolled back)
end

Transaction Object Updates

When you create new objects within a transaction, their objectId, createdAt, and updatedAt fields are automatically populated after the transaction succeeds:

products = []

Parse::Object.transaction do |batch|
  3.times do |i|
    product = Product.new(name: "Product #{i}", price: i * 10)
    products << product
    batch.add(product)
  end
end

# After successful transaction, all objects have their IDs
products.each do |p|
  puts "#{p.name}: #{p.id}"  # IDs are now populated
end

Deleting

You can destroy a Parse record, just call the #destroy method. It will return a boolean value whether it was successful.

 song = Song.first
 song.destroy

 # or in a batch
 songs = Song.all :limit => 10
 songs.destroy # uses batch operation

Fetching, Finding and Counting Records

 song = Song.find "<objectId>"
        Song.get  "<objectId>" # alias

 song1, song2 = Song.find("<objectId>", "<objectId2>", ...) # fetches in parallel with threads

 count = Song.count( constraints ) # performs a count operation

 query = Song.where( constraints ) # returns a Parse::Query with where clauses
 song = Song.first( ... constraints ... ) # first Song matching constraints
 s1, s2, s3 = Song.first(3) # get first 3 records from Parse.

 song = Song.latest( ... constraints ... ) # most recently created Song matching constraints
 recent_songs = Song.latest(5) # get 5 most recently created Songs

 song = Song.last_updated( ... constraints ... ) # most recently updated Song matching constraints  
 updated_songs = Song.last_updated(3) # get 3 most recently updated Songs

 songs = Song.all( ... expressions ...) # get matching Song records. See Advanced Querying

 # memory efficient for large amounts of records if you don't need all the objects.
 # Does not return results after loop.
 Song.all( ... expressions ...) do |song|
   # ... do something with song..
 end

Auto-Fetching Associations

All associations in are fetched lazily by default. If you wish to include objects as part of your query results you can use the :includes expression.

  song = Song.first
  song.artist.pointer? # true, not fetched

  # find songs and include the full artist object for each
  song = Song.first(:includes => :artist)
  song.artist.pointer? # false (Full object already available)

However, Parse-Stack performs automatic fetching of associations when the associated classes and their properties are locally defined. Using our Artist and Song examples. In this example, the Song object fetched only has a pointer object in its #artist field. However, because the framework knows there is a Artist#name property, calling #name on the artist pointer will automatically go to Parse to fetch the associated object and provide you with the value.

  song = Song.first
  # artist is automatically fetched
  song.artist.name

  # You can manually do the same with `fetch` and `fetch!`
  song.artist.fetch # considered "fetch if needed". No-op if not needed.
  song.artist.fetch! # force fetch regardless of state.

This also works for all associations types.

  song = Song.first
  # automatically fetches all pointers in the chain
  song.artist.manager.username # Parse::User's username

  # Fetches Parse Relation objects
  song.fans.first.username # the fan's username

Partial Fetch and Autofetch Behavior

Parse-Stack supports partial fetches, where you can query for objects with only specific fields included using the :keys parameter. This is useful for optimizing queries when you don't need all fields.

# Fetch only specific fields
post = Post.first(keys: [:id, :title, :author])
post.partially_fetched? # true
post.field_was_fetched?(:title) # true
post.field_was_fetched?(:content) # false

# Accessing an unfetched field triggers autofetch
content = post.content # Automatically fetches the full object from Parse

Fetch Status Methods

Parse objects can be in one of three states, and you can check the status using these methods:

Method Pointer Partially Fetched Fully Fetched
pointer? true false false
partially_fetched? false true false
fully_fetched? false false true
fetched? false true true 
# Pointer state (only id, no data fetched)
pointer = Post.pointer("abc123")
pointer.pointer?           # => true
pointer.partially_fetched? # => false
pointer.fully_fetched?     # => false
pointer.fetched?           # => false

# Partially/selectively fetched (specific keys only)
partial = Post.first(keys: [:title, :author])
partial.pointer?           # => false
partial.partially_fetched? # => true
partial.fully_fetched?     # => false
partial.fetched?           # => true

# Fully fetched (all fields available)
full = Post.first
full.pointer?           # => false
full.partially_fetched? # => false
full.fully_fetched?     # => true
full.fetched?           # => true

The fetched? method returns true for any object with data (either partially or fully fetched). Use fully_fetched? if you need to check that all fields are available, or partially_fetched? to check if only specific keys were fetched.

Serialization of Partially Fetched Objects

By default, calling as_json or to_json on a partially fetched object will only serialize the fields that were fetched. This prevents autofetch from being triggered during serialization and is particularly useful for webhook responses.

# Default behavior (Parse.serialize_only_fetched_fields = true)
user = User.first(keys: [:id, :first_name, :email])
user.to_json  # Only includes id, first_name, email (plus metadata)

# Useful for webhook responses - returns only requested fields
Parse::Webhooks.route :function, :getTeamMembers do
  users = User.all(:id.in => user_ids, keys: [:id, :first_name, :icon_image])
  users  # Returns only the requested fields, no autofetch triggered
end

# Disable globally if needed
Parse.serialize_only_fetched_fields = false

# Or override per-call
user.as_json(only_fetched: false)  # Serialize all fields (may trigger autofetch)

Autofetch Behavior with disable_autofetch!

You can disable automatic fetching on an object using disable_autofetch!. This is useful when you want strict control over network requests:

post = Post.first(keys: [:id, :title])
post.disable_autofetch!

# Now accessing unfetched fields raises an error
post.content # Raises Parse::UnfetchedFieldAccessError

Autofetch behavior by object type:

  1. Parse::Pointer objects (created via Model.pointer("id")):

    • Accessing any property automatically fetches the full object and returns the value
    • The fetched object is cached, so subsequent property accesses don't trigger additional fetches
    • With autofetch_raise_on_missing_keys enabled, raises Parse::AutofetchTriggeredError instead

  2. Parse::Object in pointer state (objects with only id, no fetched data):

    • Accessing an unfetched field triggers autofetch by default
    • With disable_autofetch!, accessing any field returns nil (backward compatible behavior)

  3. Partially fetched objects (objects fetched with :keys parameter):

    • Accessing an unfetched field triggers autofetch by default
    • With disable_autofetch!, raises Parse::UnfetchedFieldAccessError (strict behavior)
    • Autofetch preserves any nested embedded data on pointer fields (e.g., author.name won't be lost)
# Parse::Pointer auto-fetch (new in 2.1.6)
pointer = Song.pointer("abc123")
pointer.title # Auto-fetches and returns title

# Parse::Object in pointer state
song = Song.new(id: "abc123") # Just a pointer, no data fetched
song.disable_autofetch!
song.title # Returns nil (backward compatible behavior)

# Partially fetched object behavior
song = Song.first(id: "abc123", keys: [:id, :artist])
song.disable_autofetch!
song.artist # Works - this field was fetched
song.title # Raises Parse::UnfetchedFieldAccessError (strict behavior)

Rationale: Pointer objects have historically always returned nil for unfetched fields - this is well-understood behavior that existing applications depend on. Partially fetched objects are a newer feature where it's less obvious which fields are available, so raising explicit errors helps catch bugs early. Parse::Pointer objects now support auto-fetch on property access for convenience.

Debugging Autofetch with autofetch_raise_on_missing_keys

During development, you can enable Parse.autofetch_raise_on_missing_keys to identify all places in your code where autofetch is being triggered. This helps you add the necessary keys to your queries to avoid unnecessary network requests:

# Enable globally for debugging
Parse.autofetch_raise_on_missing_keys = true

# Now accessing unfetched fields raises an error with helpful info
post = Post.first(keys: [:title])
post.content # Raises Parse::AutofetchTriggeredError
# => "Autofetch triggered on Post#abc123 - field :content was not included in partial fetch. Add :content to your query keys."

# For pointers, the message suggests using includes
song = Song.pointer("xyz789")
song.title # Raises Parse::AutofetchTriggeredError
# => "Autofetch triggered on Song#xyz789 - pointer accessed field :title. Add this field to your includes or fetch the object first."

This is particularly useful when optimizing your application's network usage. Enable it in development/test environments to catch all autofetch triggers, then add the appropriate keys or includes to your queries.

# Example workflow:
# 1. Enable in development
Parse.autofetch_raise_on_missing_keys = true

# 2. Run your code - errors will tell you exactly which fields are missing
# 3. Add the fields to your queries:
Post.first(keys: [:title, :content, :author])  # Add missing fields

# 4. Disable when done debugging
Parse.autofetch_raise_on_missing_keys = false

Advanced Querying

The Parse::Query class provides the lower-level querying interface for your Parse tables using the default Parse::Client session created when setup() was called. This component can be used on its own without defining your models as all results are provided in hash form. By convention in Ruby (see Style Guide), symbols and variables are expressed in lower_snake_case form. Parse, however, prefers column names in lower-first camel case (ex. objectId, createdAt and updatedAt). To keep in line with the style guides between the languages, we do the automatic conversion of the field names when compiling the query. As an additional exception to this rule, the field key of id will automatically be converted to the objectId field when used. This feature can be overridden by changing the value of Parse::Query.field_formatter.

# default uses :columnize
query = Parse::User.query :field_one => 1, :FieldTwo => 2, :Field_Three => 3
query.compile_where # {"fieldOne"=>1, "fieldTwo"=>2, "fieldThree"=>3}

# turn off
Parse::Query.field_formatter = nil
query = Parse::User.query :field_one => 1, :FieldTwo => 2, :Field_Three => 3
query.compile_where # {"field_one"=>1, "FieldTwo"=>2, "Field_Three"=>3}

# force everything camel case
Parse::Query.field_formatter = :camelize
query = Parse::User.query :field_one => 1, :FieldTwo => 2, :Field_Three => 3
query.compile_where # {"FieldOne"=>1, "FieldTwo"=>2, "FieldThree"=>3}

Simplest way to perform query, is to pass the Parse class as the first parameter and the set of expressions.

 query = Parse::Query.new("Song", {.... expressions ....})
 # or with Object classes
 query = Song.query({ .. expressions ..})

 # Print the prepared query
 query.prepared

 # Get results
 query.results # get results as Parse::Object(s)
 query.results(raw: true) # get the raw hash results

 query.first # first results matching constraints
 query.first(3) # gets first 3 results matching constraints

 query.count # perform a count operation instead

For large results set where you may want to operate on objects and may not need to keep all the objects in memory, you can use the block version of the API to iterate through all the records more efficiently.


 # For large results set, you can use the block version to iterate over each matching record
 query.each do |record|
    # ... do something with record ...
    # block version does not return results
 end

Results Caching

When a query API is made, the results are cached in the query object in case you need access to the results multiple times. This is only true as long as no modifications to the query parameters are made. You can force clear the locally stored results by calling clear() on the query instance.

 query = Parse::Query.new("Song")
 query.where :field => value

 query.results # makes request
 # no query parameters changed, therefore same results
 query.results # no API request

 # if you modify the query or call 'clear'
 query.clear
 query.results # makes API request

Counting

If you only need to know the result count for a query, provide count a non-zero value. However, if you need to perform a count query, use count() method instead.

