In this episode of On Rails, Robby is joined by Hilary Stohs-Krause, a Senior Software Engineer at Red Canary. They explore how engineering teams approach everyday performance work, from small Active Record optimizations to larger architectural decisions. Hilary shares insights from Red Canary's journey switching from React to Rails' native Hotwire stack, how her team tackled flaky test failures that were slowing down continuous deployments, and some strong opinions about custom linters.

🧰 Tools, Libraries, and Books Mentioned

• RuboCop – Enforces Ruby style and conventions, with support for custom cops.
• haml-lint – Linter for HAML templates to enforce consistent view code.
• ESLint – JavaScript linter used for maintaining consistent code quality, especially in React.
• HadoLint – Linter for Dockerfiles to catch common issues and enforce best practices.
• SitePrism – Page-object model DSL for Capybara to reduce flaky system tests.
• Sidekiq – Background job processor used in production Rails environments.
• Turbo – Part of the Hotwire stack for reactive updates without full-page reloads.
• Stimulus – Lightweight JavaScript framework for enhancing HTML with small interactions.
• Hotwire – A set of tools (Turbo + Stimulus) for building modern web apps without heavy JavaScript.
• Thinking in Bets – A book about better decision-making under uncertainty, by Annie Duke.

Send us a text

On Rails is a podcast focused on real-world technical decision-making, exploring how teams are scaling, architecting, and solving complex challenges with Rails.

On Rails is brought to you by The Rails Foundation, and hosted by Robby Russell of Planet Argon, a consultancy that helps teams improve and modernize their existing Ruby on Rails apps.

In this episode of On Rails, Robby is joined by Ryan Stawarz and Austin Story from Doximity, where Ruby on Rails has powered the core of their platform for over 15 years. The trio digs into how a single Rails monolith has evolved to support 100+ engineers and a mobile-first experience for millions of healthcare professionals. From front-end framework migrations to API architecture, they explore the real-world decisions required to keep a large Rails app resilient and fast-moving.

Ryan and Austin walk us through the team’s adoption of GraphQL, what led them to introduce GraphQL Federation, and how they balance speed with reliability when scaling APIs across domains. They talk about the tradeoffs of maintaining both GraphQL and REST, and how Doximity avoids N+1 query pitfalls using BatchLoader. The conversation also touches on the evolution of their front-end—from Backbone to Vue.js—and why Rails’ flexibility still gives them an edge.

Throughout the episode, they share pragmatic insights into debugging at scale, managing one-off data migrations, and determining when a service should live inside or outside the monolith. They also reflect on their use of tools like Packwerk, AnyCable, and Departure, and how a culture of trust, documentation, and lightweight planning helps Doximity move fast without breaking things.

🧰 Tools & Libraries Mentioned

- Ruby on Rails – The web framework powering Doximity’s monolith and many of their services.

- GraphQL-Ruby – Ruby gem for building GraphQL APIs in Rails.

- BatchLoader– Helps reduce N+1 queries in GraphQL.

- Vue.js – Their chosen frontend framework for building single-page applications.

- Packwerk – Helps enforce modular boundaries in their Rails monolith.

- Departure – Used for safe database migrations on large datasets.

- Thor – Used to run one-off CLI scripts with easier testability.

- rake-ui – Internal tool for triggering Rake tasks via a web UI.

- AnyCable – Go-based replacement for ActionCable to support realtime features at scale.

- Docker – Powers consistent local dev and containerized environments.

- Fi

Send us a text

On Rails is a podcast focused on real-world technical decision-making, exploring how teams are scaling, architecting, and solving complex challenges with Rails.

On Rails is brought to you by The Rails Foundation, and hosted by Robby Russell of Planet Argon, a consultancy that helps teams improve and modernize their existing Ruby on Rails apps.

In this episode of On Rails, Nadia Odunayo, founder and solo developer of The StoryGraph, joins us to share what it really takes to build and maintain a Rails application used by over four million readers across web and mobile.

We discuss lessons from launching a PWA, shifting to Turbo Native for cross-platform support, and navigating challenges like in-app purchases and data syncing between systems. Nadia also talks about the bold decision to move from Heroku to YugabyteDB to support growing workloads, and why she decided against hiring a team to manage it.

We also explore what it means to remain a solo developer by choice, the value of the Rails community, and why Ruby on Rails continues to be the framework that powers her entire business.

Platforms & Distribution

• The StoryGraph – Nadia’s solo-built reading and book tracking platform
• Apple App Store – The StoryGraph
• Google Play Store – StoryGraph
• Progressive Web Apps (MDN) – Alternative mobile delivery method initially explored

Tools, Libraries & Services

• Ruby on Rails – The primary framework powering The StoryGraph
• Turbo / Hotwire Native – Used to support mobile apps with shared Rails backend
• Devise (GitHub) – Authentication library for Rails
• Sidekiq – Background job processor
• Makara (GitHub) – Database proxy for master/replica load splitting
• Heroku – Former hosting platform for The StoryGraph
• YugabyteDB – Postgres-compatible distributed database chosen for scaling
• CTEs (Common Table Expressions) – Used for optimizing queries across distributed data
• Linear – Project management tool currently used by Nadia

Books

• Ruby Under a Microscope by Pat Shaughnessy – A deep dive into Ruby internals

Send us a text

On Rails is a podcast focused on real-world technical decision-making, exploring how teams are scaling, architecting, and solving complex challenges with Rails.

On Rails is brought to you by The Rails Foundation, and hosted by Robby Russell of Planet Argon, a consultancy that helps teams improve and modernize their existing Ruby on Rails apps.