Add helper methods to your Rails console

November 8, 2012 code 2 min read

If you use the console on your production application with any regularity, then having helpers for your application is a must! I use the console on Speaker Deck often to debug issues processing PDFs. I almost always start by finding a user by their username or a talk by its URL, so I added helpers to make it brainless.

Adding helpers to the Rails 3 console is easy. Define your helper methods in a module in your lib directory.

module SpeakerDeck
  # These methods are included into the Rails console
  module Console
    # Find a user by username
    def u(username)
      User.find_by_username!(username)
    end

    # Find a talk by url, e.g. "holman/how-to-be-sexy-like-me"
    def t(param)
      username, slug = param.split('/')
      Talk.find_by_username_and_slug!(username, slug)
    end
  end
end

Then, in your application.rb file, pass a block to #console that includes your module into Rails::ConsoleMethods.

module SpeakerDeck
  class Application < Rails::Application
    # …

    console do
      require 'speaker_deck/console'
      Rails::ConsoleMethods.send :include, SpeakerDeck::Console
    end
  end
end

Now, when you run rails console, your methods are available.

>> user = u 'bkeepers'
=> #
>> talk = t 'sachag/side-projects'
=> #

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— @bkeepers