 # get number of songs with a play_count > 10
 Song.count :play_count.gt => 10

 # same
 query = Parse::Query.new("Song")
 query.where :play_count.gt => 10
 query.count

Count Distinct

Counts the number of distinct values for a specified field using MongoDB aggregation pipeline. This is more efficient than getting distinct values and counting them, especially for large datasets.

 # get count of unique genres for songs with play_count > 100
 distinct_genres_count = Song.count_distinct(:genre, :play_count.gt => 100)

 # get total number of unique artists
 unique_artists = Song.count_distinct(:artist)

 # same using query instance
 query = Parse::Query.new("Song") 
 query.where(:play_count.gt => 1000)
 query.count_distinct(:artist)
 # => 15

Note: This feature requires MongoDB aggregation pipeline support in Parse Server.

Aggregation Functions

Parse-Stack supports MongoDB aggregation functions for performing calculations across collections. These functions are efficient server-side operations.

# Calculate sum of all scores
total_score = User.sum(:score)
# => 1547

# Find minimum and maximum values
min_age = User.min(:age)      # => 18
max_age = User.max(:age)      # => 65

# Calculate average rating
avg_rating = Product.average(:rating)  # => 4.2
# Or use the alias
avg_rating = Product.avg(:rating)      # => 4.2

# With query constraints
high_scores = User.where(:level.gt => 5).sum(:score)
recent_avg = Post.where(:created_at.after => 1.week.ago).avg(:views)

Note: These features require MongoDB aggregation pipeline support in Parse Server.

Group By Operations

Group records by field values and perform aggregations on each group. Supports both server-side aggregation and client-side object grouping.

# Basic grouping with count
User.group_by(:department).count
# => {"Engineering" => 45, "Marketing" => 23, "Sales" => 67}

# Group with other aggregations
User.group_by(:department).sum(:salary)
# => {"Engineering" => 450000, "Marketing" => 230000, "Sales" => 670000}

User.group_by(:department).avg(:salary)
# => {"Engineering" => 10000, "Marketing" => 10000, "Sales" => 10000}

# Group by date intervals
Post.group_by_date(:created_at, :month).count
# => {"2024-01" => 45, "2024-02" => 32, "2024-03" => 28}

Post.group_by_date(:created_at, :day).sum(:views)
# => {"2024-03-01" => 1200, "2024-03-02" => 950, ...}

# Sortable grouping (returns GroupedResult with sorting methods)
result = User.group_by(:city, sortable: true).count
result.sort_by_key_asc     # Sort by city name
result.sort_by_value_desc  # Sort by count (highest first)
result.to_table           # Display as formatted table

# Group actual objects (not aggregated - returns full Parse objects)
users_by_city = User.group_objects_by(:city)
# => {"New York" => [user1, user2, ...], "Austin" => [user3, user4, ...]}

# Advanced options
User.group_by(:tags, flatten_arrays: true).count  # Flatten array fields
User.group_by(:team, return_pointers: true).count # Use pointers for efficiency

Available aggregation methods: count, sum(field), min(field), max(field), avg(field) Date intervals: :year, :month, :week, :day, :hour

Distinct Aggregation

Finds the distinct values for a specified field across a single collection or view and returns the results in an array. You may mix this with additional query constraints.

⚠️ Breaking Change in v1.12.0: For pointer fields, distinct now returns object IDs directly by default instead of full pointer hash objects like {"__type"=>"Pointer", "className"=>"Team", "objectId"=>"abc123"}. Use return_pointers: true to get Parse::Pointer objects.

 # Return a list of unique city names
 # for users created in the last 10 days.
 User.distinct :city, :created_at.after => 10.days.ago
 # ex. ["San Diego", "Los Angeles", "San Juan"]

 # For pointer fields, now returns object IDs by default (v1.12.0+)
 Asset.distinct(:author_team)
 # => ["team1", "team2", "team3"]  # Just the object IDs

 # Pre-v1.12.0 behavior returned full pointer hashes:
 # [{"__type"=>"Pointer", "className"=>"Team", "objectId"=>"team1"}, ...]

 # To get Parse::Pointer objects in v1.12.0+
 Asset.distinct(:author_team, return_pointers: true)
 # => [#<Parse::Pointer @parse_class="Team" @id="team1">, ...]

 # same using query instance
 query = Parse::Query.new("_User")
 query.where :created_at.after => 10.days.ago
 query.distinct(:city) #=> ["San Diego", "Los Angeles", "San Juan"]

Query Expressions

The set of supported expressions based on what is available through the Parse REST API. For those who don't prefer the DataMapper style syntax, we have provided method accessors for each of the expressions. A full description of supported query operations, please refer to the Parse::Query API reference.

:order

Specify a field to sort by.

 # order updated_at ascending order
 Song.all :order => :updated_at

 # first order by highest like_count, then by ascending name.
 # Note that ascending is the default if not specified (ex. `:name.asc`)
 Song.all :order => [:like_count.desc, :name]

:keys

Restrict the fields returned by the query. This is useful for larger query results set where some of the data will not be used, which reduces network traffic and deserialization performance. Use this feature with caution when working with the results, as values for the fields not specified in the query will be omitted in the resulting object.

 # results only contain :name field
 Song.all :keys => :name

 # multiple keys
 Song.all :keys => [:name,:artist]

:includes

Use on Pointer columns to return the full object. You may chain multiple columns with the . operator.

 # assuming an 'Artist' has a pointer column for a 'Manager'
 # and a Song has a pointer column for an 'Artist'.

 # include the full artist object
 Song.all(:includes => :artist)

 # Chaining
 Song.all :includes => [:artist, 'artist.manager']

:limit

Limit the number of objects returned by the query. The default is 100, with Parse allowing a maximum of 1000. The framework also allows a value of :max. Utilizing this will have the framework continually intelligently utilize :skip to continue to paginate through results until an empty result set is received or the :skip limit is reached. When utilizing all(), :max is the default option for :limit.

 Song.all :limit => 1 # same as Song.first
 Song.all :limit => 1000 # maximum allowed by Parse
 Song.all :limit => :max

:skip

Use with limit to paginate through results. Default is 0.

 # get the next 3 songs after the first 10
 Song.all :limit => 3, :skip => 10

Note: For large datasets, skip-based pagination becomes increasingly slow. Consider using Cursor-Based Pagination instead.

Cursor-Based Pagination

For efficiently traversing large datasets, Parse Stack provides cursor-based pagination which maintains consistent performance regardless of how deep you paginate.

Why use cursors instead of skip/offset?

  • Consistent performance: Skip-based pagination slows down as offset increases; cursors don't
  • No skipped/duplicate records: Handles records added/deleted during pagination
  • Memory efficient: Fetches one page at a time
# Basic usage - iterate over pages
cursor = Song.cursor(limit: 100)
cursor.each_page do |page|
  process(page)
end

# Iterate over individual items
Song.cursor(limit: 50).each do |song|
  puts song.title
end

# With query constraints
cursor = Song.query(:artist => "Artist Name").cursor(limit: 100)
cursor.each_page { |page| process(page) }

# With custom ordering
cursor = Song.cursor(limit: 100, order: :created_at.desc)

# Manual pagination control
cursor = User.cursor(limit: 100)
first_page = cursor.next_page
second_page = cursor.next_page
cursor.reset!  # Start over

Cursor Statistics:

cursor.stats
# => { pages_fetched: 5, items_fetched: 500, page_size: 100, exhausted: true, ... }

cursor.more_pages?  # true/false
cursor.exhausted?   # true/false

Resumable Cursors (for background jobs):

Cursors can be serialized and resumed later - perfect for jobs that may be interrupted:

# Save cursor state
cursor = Song.cursor(limit: 100)
cursor.next_page  # Process first page
state = cursor.serialize
Redis.set("job:#{job_id}:cursor", state)

# Resume later (even in a different process)
state = Redis.get("job:#{job_id}:cursor")
cursor = Parse::Cursor.deserialize(state)
cursor.each_page { |page| process(page) }  # Continues where it left off

:cache

A true, false or integer value. If you are using the built-in caching middleware, Parse::Middleware::Caching, setting this to true will use a previously cached result if available. Setting to false will prevent caching. You may pass an integer value, which will allow this request to be cached for the specified number of seconds. The default value is false (queries do not use cache unless explicitly enabled).

# explicitly use cache for this request
Song.all limit: 500, cache: true

# cache this particular request for 60 seconds
Song.all limit: 500, cache: 1.minute

# don't use cache (default behavior)
Song.all limit: 500, cache: false

To change the default caching behavior globally, use the Parse.default_query_cache configuration:

# Enable cache by default (opt-out behavior)
Parse.default_query_cache = true
Song.first                           # Uses cache
Song.query(cache: false).first       # Explicitly bypasses cache

# Disable cache by default (opt-in behavior, this is the default)
Parse.default_query_cache = false
Song.first                           # Does NOT use cache
Song.query(cache: true).first        # Explicitly uses cache

You may access the shared cache for the default client connection through Parse.cache. This is useful if you want to utilize the same cache store for other purposes.

# Access the cache instance for other uses
Parse.cache["key"] = "value"
Parse.cache["key"] # => "value"

# or with Parse queries and objects
Parse.cache.fetch("all:song:records") do |key|
  results = Song.all # or other complex query or operation
  # store it in the cache, but expires in 30 seconds
  Parse.cache.store(key, results, expires: 30)
end

:use_master_key

A true/false value. If you provided a master key as part of Parse.setup(), it will be sent on every request. However, if you wish to disable sending the master key on a particular request in order for the record ACLs to be enforced, you may pass false. If false is passed, caching will be disabled for this request.

# disable sending the master key in the request if configured
Song.all limit: 3, use_master_key: false

:session

This will make sure that the query is performed on behalf (and with the privileges) of an authenticated user which will cause record ACLs to be enforced. If a session token is provided, caching will be disabled for this request. You may pass a string representing the session token, an authenticated Parse::User instance or a Parse::Session instance.

# disable sending the master key in the request if configured
# and perform this request as a Parse user represented by this token
Song.all limit: 3, session: "<session_token>"
Song.all limit: 3, session: user # a logged-in Parse::User
Song.all limit: 3, session: session # Parse::Session

:where

The where clause is based on utilizing a set of constraints on the defined column names in your Parse classes. The constraints are implemented as method operators on field names that are tied to a value. Any symbol/string that is not one of the main expression keywords described here will be considered as a type of query constraint for the where clause in the query. See the section Query Constraints for examples of available query constraints.

# parts of a single where constraint
{ :column.constraint => value }

Query Constraints

Most of the constraints supported by Parse are available to Parse::Query. Assuming you have a column named field, here are some examples. For an explanation of the constraints, please see Parse Query Constraints documentation. You can build your own custom query constraints by creating a Parse::Constraint subclass. For all these where clauses assume q is a Parse::Query object.

Equals

Default query constraint for matching a field to a single value.

q.where :field => value
# (alias) :field.eq => value

If you want to see if a particular field contains a specific Parse::Object (pointer), you can use the following:

# find rows where the `field` contains a Parse "_User" pointer with the specified objectId.
q.where :field => Parse::Pointer.new("_User", "anObjectId")
# alias using subclass helper
q.where :field => Parse::User.pointer("anObjectId")
# alias using `:id` constraint. We will infer :user maps to class "_User" (Parse::User)
q.where :user.id => "anObjectId"

Less Than

Equivalent to the $lt Parse query operation. The alias before is provided for readability.

q.where :field.lt => value
# or alias
q.where :field.before => value
# ex. :createdAt.before => DateTime.now

Less Than or Equal To

Equivalent to the $lte Parse query operation. The alias on_or_before is provided for readability.

q.where :field.lte => value
# or alias
q.where :field.on_or_before => value
# ex. :createdAt.on_or_before => DateTime.now

Greater Than

Equivalent to the $gt Parse query operation. The alias after is provided for readability.

q.where :field.gt => value
# or alias
q.where :field.after => value
# ex. :createdAt.after => DateTime.now

Greater Than or Equal

Equivalent to the $gte Parse query operation. The alias on_or_after is provided for readability.

q.where :field.gte => value
# or alias
q.where :field.on_or_after => value
# ex. :createdAt.on_or_after => DateTime.now

Not Equal To

Equivalent to the $ne Parse query operation. Where a particular field is not equal to value.

q.where :field.not => value

Nullability Check

Provides a mechanism using the equality operator to check for (undefined) values.

q.where :field.null => true|false

Exists

Equivalent to the #exists Parse query operation. Checks whether a value is set for key. The difference between this operation and the nullability check is when using compound queries with location.

q.where :field.exists => true|false

Contained In

Equivalent to the $in Parse query operation. Checks whether the value in the column field is contained in the set of values in the target array. If the field is an array data type, it checks whether at least one value in the field array is contained in the set of values in the target array.

# ex. :score.in => [1,3,5,7,9]
q.where :field.in => [item1,item2,...]
# alias
q.where :field.contained_in => [item1,item2,...]

Not Contained In

Equivalent to the $nin Parse query operation. Checks whether the value in the column field is not contained in the set of values in the target array. If the field is an array data type, it checks whether at least one value in the field array is not contained in the set of values in the target array.

# ex. :player_name.not_in => ['Jonathan', 'Dario', 'Shawn']
q.where :field.not_in => [item1,item2,...]
# alias
q.where :field.not_contained_in => [item1,item2,...]

Contains All

Equivalent to the $all Parse query operation. Checks whether the value in the column field contains all of the given values provided in the array. Note that the field column should be of type Array in your Parse class.

 # ex. :array_key.all => [2,3,4]
 q.where :field.all => [item1, item2,...]
 # alias
 q.where :field.contains_all => [item1,item2,...]

Advanced Array Constraints

Parse Server doesn't natively support $size or exact array equality queries. Parse-Stack provides these via MongoDB aggregation pipelines.

Array Size

Match arrays by their length:

# Exact size
q.where :tags.size => 2          # arrays with exactly 2 elements

# Size comparisons
q.where :tags.size => { gt: 3 }      # size > 3
q.where :tags.size => { gte: 2 }     # size >= 2
q.where :tags.size => { lt: 5 }      # size < 5
q.where :tags.size => { lte: 4 }     # size <= 4
q.where :tags.size => { ne: 0 }      # size != 0
q.where :tags.size => { gte: 2, lt: 10 }  # range: 2 <= size < 10

# Empty/non-empty shortcuts (index-friendly)
q.where :tags.arr_empty => true     # empty arrays (uses { field: [] })
q.where :tags.arr_empty => false    # non-empty arrays
q.where :tags.arr_nempty => true    # non-empty arrays (alias)

# Empty OR nil/missing - combines both checks
q.where :tags.empty_or_nil => true  # matches [] OR nil/missing
q.where :tags.empty_or_nil => false # matches non-empty arrays only

# Not empty - opposite of empty_or_nil
q.where :tags.not_empty => true     # must exist AND have elements
q.where :tags.not_empty => false    # matches [] OR nil/missing

Performance Note: arr_empty and empty_or_nil use index-friendly equality checks ({ field: [] }) instead of $size: 0 for better MongoDB index utilization.

Array Equality (Order-Dependent)

Match arrays with exact elements in exact order:

# Matches ["rock", "pop"] but NOT ["pop", "rock"]
q.where :tags.eq => ["rock", "pop"]
q.where :tags.eq_array => ["rock", "pop"]  # alias

# NOT equal (order-dependent)
q.where :tags.neq => ["rock", "pop"]  # excludes exact match only
Array Set Equality (Order-Independent)

Match arrays with same elements regardless of order:

# Matches both ["rock", "pop"] AND ["pop", "rock"]
q.where :tags.set_equals => ["rock", "pop"]

# NOT set equal - excludes both orderings
q.where :tags.not_set_equals => ["rock", "pop"]
Pointer Arrays

All array constraints work with has_many :through => :array relations:

# Find products with exactly these categories (any order)
Product.query(:categories.set_equals => [cat1, cat2])

# Find products with more than 3 categories
Product.query(:categories.size => { gt: 3 })

Note: Array constraints using aggregation pipelines require MongoDB 3.6+.

Readable Array Aliases

More readable aliases for common array operations:

# Any/None - readable aliases for $in/$nin
q.where :tags.any => ["rock", "pop"]    # matches if contains any (same as :tags.in)
q.where :tags.none => ["jazz", "blues"] # matches if contains none (same as :tags.nin)

# Superset - readable alias for $all
q.where :tags.superset_of => ["rock", "pop"]  # must have all (same as :tags.all)
Element Match (Arrays of Objects)

Match array elements using multiple criteria with $elemMatch:

# Find posts where comments has an element matching multiple conditions
q.where :comments.elem_match => { author: user, approved: true }

# Works with nested objects
q.where :items.elem_match => { product: "SKU123", quantity: { "$gt" => 5 } }
Subset Of

Match arrays that only contain elements from a given set:

# Find items where tags only include elements from the allowed list
q.where :tags.subset_of => ["rock", "pop", "jazz", "classical"]
# ["rock", "pop"] matches, ["rock", "metal"] does NOT match
First/Last Element

Match based on the first or last element of an array:

# First element equals value
q.where :tags.first => "featured"   # first tag is "featured"

# Last element equals value
q.where :tags.last => "archived"    # last tag is "archived"

Regex Matching

Equivalent to the $regex Parse query operation. Requires that a field value match a regular expression.

# ex. :name.like => /Bob/i
q.where :field.like => /ruby_regex/i
# alias
q.where :field.regex => /abc/

Select

Equivalent to the $select Parse query operation. This matches a value for a key in the result of a different query.

q.where :field.select => { key: "field", query: query }

# example
value = { key: 'city', query: Artist.where(:fan_count.gt => 50) }
q.where :hometown.select => value

# if the local field is the same name as the foreign table field, you can omit hash
# assumes key: 'city'
q.where :city.select => Artist.where(:fan_count.gt => 50)

Reject

Equivalent to the $dontSelect Parse query operation. Requires that a field's value not match a value for a key in the result of a different query.

q.where :field.reject => { key: :other_field, query: query }

# example
value = { key: 'city', query: Artist.where(:fan_count.gt => 50) }
q.where :hometown.reject => value

# if the local field is the same name as the foreign table field, you can omit hash
# assumes key: 'city'
q.where :city.reject => Artist.where(:fan_count.gt => 50)

Matches Query

Equivalent to the $inQuery Parse query operation. Useful if you want to retrieve objects where a field contains an object that matches another query.

q.where :field.matches => query
# ex. :post.matches => Post.where(:image.exists => true )
q.where :field.in_query => query # alias

Excludes Query

Equivalent to the $notInQuery Parse query operation. Useful if you want to retrieve objects where a field contains an object that does not match another query.

q.where :field.excludes => query
# ex. :post.excludes => Post.where(:image.exists => true
q.where :field.not_in_query => query # alias

Matches Key in Query

Equivalent to using the $select Parse query operation for joining queries where fields from different classes match. This is useful for performing join-like operations where you want to find objects where a field's value equals another field's value from a different query.

# Find users where user.company equals customer.company
customer_query = Customer.where(:active => true)
user_query = User.where(:company.matches_key => { key: "company", query: customer_query })

# If the local field has the same name as the remote field, you can omit the key
# assumes key: 'company'  
user_query = User.where(:company.matches_key => customer_query)

# Alias methods
q.where :field.matches_key_in_query => query

Does Not Match Key in Query

Equivalent to using the $dontSelect Parse query operation for joining queries where fields from different classes do NOT match. This is the inverse of the "Matches Key in Query" constraint.

# Find users where user.company does NOT equal customer.company
customer_query = Customer.where(:active => true)
user_query = User.where(:company.does_not_match_key => { key: "company", query: customer_query })

# If the local field has the same name as the remote field, you can omit the key
# assumes key: 'company'
user_query = User.where(:company.does_not_match_key => customer_query)

# Alias methods
q.where :field.does_not_match_key_in_query => query

Starts With

Equivalent to using the $regex Parse query operation with a prefix pattern. This is useful for autocomplete functionality and prefix matching.

# Find users whose name starts with "John"
User.where(:name.starts_with => "John")
# Generates: "name": { "$regex": "^John", "$options": "i" }

# Case-insensitive prefix matching with special characters
User.where(:email.starts_with => "john.doe+")
# Automatically escapes special regex characters

Contains

Equivalent to using the $regex Parse query operation with a contains pattern. This is useful for case-insensitive text search within fields.

# Find posts whose title contains "parse"
Post.where(:title.contains => "parse")
# Generates: "title": { "$regex": ".*parse.*", "$options": "i" }

# Search in descriptions
Post.where(:description.contains => "server setup")
# Automatically escapes special regex characters

Date Range

A convenience constraint that combines greater-than-or-equal and less-than-or-equal constraints for date/time range queries.

# Find events between two dates
start_date = DateTime.new(2023, 1, 1)
end_date = DateTime.new(2023, 12, 31)
Event.where(:created_at.between_dates => [start_date, end_date])
# Generates: "created_at": { "$gte": start_date, "$lte": end_date }

# Works with Time objects too
Event.where(:updated_at.between_dates => [1.week.ago, Time.now])

Matches Object Id

Sometimes you want to find rows where a particular Parse object exists. You can do so by passing a the Parse::Object subclass or a Parse::Pointer. In some cases you may only have the "objectId" of the record you are looking for. For convenience, you can also use the id constraint. This will assume that the name of the field matches a particular Parse class you have defined. Assume the following:

# where this Parse object equals the object in the column `field`.
q.where :field => Parse::Pointer("Field", "someObjectId")
# => "field":{"__type":"Pointer","className":"Field","objectId":"someObjectId"}}

# alias, shorthand when we infer `:field` maps to `Field` parse class.
q.where :field.id => "someObjectId"
# => "field":{"__type":"Pointer","className":"Field","objectId":"someObjectId"}}

It is always important to be thoughtful in naming column names in associations as close to their foreign Parse class names. This enables more expressive syntax while reducing code. The id also supports any object or pointer object. These are all equivalent:

q.where :user    => User.pointer("xyx123")
q.where :user.id => "xyx123"
q.where :user.id => User.pointer("xyx123")
# All produce
# => "user":{"__type":"Pointer","className":"_User","objectId":"xyx123"}}
Additional Examples

class Artist < Parse::Object
  # as described before
end

class Song < Parse::Object
  belongs_to :artist
end

artist = Artist.first # get any artist
artist_id = artist.id # ex. artist.id

# find all songs for this artist object
Song.all :artist => artist

In some cases, you do not have the Parse object, but you have its objectId. You can use the objectId in the query as follows:

# shorthand if you are using convention. Will infer class `Artist`
Song.all :artist.id => artist_id

# other approaches, same result
Song.all :artist => Artist.pointer(artist_id)
Song.all :artist => Parse::Pointer.new("Artist", artist_id)

# "id" safely pointers and strings for supporting these types of API patterns
def find_songs(artist)
  Song.all :artist.id => artist
end

# all ok
songs = find_songs artist_id # by a string ObjectId
songs = find_songs artist # or by an object or pointer
songs = find_songs Artist.pointer(artist_id)

Geo Queries

Equivalent to the $nearSphere Parse query operation. This is only applicable if the field is of type GeoPoint. This will query Parse and return a list of results ordered by distance with the nearest object being first.

q.where :field.near => geopoint

# example
geopoint = Parse::GeoPoint.new(30.0, -20.0)
PlaceObject.all :location.near => geopoint

Max Distance Constraint

If you wish to constrain the geospatial query to a maximum number of miles, you can utilize the max_miles method on a Parse::GeoPoint object. This is equivalent to the $maxDistanceInMiles constraint used with $nearSphere.

q.where :field.near => geopoint.max_miles(distance)
# or provide a triplet includes max miles constraint
q.where :field.near => [lat, lng, miles]

# example
geopoint = Parse::GeoPoint.new(30.0, -20.0)
PlaceObject.all :location.near => geopoint.max_miles(10)

We will support $maxDistanceInKilometers (for kms) and $maxDistanceInRadians (for radian angle) in the future.

Bounding Box Constraint

Equivalent to the $within Parse query operation and $box geopoint constraint. The rectangular bounding box is defined by a southwest point as the first parameter, followed by the a northeast point. Please note that Geo box queries that cross the international date lines are not currently supported by Parse.

# GeoPoint bounding box
q.where :field.within_box => [soutwestGeoPoint, northeastGeoPoint]

# example
sw = Parse::GeoPoint.new 32.82, -117.23 # San Diego
ne = Parse::GeoPoint.new 36.12, -115.31 # Las Vegas

# get all PlaceObjects inside this bounding box
PlaceObject.all :location.within_box => [sw,ne]

Polygon Area Constraint

Equivalent to the $geoWithin Parse query operation and $polygon geopoint constraint. The polygon area is described by a list of Parse::GeoPoint objects and should contain 3 or more points. This feature is only available in Parse-Server version 2.4.2 and later.

 # As many points as you want, minimum 3
 q.where :field.within_polygon => [geopoint1, geopoint2, geopoint3]

 # Polygon for the Bermuda Triangle
 bermuda  = Parse::GeoPoint.new 32.3078000,-64.7504999 # Bermuda
 miami    = Parse::GeoPoint.new 25.7823198,-80.2660226 # Miami, FL
 san_juan = Parse::GeoPoint.new 18.3848232,-66.0933608 # San Juan, PR

 # get all sunken ships inside the Bermuda Triangle
 SunkenShip.all :location.within_polygon => [bermuda, san_juan, miami]

Full Text Search Constraint

Equivalent to the $text Parse query operation and $search parameter constraint for efficient search capabilities. By creating indexes on one or more columns your strings are turned into tokens for full text search functionality. The $search key can take any number of parameters in hash form. Requires Parse Server 2.5.0 or later

 # Do a full text search on "anthony"
 q.where :field.text_search => "anthony"

 # perform advance searches
 q.where :field.text_search => {term: "anthony", case_insensitive: true}
 # equivalent
 q.where :field.text_search => {:$term => "anthony", :$caseInsensitive => true}

You may use the following keys for the parameters clause.

Parameter Use
$term Specify a field to search (Required)
$language Determines the list of stop words and the rules for tokenizer.
$caseSensitive Enable or disable case sensitive search.
$diacriticSensitive Enable or disable diacritic sensitive search.

For additional details, please see Query on String Values.

Relational Queries

Equivalent to the $relatedTo Parse query operation. If you want to retrieve objects that are members of a Relation field in your Parse class.

q.where :field.related_to => pointer
q.where :field.rel => pointer # alias

In the example below, imagine you have a Post collection that has a Parse relation column likes which has the set of users who have liked a certain post. You would use the Parse::Users class to query against the post record of interest against the likes column of the Post collection.

# assume Post class definition
class Post < Parse::Object
  # Parse relation to Parse::User records who've liked a post
  has_many :likes, through: :relation, as: :user
end

post = Post.first
# find all Users who have liked this post object,
# where 'likes' is a column on the Post class.
users = Parse::User.all :likes.rel => post

# or use the relation accessor declared in Post
users = post.likes.all # same result

# or find posts that a certain user has liked
user = Parse::User.first
# likes is a Parse relation in the Post collection that contains User records
liked_posts_by_user = Post.all :likes => user

Compound Queries

Equivalent to the $or Parse query operation. This is useful if you want to find objects that match several queries. We overload the | operator in order to have a clean syntax for joining these or operations.

or_query = query1 | query2 | query3 ...

# ex. where wins > 150 || wins < 5
query = Player.where(:wins.gt => 150) | Player.where(:wins.lt => 5)
results = query.results

If you do not prefer the syntax you may use the or_where method to chain multiple Parse::Query instances.

query = Player.where(:wins.gt => 150)
query.or_where(:wins.lt => 5)
# where wins > 150 || wins < 5
results = query.results

Query Composition and Cloning

Parse-Stack provides additional methods for composing and cloning queries, making it easier to build complex queries programmatically.

Query Cloning

Create independent copies of query objects for separate modifications:

base_query = Song.where(:genre => "rock")
query1 = base_query.clone.where(:year.gt => 2000)  # Rock songs after 2000
query2 = base_query.clone.where(:duration.lt => 180) # Short rock songs

# Original query remains unchanged
base_results = base_query.results
newer_rock = query1.results
short_rock = query2.results

Combining Multiple Queries

Combine multiple independent queries using class methods for cleaner composition:

# OR logic - combine multiple queries with OR
popular_songs = Song.where(:play_count.gt => 1000)
recent_songs = Song.where(:created_at.gt => 1.month.ago)
trending_songs = Song.where(:trending => true)

# Any song that is popular OR recent OR trending
combined_or = Parse::Query.or(popular_songs, recent_songs, trending_songs)
results = combined_or.results

# AND logic - combine multiple queries with AND  
rock_songs = Song.where(:genre => "rock")
long_songs = Song.where(:duration.gt => 300)
popular_songs = Song.where(:play_count.gt => 500)

# Songs that are rock AND long AND popular
combined_and = Parse::Query.and(rock_songs, long_songs, popular_songs)
results = combined_and.results

These composition methods work seamlessly with aggregation pipelines and all other query operations.

Query Scopes

This feature is a small subset of the ActiveRecord named scopes feature. Scoping allows you to specify commonly-used queries which can be referenced as class method calls and are chainable with other scopes. You can use every Parse::Query method previously covered such as where, includes and limit.


class Article < Parse::Object
  property :published, :boolean
  scope :published, -> { query(published: true) }
end

This is the same as defining your own class method for the query.

class Article < Parse::Object
  def self.published
    query(published: true)
  end
end

You can also chain scopes and pass parameters. In addition, boolean and enumerated properties have automatically generated scopes for you to use.


class Article < Parse::Object
  scope :published, -> { query(published: true) }

  property :comment_count, :integer
  property :category
  property :approved, :boolean

  scope :published_and_commented, -> { published.where :comment_count.gt => 0 }
  scope :popular_topics, ->(name) { published_and_commented.where category: name }
end

# simple scope
Article.published # => where published is true

# chained scope
Article.published_and_commented # published is true and comment_count > 0

# scope with parameters
Article.popular_topic("music") # => popular music articles
# equivalent: where(published: true, :comment_count.gt => 0, category: name)

# automatically generated scope
Article.approved(category: "tour") # => where approved: true, category: 'tour'

If you would like to turn off automatic scope generation for property types, set the option :scope to false when declaring the property.

Calling Cloud Code Functions

You can call on your defined Cloud Code functions using the call_function() method. The result will be nil in case of errors or the value of the result field in the Parse response.

Basic Usage

params = {}
# use the explicit name of the function
result = Parse.call_function 'functionName', params

# to get the raw Response object
response = Parse.call_function 'functionName', params, raw: true
response.result unless response.error?

Authenticated Cloud Function Calls

You can call cloud functions with user session tokens for authenticated requests:

# Using session token option
user = Parse::User.("username", "password")
result = Parse.call_function('functionName', params, session_token: user.session_token)

# Using convenience method
result = Parse.call_function_with_session('functionName', params, user.session_token)

# Using master key for administrative operations
result = Parse.call_function('functionName', params, master_key: true)

Advanced Options

# Using a specific client connection
result = Parse.call_function('functionName', params, client: :my_client)

# Combining options
result = Parse.call_function('functionName', params, 
  session_token: user.session_token,
  raw: true,
  client: :default
)

Calling Background Jobs

You can trigger background jobs that you have configured in your Parse application as follows.

Basic Usage

params = {}
# use explicit name of the job
result = Parse.trigger_job :myJobName, params

# to get the raw Response object
response = Parse.trigger_job :myJobName, params, raw: true
response.result unless response.error?

Authenticated Job Triggers

Background jobs can also be triggered with authentication:

# Using session token option
user = Parse::User.("username", "password")
result = Parse.trigger_job('myJobName', params, session_token: user.session_token)

# Using convenience method
result = Parse.trigger_job_with_session('myJobName', params, user.session_token)

# Using master key for administrative operations
result = Parse.trigger_job('myJobName', params, master_key: true)

Active Model Callbacks

All Parse::Object subclasses extend ActiveModel::Callbacks for #save and #destroy operations. You can setup internal hooks for before and after.


class Song < Parse::Object
    # ex. before save callback
    before_save do
        self.name = self.name.titleize
    # make sure global acls are set
        acl.everyone(true, false) if new?
    end

  after_create do
    puts "New object successfully saved."
  end

end

song = Song.new name: "my title"
puts song.name # 'my title'
song.save # runs :save callbacks
puts song.name # 'My Title'

There are also a special :create callback. A before_create will be called whenever a unsaved object will be saved, and after_create will be called when a previously unsaved object successfully saved for the first time.

Callback Halting

ActiveModel callbacks can now halt operations by returning false. When a before_save or before_create callback returns false, the save operation will be prevented:

class Song < Parse::Object
  before_save :validate_song

  private

  def validate_song
    if name.blank?
      puts "Song name cannot be blank"
      return false  # This will halt the save operation
    end
    true
  end
end

Validation Context (on: :create / on: :update)

Parse Stack supports ActiveRecord-style validation context for before_validation, after_validation, and around_validation callbacks. This allows you to run callbacks only when creating or updating objects:

class Project < Parse::Object
  property :name, :string, required: true
  property :status, :string, required: true
  property :owner, :pointer
  property :completed_at, :date

  # Set defaults only when creating new objects
  before_validation :set_defaults, on: :create

  # Validate completion date only on updates
  validates :completed_at, presence: true, on: :update, if: -> { status == "completed" }

  def set_defaults
    self.status ||= "pending"
    self.owner ||= current_team_owner
  end
end

Why use before_validation instead of before_create?

The callback order is: before_validation → validations → before_save → before_create → save

If you need to set default values for required fields, before_create runs after validations, so the validation will fail before your defaults are applied. Use before_validation on: :create instead:

class Task < Parse::Object
  property :name, :string, required: true
  property :priority, :integer, required: true

  # This WON'T work - before_create runs AFTER validation
  before_create do
    self.priority ||= 1  # Too late! Validation already failed
  end

  # This WILL work - before_validation runs BEFORE validation
  before_validation :set_priority_default, on: :create

  def set_priority_default
    self.priority ||= 1  # Sets default before validation runs
  end
end

# Now this works:
task = Task.new(name: "My Task")
task.save  # priority is set to 1 before validation

Enhanced Change Tracking

Parse objects now support both standard ActiveModel dirty tracking and enhanced change tracking for after_save hooks:

class Product < Parse::Object
  property :name, :string
  property :price, :float

  after_save :send_price_alert

  def send_price_alert
    # Use *_was_changed? methods in after_save hooks
    if price_was_changed? && price_was < price
      AlertService.send("Price increased from $#{price_was} to $#{price}")
    end
  end
end

The *_was_changed? methods work correctly in after_save contexts by using previous_changes, while standard *_changed? methods maintain their normal ActiveModel behavior.

Schema Upgrades and Migrations

You may change your local Parse ruby classes by adding new properties. To easily propagate the changes to your Parse Server application (MongoDB), you can call auto_upgrade! on the class to perform an non-destructive additive schema change. This will create the new columns in Parse for the properties you have defined in your models. Parse Stack will calculate the changes and only modify the tables which need new columns to be added. This feature does require the use of the master key when configuring the client. It will NOT destroy columns or data.

  # auto_upgrade! requires use of master key
  # upgrade the a class individually
  Song.auto_upgrade!

  # upgrade all classes for the default client connection.
  Parse.auto_upgrade!

Push Notifications

Push notifications are implemented through the Parse::Push class. To send push notifications through the REST API, you must enable REST push enabled? option in the Push Notification Settings section of the Settings page in your Parse application. Push notifications targeting uses the Installation Parse class to determine which devices receive the notification. You can provide any query constraint, similar to using Parse::Query, in order to target the specific set of devices you want given the columns you have configured in your Installation class.

Builder Pattern API

The recommended way to send push notifications is using the fluent builder pattern:

# Simple channel push
Parse::Push.new
  .to_channel("news")
  .with_alert("Breaking news!")
  .send!

# Rich push with all options
Parse::Push.new
  .to_channels("sports", "alerts")
  .with_title("Game Alert")
  .with_body("Your team is playing now!")
  .with_badge(1)
  .with_sound("alert.caf")
  .with_data(game_id: "12345", action: "open_game")
  .schedule(1.hour.from_now)
  .expires_in(3600)
  .send!

# Query-based targeting
Parse::Push.new
  .to_query { |q| q.where(device_type: "ios", :app_version.gte => "2.0") }
  .with_alert("iOS 2.0+ users only")
  .send!

# Class method shortcuts
Parse::Push.to_channel("alerts").with_alert("Important!").send!

Silent Push (iOS Background Notifications)

Send background notifications that wake the app without displaying an alert:

Parse::Push.new
  .to_channel("sync")
  .silent!
  .with_data(action: "refresh", resource: "users")
  .send!

Rich Push (iOS Notification Extensions)

Send rich notifications with images, categories, and mutable content:

Parse::Push.new
  .to_channel("media")
  .with_title("New Photo")
  .with_body("Check out this photo!")
  .with_image("https://example.com/photo.jpg")  # Auto-enables mutable-content
  .with_category("PHOTO_ACTIONS")
  .send!

Localization

Send language-specific messages based on device locale:

Parse::Push.new
  .to_channel("international")
  .with_alert("Default message")
  .with_localized_alerts(
    en: "Hello!",
    fr: "Bonjour!",
    es: "Hola!",
    de: "Hallo!"
  )
  .with_localized_titles(
    en: "Welcome",
    fr: "Bienvenue"
  )
  .send!

Badge Management

# Increment badge by 1
Parse::Push.new.to_channel("messages").increment_badge.with_alert("New!").send!

# Increment by custom amount
Parse::Push.new.to_channel("bulk").increment_badge(5).with_alert("5 new!").send!

# Clear badge
Parse::Push.new.to_channel("read").clear_badge.silent!.send!

Saved Audiences

Target pre-defined audiences stored in the _Audience collection:

# Target by audience name
Parse::Push.new
  .to_audience("VIP Users")
  .with_alert("Exclusive offer!")
  .send!

# Manage audiences
audience = Parse::Audience.new(name: "Premium iOS", query: { "deviceType" => "ios", "premium" => true })
audience.save

Parse::Audience.find_by_name("VIP Users")
Parse::Audience.installation_count("VIP Users")

Push Status Tracking

Track push delivery status via the _PushStatus collection:

status = Parse::PushStatus.find(push_id)

status.succeeded?      # => true
status.num_sent        # => 1250
status.num_failed      # => 12
status.success_rate    # => 99.05
status.sent_per_type   # => {"ios" => 800, "android" => 450}

# Query scopes
Parse::PushStatus.succeeded.all
Parse::PushStatus.failed.all
Parse::PushStatus.recent.limit(10)

Installation Channel Management

Manage channel subscriptions on installations:

installation = Parse::Installation.first

# Subscribe/unsubscribe
installation.subscribe("news", "weather")
installation.unsubscribe("sports")
installation.subscribed_to?("news")  # => true

# Query channels
Parse::Installation.all_channels              # All unique channels
Parse::Installation.subscribers("news").all   # Installations in channel
Parse::Installation.subscribers_count("news") # Count subscribers

Traditional API

The traditional API is still supported:

push = Parse::Push.new
push.send("Hello World!")  # to everyone

# Channel push
push = Parse::Push.new
push.channels = ["mychannel"]
push.send "You are subscribed!"

# Advanced targeting
push = Parse::Push.new
push.where :device_type.in => ['ios','android'], :location.near => some_geopoint
push.alert = "Hello World!"
push.sound = "soundfile.caf"
push.data = { uri: "app://deep_link_path" }
push.send

AI Agent Integration (Experimental)

Parse Stack includes experimental support for AI/LLM agents to interact with your Parse data through a standardized tool interface. This enables natural language querying and intelligent data exploration.

Basic Usage

require 'parse/stack'

# Create an agent
agent = Parse::Agent.new

# Execute tools directly
result = agent.execute(:get_all_schemas)
result = agent.execute(:query_class, class_name: "Song", limit: 10)
result = agent.execute(:count_objects, class_name: "Song", where: { plays: { "$gte" => 1000 } })

# High-level aggregation helpers (v4.2.1) — no pipeline authoring needed
result = agent.execute(:group_by, class_name: "Song", field: "genre",
                       sort: "value_desc", limit: 10)
result = agent.execute(:group_by_date, class_name: "Song", field: "createdAt",
                       interval: "day", timezone: "America/New_York")
result = agent.execute(:distinct, class_name: "Song", field: "artist")

# Ask natural language questions (requires LLM endpoint)
response = agent.ask("How many songs have more than 1000 plays?")
puts response[:answer]

Permission Levels

Agents support three permission levels:

# Readonly (default) - queries only
agent = Parse::Agent.new(permissions: :readonly)

# Write - adds create/update
agent = Parse::Agent.new(permissions: :write)

# Admin - full access including delete
agent = Parse::Agent.new(permissions: :admin)

Agent Metadata DSL

Annotate your models with agent-friendly metadata:

class Song < Parse::Object
  agent_visible  # Include in agent schema listings
  agent_description "A music track in the catalog"

  property :title, :string, _description: "The song title"
  property :plays, :integer, _description: "Total play count"
  property :is_removed, :boolean

  # Per-class "valid state" predicate applied by default on every read tool
  # (query_class, count_objects, aggregate). Opt out per-call with
  # `apply_canonical_filter: false`.
  agent_canonical_filter "isRemoved" => { "$ne" => true }

  # Expose methods with permission levels
  agent_readonly :find_popular, "Find songs with high play counts"
  agent_write :increment_plays, "Increment the play counter"

  def self.find_popular(min_plays: 1000)
    query(:plays.gte => min_plays).limit(100)
  end
end

MCP Server

Parse Stack exposes the Model Context Protocol (MCP) so external AI agents — Claude Desktop, Cursor, Continue.dev, and any MCP-compatible client — can query schemas, run aggregations, call tools, and read prompts over a standard JSON-RPC interface. Three deployment modes are available:

  • Standalone HTTP server — a WEBrick process for dedicated MCP deployments.
  • Rack-mountable adapter — embed inside an existing Sinatra or Rails application behind your own auth gate.
  • Direct in-process dispatcher — a pure function for custom transports and unit-testable handlers.

See docs/mcp_guide.md for the complete guide covering authentication, custom tool/prompt registration, rate limiting in per-request topologies, ActiveSupport::Notifications instrumentation, SSE progress streaming, and the security model.

Standalone server (dual-gated for safety):

# Step 1: Set environment variable
export PARSE_MCP_ENABLED=true

# Step 2: Enable in code and start server
Parse.mcp_server_enabled = true
Parse::Agent.enable_mcp!(port: 3001)
Parse::Agent::MCPServer.run(api_key: ENV["MCP_API_KEY"])

Both the environment variable AND the code flag must be set. This prevents accidental enablement in production.

Embedded in Rails / Sinatra:

# config/routes.rb
mount Parse::Agent.rack_app { |env|
  token = env["HTTP_AUTHORIZATION"].to_s.delete_prefix("Bearer ")
  user  = MyAuth.verify!(token)  # raises Parse::Agent::Unauthorized on bad token
  Parse::Agent.new(permissions: :readonly, session_token: user.session_token)
}, at: "/mcp"

The agent_factory block runs per request — wire it to your existing JWT, OAuth, or session-token authentication. Raising Parse::Agent::Unauthorized produces a sanitized 401; any other exception becomes a sanitized 500. The enable_mcp! and mcp_server_enabled prerequisites apply only to the standalone server, not to embedded mode.

Custom transports: Parse::Agent::MCPDispatcher.call(body:, agent:) is a pure function returning {status:, body:}. Use it for stdio transports, in-process tests, or your own protocol envelope.

Security

Master-key default (read this first). Parse::Agent.new without a session_token: runs every tool call with the application master key. Master-key mode bypasses Parse ACLs and Class-Level Permissions — the only safety net is the class-, field-, and pipeline-level layer: agent_visible / agent_hidden, agent_fields, agent_canonical_filter, tenant_id, and PipelineValidator. Per-row enforcement is not applied. The first master-key construction in a process emits a one-time [Parse::Agent:SECURITY] banner to stderr; silence it with Parse::Agent.suppress_master_key_warning = true for intentional global-MCP deployments. For per-user enforcement, pass a session token (the Parse::Agent.rack_app factory pattern above is the recommended wiring):

agent = Parse::Agent.new(session_token: user.session_token)

Built-in protections:

  • Rate limiting: 60 requests/minute default
  • Pipeline validation: Blocks dangerous aggregation stages ($out, $merge, $function)
  • Permission levels: Restrict agent capabilities (readonly/write/admin)
  • Class/field allowlist: agent_visible / agent_hidden / agent_fields per model
  • Per-agent class allowlist (v4.3.0): Parse::Agent.new(classes: { only: [Ticket, Customer] }) narrows a single agent instance to a subset of classes, enforced at six dispatch sites (top-level, include resolution, $lookup, $inQuery/$select, post-fetch redaction, group-by). Composes with the global agent_hidden registry — only: cannot re-enable a globally hidden class.
  • Master-key-except scope (v4.3.0): agent_hidden(except: :master_key) permits master-key agents (internal admin / dev tooling) to address a class while still refusing session-bound (user-facing) agents.
  • Credential-column floor: sessionToken, _hashed_password, _auth_data*, _rperm/_wperm, etc. stripped from every response regardless of class visibility. Applied at the post-fetch walker so a deliberate agent_unhidden cannot leak credentials.
  • Built-in hidden defaults (v4.3.0): Parse::Product and Parse::Session are agent_hidden by default. Call Parse::Product.agent_unhidden or Parse::Session.agent_hidden(except: :master_key) to opt back in.
  • Canonical filter: per-class agent_canonical_filter prepended to every read
  • Tenant scoping: tenant_id: constructor kwarg applied to all queries

See docs/mcp_guide.md for the full reference — per-agent filter composition rules, audit-payload keys (:classes_only, :denial_kind, etc.), and the dual-axis class hiding model.

Configure LLM endpoint via environment:

export LLM_ENDPOINT="http://127.0.0.1:1234/v1"
export LLM_MODEL="qwen2.5-7b-instruct"

Multi-turn Conversations

Agents support multi-turn conversations with context maintained across questions:

agent = Parse::Agent.new

# Initial question
agent.ask("How many users are there?")

# Follow-up questions maintain context
agent.ask_followup("What about admins?")
agent.ask_followup("Show me the most recent 5")

# Clear history to start fresh
agent.clear_conversation!

Token Usage & Cost Estimation

Track LLM token usage and estimate costs:

agent = Parse::Agent.new(pricing: { prompt: 0.01, completion: 0.03 })

agent.ask("How many users?")
agent.ask_followup("What about admins?")

# Check token usage
puts agent.token_usage
# => { prompt_tokens: 450, completion_tokens: 120, total_tokens: 570 }

# Get estimated cost
puts agent.estimated_cost  # => 0.0234

# Reset counters
agent.reset_token_counts!

Callbacks/Hooks

Register callbacks for debugging, logging, and custom behavior:

agent = Parse::Agent.new

# Before tool execution
agent.on_tool_call { |tool, args| puts "Calling: #{tool}" }

# After tool execution
agent.on_tool_result { |tool, args, result| log_result(tool, result) }

# On any error
agent.on_error { |error, context| notify_slack(error) }

# After LLM response
agent.on_llm_response { |response| log_llm_usage(response) }

Streaming Support

Stream responses as they arrive from the LLM:

agent.ask_streaming("Analyze user growth trends") do |chunk|
  print chunk
end

Important Limitation: Streaming mode does not support tool calls. The agent cannot query the database or perform Parse operations while streaming. Use ask for database queries:

# DON'T: This won't query the database
agent.ask_streaming("How many users?") { |c| print c }

# DO: Use ask for database queries
result = agent.ask("How many users?")

Conversation Export/Import

Serialize and restore conversation state:

agent = Parse::Agent.new
agent.ask("How many users?")
agent.ask_followup("What about admins?")

# Export state
state = agent.export_conversation
File.write("conversation.json", state)

# Later, restore in a new session
new_agent = Parse::Agent.new
new_agent.import_conversation(File.read("conversation.json"))
new_agent.ask_followup("Show me the most recent ones")

Configuration Options

Additional agent configuration:

# Custom system prompt
agent = Parse::Agent.new(system_prompt: "You are a music database expert...")

# Or append to the default prompt
agent = Parse::Agent.new(system_prompt_suffix: "Focus on performance data.")

# Configure operation log size (circular buffer, default: 1000)
agent = Parse::Agent.new(max_log_size: 5000)

# Access debugging info
agent.last_request   # Last LLM request sent
agent.last_response  # Last LLM response received
agent.operation_log  # Recent operations

Cloud Code Webhooks

Parse Parse allows you to receive Cloud Code webhooks on your own hosted server. The Parse::Webhooks class is a lightweight Rack application that routes incoming Cloud Code webhook requests and payloads to locally registered handlers. The payloads are Parse::Webhooks::Payload type of objects that represent that data that Parse sends webhook handlers. You can register any of the Cloud Code webhook trigger hooks (beforeSave, afterSave, beforeDelete, afterDelete) and function hooks.

Cloud Code Functions

You can use the route() method to register handler blocks. The last value returned by the block will be returned back to the client in a success response. If error!(value) is called inside the block, we will return the correct Parse error response with the value you provided.

# Register handling the 'helloWorld' function.
Parse::Webhooks.route(:function, :helloWorld) do
  #  use the Parse::Webhooks::Payload instance methods in this block
  name = params['name'].to_s #function params
  puts "CloudCode Webhook helloWorld called in Ruby!"
  # will return proper error response
  # error!("Missing argument 'name'.") unless name.present?

  name.present? ? "Hello #{name}!" : "Hello World!"
end

# Advanced: you can register handlers through classes if you prefer
# Parse::Webhooks.route :function, :myFunc, MyClass.method(:my_func)

If you have registered this webhook (see instructions below), you should be able to test it out by running curl using the command below.

curl -X POST \
  -H "X-Parse-Application-Id: ${APPLICATION_ID}" \
  -H "X-Parse-REST-API-Key: ${REST_API_KEY}" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{}' \
  https://localhost:2337/parse/functions/helloWorld

If you are creating Parse::Object subclasses, you may also register them there to keep common code and functionality centralized.

class Song < Parse::Object

  webhook :function, :mySongFunction do
    the_user = user # available if a Parse user made the call
    str = params["str"]

    # ... get the list of matching songs the user has access to.
    results = Songs.all(:name.like => /#{str}/, :session => the_user)
    # Helper method for logging
    wlog "Found #{results.count} for #{the_user.username}"

    results
  end

end

You may optionally, register these functions outside of classes (recommended).

Parse::Webhooks.route :function, :mySongFunction do
  # .. do stuff ..
  str = params["str"]
  results = Songs.all(:name.like => /#{str}/, :session => user)
  results
end

Cloud Code Triggers

You can register webhooks to handle the different object triggers: :before_save, :after_save, :before_delete and :after_delete. The payload object, which is an instance of Parse::Webhooks::Payload, contains several properties that represent the payload. One of the most important ones is parse_object, which will provide you with the instance of your specific Parse object. In :before_save triggers, this object already contains dirty tracking information of what has been changed.

  # recommended way
  class Artist < Parse::Object
    # ... properties ...

    # setup after save for Artist
    webhook :after_save do
      puts "User: #{user.username}" if user.present? # Parse::User
      artist = parse_object # Artist
      # no need for return in after save
    end

  end

  # or the explicit way
  Parse::Webhooks.route :after_save, :Artist do
    puts "User: #{user.username}" if user.present? # Parse::User
    artist = parse_object # Artist
    # no need for return in after save
  end

For any after_* hook, return values are not needed since Parse does not utilize them. You may also register as many after_save or after_delete handlers as you prefer, all of them will be called.

before_save and before_delete hooks have special functionality and multiple ways to halt operations:

  1. Using error! method: Calling error! will return an error response to Parse Server
  2. Returning false: Webhook blocks can return false to halt the operation
  3. ActiveModel callbacks: When the webhook returns a Parse object, its before_save callbacks are executed and can halt by returning false

Any of these approaches will prevent Parse from saving the object in before_save or deleting the object in before_delete.

For before_save webhooks, the object returned by the block becomes the response. We recommend modifying the parse_object provided (which has dirty tracking) and returning it. This automatically calls your model-specific before_save callbacks and sends the proper payload back to Parse. For more details, see Cloud Code BeforeSave Webhooks

# recommended way
class Artist < Parse::Object
  property :name
  property :location, :geopoint

  # setup after save for Artist
  webhook :before_save do
    the_user = user # Parse::User
    artist = parse_object # Artist
    # artist object will have dirty tracking information

    artist.new? # true if this is a new object

    # default San Diego
    artist.location ||= Parse::GeoPoint.new(32.82, -117.23)

    # Multiple ways to halt the save:

    # Method 1: Using error! (returns error response)
    error!("Name cannot be empty") if artist.name.blank?

    # Method 2: Return false to halt (returns error response)
    return false if artist.location.nil?

    if artist.name_changed?
      wlog "The artist name changed!"
      # .. do something if `name` has changed
    end

    # *important* returns a special hash of changed values
    artist
  end

  # ActiveModel callback halting example
  before_save :validate_artist

  def validate_artist
    if some_complex_validation_fails?
      # Method 3: ActiveModel callback returns false (halts via webhook integration)
      return false
    end
    true
  end

  webhook :before_delete do
    # prevent deleting Artist records
    error!("You can't delete an Artist")
  end

end

Mounting Webhooks Application

The app can be mounted like any regular Rack-based application.

  # Rack (add this to config.ru)
  map "/webhooks" do
    run Parse::Webhooks
  end

  # or in Padrino (add this to apps.rb)
  Padrino.mount('Parse::Webhooks', :cascade => true).to('/webhooks')

  # or in Rails (add this in routes.rb)
  Rails.application.routes.draw do
    mount Parse::Webhooks, :at => '/webhooks'
  end

Register Webhooks

Once you have locally setup all your trigger and function routes, you can write a small rake task to automatically register these hooks with your Parse application. To do this, you can configure a HOOKS_URL variable to be used as the endpoint. If you are using a service like Heroku, this would be the name of the heroku app url followed by your configured mount point.

# ex. https://12345678.ngrok.com/webhooks
HOOKS_URL = ENV["HOOKS_URL"]

# Register locally setup handlers with Parse
task :register_hooks do
  # Parse.setup(....) if needed
  Parse::Webhooks.register_functions! HOOKS_URL
  Parse::Webhooks.register_triggers! HOOKS_URL
end

# Remove all webhooks!
task :remove_hooks do
  # Parse.setup(....) if needed
  Parse::Webhooks.remove_all_functions!
  Parse::Webhooks.remove_all_triggers!
end

However, we have predefined a few rake tasks you can use in your application. Just require parse/stack/tasks in your Rakefile and call Parse::Stack.load_tasks. This is useful for web frameworks like Padrino. Note that if you are using Parse-Stack with Rails, this is automatically done for you through the Railtie.

  # Add to your Rakefile (if not using Rails)
  require 'parse/stack/tasks' # add this line
  Parse::Stack.load_tasks # add this line

Then you can see the tasks available by typing rake -T.

Parse REST API Client

While in most cases you do not have to work with Parse::Client directly, you can still utilize it for any raw requests that are not supported by the framework. We provide support for most of the Parse REST API endpoints as helper methods, however you can use the request() method to make your own API requests. Parse::Client will handle header authentication, request/response generation and caching.

client = Parse::Client.new(application_id: <string>, api_key: <string>) do |conn|
    # .. optional: configure additional middleware
end

 # Use API helper methods...
 client.config
 client.create_object "Artist", {name: "Hector Lavoe"}
 client.call_function "myCloudFunction", { key: "value"}

 # or use low-level request method
 client.request :get, "/1/users", query: {} , headers: {}
 client.request :post, "/1/users/<objectId>", body: {} , headers: {}

If you are already have setup a client that is being used by your defined models, you can access the current client with the following API:

  # current Parse::Client used by this model
  client = Song.client

  # you can also have multiple clients
  client = Parse::Client.client #default client session
  client = Parse::Client.client(:other_session)
Options
  • app_id: Your Parse application identifier.
  • api_key: Your REST API key corresponding to the provided application_id.
  • master_key: The master secret key for the application. If this is provided, api_key may be unnecessary.
  • logging: A boolean value to add additional logging messages.
  • cache: A Moneta cache store that can be used to cache API requests. We recommend use a cache store that supports native expires like Redis. For more information see Parse::Middleware::Caching. Disabled by default.
  • expires: When used with the cache option, sets the expiration time of cached API responses. The default is 3 seconds.
  • adapter: The connection adapter to use. Defaults to Faraday.default_adapter.

Request Caching

For high traffic applications that may be performing several server tasks on similar objects, you may utilize request caching. Caching is provided by a the Parse::Middleware::Caching class which utilizes a Moneta store object to cache GET url requests that have allowable status codes (ex. HTTP 200, etc). The cache entry for the url will be removed when it is either considered expired (based on the expires option) or if a non-GET request is made with the same url. Using this feature appropriately can dramatically reduce your API request usage.

store = Moneta.new :Redis, url: 'redis://localhost:6379'
 # use a Redis cache store with an automatic expire of 10 seconds.
Parse.setup(cache: store, expires: 10, ...)

user = Parse::User.first # request made
same_user = Parse::User.first # cached result

# you may clear the cache at any time
# clear the cache for the default session
Parse::Client.client.clear_cache!

# or through the client accessor of a model
Song.client.clear_cache!

You can always access the default shared cache through Parse.cache and utilize it for other purposes in your application:

# Access the cache instance for other uses
Parse.cache["key"] = "value"
Parse.cache["key"] # => "value"

# or with Parse queries and objects
Parse.cache.fetch("all:records") do |key|
  results = Song.all # or other complex query or operation
  # store it in the cache, but expires in 30 seconds
  Parse.cache.store(key, results, expires: 30)
end

Direct MongoDB Access

Parse-Stack provides direct MongoDB access for performance-critical operations that bypass Parse Server. This is useful for read-heavy operations and advanced features like Atlas Search.

Configuration

# Configure direct MongoDB access
Parse::MongoDB.configure(
  uri: "mongodb://localhost:27017/parse",
  enabled: true
)

# Check if available
Parse::MongoDB.available?  # => true

Query Methods

Execute queries directly against MongoDB using familiar Parse-Stack query syntax:

# Execute query directly - returns Parse objects
songs = Song.query(:plays.gt => 1000).results_direct

# Get first result directly
song = Song.query(:plays.gt => 1000).order(:plays.desc).first_direct

# Get count directly
count = Song.query(:plays.gt => 1000).count_direct

# Get first N results
top_songs = Song.query(:plays.gt => 1000).order(:plays.desc).first_direct(5)

# Get raw Parse-formatted hashes instead of objects
hashes = Song.query(:plays.gt => 1000).results_direct(raw: true)

Supported Operators:

All standard query operators work with MongoDB direct:

# Comparison operators
Song.query(:plays.gt => 1000, :rating.gte => 4).results_direct

# Date range queries
Event.query(:event_date.gt => Time.now).results_direct
Event.query(:event_date.gte => start_date, :event_date.lte => end_date).results_direct

# Array operators
Song.query(:tags.size => 3).results_direct
Song.query(:tags.contains_all => ["rock", "classic"]).results_direct
Song.query(:tags.empty_or_nil => true).results_direct

# String/Regex operators
Product.query(:name.like => /iphone/i).results_direct
Product.query(:name.starts_with => "iPhone").results_direct

# Relational queries (in_query/not_in_query)
Song.query(:artist.in_query => Artist.query(:verified => true)).results_direct

# Complex combinations
Song.query(
  :artist.in_query => Artist.query(:verified => true),
  :tags.empty_or_nil => false,
  :plays.gt => 1000
).results_direct

Include/Eager Loading:

Eager load related objects via MongoDB $lookup:

# Include related artist data (resolved via $lookup)
songs = Song.query(:plays.gt => 1000).includes(:artist).results_direct
songs.each do |song|
  puts "#{song.title} by #{song.artist.name}"  # No additional queries!
end

# Multiple includes
songs = Song.query.includes(:artist, :album).results_direct

Low-Level Direct Access

For advanced use cases, access MongoDB directly:

# Direct find with options
docs = Parse::MongoDB.find("Song", { plays: { "$gt" => 1000 } },
  limit: 10,
  sort: { plays: -1 }
)

# Aggregation pipelines
results = Parse::MongoDB.aggregate("Song", [
  { "$match" => { "genre" => "Rock" } },
  { "$group" => { "_id" => "$artist", "total" => { "$sum" => "$plays" } } }
])

# List Atlas Search indexes
indexes = Parse::MongoDB.list_search_indexes("Song")

Document Conversion

MongoDB documents are automatically converted to Parse format:

  • _id → objectId
  • _created_at → createdAt
  • _updated_at → updatedAt
  • _p_fieldName → fieldName (pointers)
  • _acl → ACL (with r/w → read/write)
  • BSON dates → Parse Date format

Performance Benefits

  • Bypasses Parse Server REST API overhead
  • Direct MongoDB aggregation pipeline execution
  • Automatic pointer resolution with $lookup
  • Native BSON date handling
  • Ideal for read-heavy operations and analytics

Keys Projection

Use keys with mongo_direct to fetch only specific fields, returning partially fetched objects:

songs = Song.query(:genre => "Rock")
            .keys(:title, :plays)
            .results(mongo_direct: true)

song = songs.first
song.title              # => "My Song"
song.partially_fetched? # => true
song.fetched_keys       # => [:title, :plays, :id, :objectId]

Required fields (objectId, createdAt, updatedAt, ACL) are always included.

Aggregation Results

Custom aggregation results support both hash and method access with automatic camelCase to snake_case conversion:

pipeline = [
  { "$group" => { "_id" => "$genre", "totalPlays" => { "$sum" => "$playCount" } } }
]
results = Song.query.aggregate(pipeline, mongo_direct: true).results

results.first.total_plays   # => 5000 (method access)
results.first["totalPlays"] # => 5000 (hash access)

Field Name Conventions

When writing aggregation pipelines, use MongoDB's native field names:

Field Type Ruby Property MongoDB Field
Regular fields release_date releaseDate
Pointer fields artist _p_artist
Built-in dates created_at _created_at 
pipeline = [
  { "$match" => { "releaseDate" => { "$lt" => Time.utc(2024, 1, 1) } } },
  { "$group" => { "_id" => "$_p_artist", "total" => { "$sum" => "$playCount" } } }
]

ACL Filtering

Filter objects by ACL permissions using MongoDB's _rperm and _wperm fields:

readable_by / writable_by - Exact permission strings:

Song.query.readable_by("user123").results(mongo_direct: true)       # User ID
Song.query.readable_by("role:Admin").results(mongo_direct: true)    # Role (explicit prefix)
Song.query.readable_by(current_user).results(mongo_direct: true)    # User object
Song.query.readable_by("public").results(mongo_direct: true)        # Public access (alias for "*")
Song.query.readable_by("none").results(mongo_direct: true)          # Empty _rperm (master key only)

readable_by_role / writable_by_role - Adds "role:" prefix automatically:

Song.query.readable_by_role("Admin").results(mongo_direct: true)              # → "role:Admin"
Song.query.readable_by_role(admin_role).results(mongo_direct: true)           # Role object
Song.query.writable_by_role(["Admin", "Editor"]).results(mongo_direct: true)  # Multiple roles

Note: Requires the mongo gem. Add gem 'mongo' to your Gemfile.

ACL Dirty Tracking

Parse-Stack provides intelligent dirty tracking for ACL objects, correctly handling in-place modifications and content comparison.

acl_was Captures Original State:

When modifying an ACL in place (via apply, apply_role, etc.), acl_was correctly returns the state before any modifications:

obj = MyObject.find(id)
obj.clear_changes!

# Original ACL is empty
obj.acl.as_json  # => {}

# Modify ACL in place
obj.acl.apply(:public, true, false)
obj.acl.apply_role("Admin", true, true)

# acl_was correctly shows original state
obj.acl_was.as_json  # => {} (not the mutated state)
obj.acl.as_json      # => {"*"=>{"read"=>true}, "role:Admin"=>{"read"=>true, "write"=>true}}
obj.acl_changed?     # => true

Content-Based Comparison:

Setting an ACL to identical values does not mark the object as dirty:

membership = Membership.find(id)
membership.clear_changes!

# Rebuild ACL to the same values (common in before_save hooks)
membership.acl = Parse::ACL.new
membership.acl.apply(:public, true, false)
membership.acl.apply_role("Admin", true, true)
# ... same permissions as before ...

# If content is identical, object is NOT dirty
membership.acl_changed?  # => false
membership.dirty?        # => false
membership.save          # No unnecessary server request

New Objects:

New objects always include ACL in changes to ensure it's sent on first save:

obj = MyObject.new(title: "Test")
obj.acl = Parse::ACL.new
obj.acl.apply(:public, true, false)

obj.new?                      # => true
obj.changed.include?("acl")   # => true (always included for new objects)

Implementation Notes:

The ACL dirty tracking system uses several techniques to ensure correctness:

  • A snapshot of the ACL is captured before any in-place modifications via acl_will_change!
  • Content comparison uses JSON serialization to detect actual changes vs reference changes
  • The changed method safely duplicates arrays before modification to avoid interfering with ActiveModel internals
  • Nil-safe checks prevent errors when ACL is unset

MongoDB Atlas Search integration provides full-text search, autocomplete, and faceted search capabilities directly through MongoDB.

Setup

# Configure MongoDB and Atlas Search
Parse::MongoDB.configure(uri: "mongodb+srv://...", enabled: true)
Parse::AtlasSearch.configure(enabled: true, default_index: "default")

# Recommended for new deployments — refuse calls without an explicit
# ACL posture (session_token: or master: true). See "Session-Scoped
# Search" below.
Parse::AtlasSearch.require_session_token = true

Atlas Search runs $search aggregations directly against MongoDB and therefore bypasses Parse Server's per-request ACL evaluation. To enforce the same _rperm semantics the REST API enforces, pass session_token: on the call — the SDK resolves the token to a user, expands the user's inherited role set, and injects a _rperm $match stage into the pipeline.

# Session-scoped — results filtered to documents readable by the user
# whose session token this is, including documents permitted by any
# role the user inherits (Parse::Role.all_for_user).
result = Parse::AtlasSearch.search("Song", "love",
                                    session_token: request.session_token,
                                    limit: 10)

# Master-key-equivalent — explicit ACL bypass. Use for analytics jobs,
# admin tooling, or anywhere ACL is enforced upstream.
result = Parse::AtlasSearch.search("Song", "love", master: true)

# Passing neither emits a one-time [Parse::AtlasSearch:SECURITY]
# banner and falls through to public-only ACL semantics. Set
# `Parse::AtlasSearch.require_session_token = true` to make the
# missing-auth call an `ACLRequired` error instead.

Caching for session-token lookups is configurable:

Parse::AtlasSearch.session_cache_ttl = 3600  # token → user_id
Parse::AtlasSearch.role_cache_ttl    = 120   # user_id → role names

# Force re-resolution after logout / role mutation:
Parse::AtlasSearch::Session.invalidate(token)
Parse::AtlasSearch::Session.invalidate_user_roles(user_id)

Notes:

  • faceted_search cannot ACL-filter $searchMeta bucket counts and raises Parse::AtlasSearch::FacetedSearchNotACLSafe when a session_token: is supplied. Run with master: true (or fall back to multiple search calls with explicit filter: constraints).
  • The session resolver follows Parse Server's role-inheritance direction: a user's permissions include any role whose roles relation transitively contains a role the user directly belongs to. See Parse::Role.all_for_user for the primitive.

Full-Text Search

# Basic search
result = Parse::AtlasSearch.search("Song", "love ballad")
result.each { |song| puts "#{song.title} (score: #{song.search_score})" }

# Search with options
result = Parse::AtlasSearch.search("Song", "love",
  fields: [:title, :lyrics],    # Limit to specific fields
  fuzzy: true,                   # Enable fuzzy matching
  limit: 20,                     # Max results
  highlight_field: :title        # Get highlighted matches
)

# Access highlights
result.each do |song|
  puts song.search_highlights if song.respond_to?(:search_highlights)
end

Autocomplete (Search-as-you-type)

# Basic autocomplete
result = Parse::AtlasSearch.autocomplete("Song", "Lov", field: :title)
result.suggestions  # => ["Love Story", "Lovely Day", "Love Me Do"]

# With fuzzy matching
result = Parse::AtlasSearch.autocomplete("Song", "lvoe",
  field: :title,
  fuzzy: true,
  limit: 5
)

# Define facets
facets = {
  genre: { type: :string, path: :genre, num_buckets: 10 },
  decade: { type: :number, path: :year, boundaries: [1970, 1980, 1990, 2000, 2010, 2020] }
}

# Execute faceted search
result = Parse::AtlasSearch.faceted_search("Song", "rock", facets, limit: 20)

# Access facet counts
result.facets[:genre]
# => [{ value: "Rock", count: 150 }, { value: "Alternative", count: 45 }, ...]

result.total_count  # => 195
result.results      # => matching Song objects

Search Builder (Advanced)

For complex searches, use the fluent SearchBuilder:

builder = Parse::AtlasSearch::SearchBuilder.new(index_name: "song_search")

# Chain multiple operators
builder
  .text(query: "love", path: :title, fuzzy: true)
  .phrase(query: "broken heart", path: :lyrics, slop: 2)
  .range(path: :plays, gte: 1000)
  .with_highlight(path: :title)
  .with_count

# Build the $search stage
search_stage = builder.build

# Use in aggregation pipeline
pipeline = [search_stage, { "$limit" => 10 }]
results = Parse::MongoDB.aggregate("Song", pipeline)

Query Integration

Atlas Search is also available directly on queries:

# Search through Query
songs = Song.query.atlas_search("love ballad", fields: [:title, :lyrics], limit: 10)

# Autocomplete through Query
suggestions = Song.query.atlas_autocomplete("Lov", field: :title)

# Faceted search through Query
result = Song.query.atlas_facets("rock", { genre: { type: :string, path: :genre } })

Index Management

# List indexes for a collection
indexes = Parse::AtlasSearch.indexes("Song")
# => [{ "name" => "default", "queryable" => true, ... }]

# Check if index is ready
Parse::AtlasSearch.index_ready?("Song", "default")  # => true

# Refresh index cache
Parse::AtlasSearch.refresh_indexes("Song")

Creating Search Indexes

Atlas Search requires indexes to be created on your MongoDB Atlas cluster. Indexes define which fields are searchable and how they should be analyzed.

Via MongoDB Atlas UI:

  1. Navigate to your cluster → Atlas Search tab
  2. Click Create Search Index
  3. Select your database and collection
  4. Define your index mappings

Via MongoDB Shell:

// Basic dynamic index (indexes all fields)
db.Song.createSearchIndex("default", {
  mappings: { dynamic: true }
});

// Index with autocomplete support
db.Song.createSearchIndex("default", {
  mappings: {
    fields: {
      title: [
        { type: "string" },
        { type: "autocomplete", tokenization: "edgeGram", minGrams: 2, maxGrams: 15 }
      ],
      genre: [
        { type: "string" },
        { type: "stringFacet" }
      ]
    }
  }
});

// Check index status
db.Song.getSearchIndexes();

Parse Collection Names:

  • Custom classes use their class name directly: Song, Artist, Album
  • Built-in classes have underscore prefixes: _User, _Role, _Session

Local Development:

For local development, use MongoDB Atlas Local:

docker run -d -p 27017:27017 mongodb/mongodb-atlas-local:latest

Or use the provided Docker Compose setup - see CHANGELOG.md for detailed index examples and Testing for Docker-based setup.

Note: Atlas Search requires MongoDB Atlas or a local Atlas deployment. See Testing for Docker-based local setup.

Contributing

Bug reports and pull requests are welcome on GitHub at https://github.com/neurosynq/parse-stack-next.

This project is a fork of the original Parse Stack by Modernistik.

Testing

Parse Stack includes comprehensive integration tests that require a Parse Server instance for full functionality testing. The tests are designed to work with Docker for easy setup and consistency across environments.

Docker Integration Tests

The integration tests use Docker Compose to spin up a Parse Server instance with MongoDB and Redis. This ensures tests run in a clean, isolated environment.

Prerequisites

  • Docker and Docker Compose installed
  • Ruby environment with bundler

Setup and Running Tests

  1. Enable Docker Tests: Set the environment variable to enable Docker-based tests:

    export PARSE_TEST_USE_DOCKER=true

  2. Run All Integration Tests: Execute the full test suite:

    bundle exec rake test

  3. Run Specific Test Suites: Run individual test files for focused testing:

    # Cache integration tests
bundle exec ruby test/lib/parse/cache_integration_test.rb

# Model associations tests bundle exec ruby test/lib/parse/model_associations_test.rb

# Query and aggregation tests bundle exec ruby test/lib/parse/query_aggregate_test.rb

# Request idempotency tests bundle exec ruby test/lib/parse/request_idempotency_test.rb

# Webhook callback tests bundle exec ruby test/lib/parse/webhook_callbacks_test.rb

# Cloud config tests bundle exec ruby test/lib/parse/cloud_config_test.rb


#### Test Categories

**Core Feature Tests:**
- **Cache Integration**: Redis caching, invalidation, TTL, authentication contexts
- **Date and Timezone**: UTC handling, timezone conversions, DST transitions  
- **Batch Operations**: Atomic transactions, rollback scenarios, error handling
- **Model Associations**: `has_many`, `has_one`, `belongs_to` with all approaches

**Advanced Feature Tests:**
- **Query Operations**: Pointer handling, contains/nin operators, complex queries
- **Aggregation Pipelines**: MongoDB aggregations, field conversions, date operations
- **Cloud Config**: Reading/writing config variables, data validation, edge cases
- **Request Idempotency**: Duplicate prevention, thread safety, configuration
- **Webhook Callbacks**: Ruby vs client detection, callback coordination

#### Docker Configuration

The tests use the following Docker setup:

```yaml
# docker-compose.test.yml
version: '3.8'
services:
  mongo:
    image: mongo:4.4
    environment:
      MONGO_INITDB_ROOT_USERNAME: root
      MONGO_INITDB_ROOT_PASSWORD: password

  redis:
    image: redis:6-alpine

  parse-server:
    image: parseplatform/parse-server:latest
    environment:
      PARSE_SERVER_APPLICATION_ID: testAppId
      PARSE_SERVER_MASTER_KEY: testMasterKey
      PARSE_SERVER_DATABASE_URI: mongodb://root:password@mongo:27017/parse?authSource=admin
      PARSE_SERVER_REDIS_URL: redis://redis:6379

Environment Variables

Configure the following environment variables for testing:

# Required for Docker tests
export PARSE_TEST_USE_DOCKER=true

# Optional: Custom Parse Server configuration
export PARSE_SERVER_URL=http://localhost:2337/parse
export PARSE_APP_ID=testAppId
export PARSE_MASTER_KEY=testMasterKey
export PARSE_API_KEY=testRestKey

# Optional: Redis configuration for cache tests
export REDIS_URL=redis://localhost:6379

Troubleshooting

Common Issues:

  1. Docker not running: Ensure Docker daemon is running

    docker --version
docker-compose --version

  2. Port conflicts: Stop other services using ports 1337, 27017, or 6379

    docker-compose -f docker-compose.test.yml down

  3. Permission errors: Ensure Docker has proper permissions

    sudo usermod -aG docker $USER  # Linux

Test Debugging:

Enable verbose logging for detailed test output:

PARSE_STACK_LOGGING=debug bundle exec ruby test/lib/parse/cache_integration_test.rb

Docker Logs:

View Parse Server logs during test runs:

docker-compose -f docker-compose.test.yml logs -f parse-server

Unit Tests

For faster development cycles, unit tests can be run without Docker:

# Run only unit tests (no Docker required)
bundle exec ruby test/lib/parse/models/property_test.rb
bundle exec ruby test/lib/parse/query/basic_test.rb

Unit tests focus on:

  • Object property definitions
  • Query constraint building
  • Data type conversions
  • Model validations
  • Basic functionality

Contributing Tests

When contributing to Parse Stack:

  1. Add Integration Tests: For new features that interact with Parse Server
  2. Add Unit Tests: For utility functions and data transformations
  3. Test Edge Cases: Include error conditions and boundary values
  4. Document Test Scenarios: Add clear descriptions of what each test validates

Example test structure:

def test_new_feature
  puts "\n=== Testing New Feature ==="

  # Setup
  # Test execution  
  # Assertions
  # Cleanup (if needed)

  puts "✅ New feature test passed"
end

License

The gem is available as open source under the terms of the MIT License.