Does Ruby on Rails Work With AWS?
Ruby on Rails works excellently with AWS, with mature libraries and deep integration support for most AWS services.
Quick Facts
How Ruby on Rails Works With AWS
Rails integrates seamlessly with AWS through the AWS SDK for Ruby (aws-sdk gem), which provides client libraries for virtually all AWS services. Developers commonly deploy Rails applications on EC2, use RDS for databases, S3 for file storage, and ElastiCache for caching. The ecosystem is mature with gems like `aws-sdk-rails` that automatically integrate credential handling and logging. Many Rails developers prefer this combination because AWS's breadth eliminates the need to manage multiple vendors—you get compute, storage, databases, messaging, and monitoring from one platform. The developer experience is straightforward: add gems to your Gemfile, configure credentials via environment variables or IAM roles, and use the SDK directly in your code. For deployment, tools like Capistrano or modern CI/CD pipelines (CodePipeline, GitHub Actions) integrate well. Scaling is handled through Auto Scaling Groups and load balancers, while Active Job pairs naturally with SQS for background processing. The main architectural consideration is avoiding over-reliance on AWS-specific features early on, as it reduces portability, though the SDK's design mitigates vendor lock-in reasonably well.
Best Use Cases
S3 File Upload with Active Storage
bundle add aws-sdk-s3# config/storage.yml
amazon:
service: S3
region: us-east-1
bucket: my-app-bucket
access_key_id: <%= ENV['AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID'] %>
secret_access_key: <%= ENV['AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY'] %>
# config/environments/production.rb
config.active_storage.service = :amazon
# app/models/user.rb
class User < ApplicationRecord
has_one_attached :avatar
end
# In controller or view
@user.avatar.attach(params[:avatar])
@user.avatar.url(expires_in: 1.hour) # Generates signed S3 URLKnown Issues & Gotchas
AWS credential management in development can be error-prone, leading to leaked keys in repos
Fix: Use IAM roles on EC2, environment variables locally, or aws-vault for credential isolation. Never commit .aws/credentials. Use GitHub Secrets for CI/CD.
Cold starts on Lambda are problematic for Rails, as the framework initialization time is significant
Fix: Use EC2 or ECS for always-on Rails apps. If using Lambda, consider Rails 6+ with Lambdakiq or Rack Lambdas. Provisioned Concurrency helps but increases costs.
RDS connection pooling can become exhausted under high load without proper configuration
Fix: Use RDS Proxy to manage connection pooling transparently, or tune database.yml pool size relative to your application server concurrency.
S3 eventual consistency can cause race conditions when immediately accessing newly uploaded files
Fix: Use S3 standard storage (no eventual consistency issues in most regions), add retry logic, or implement polling for file verification.
Alternatives
- •Django with AWS (similar cloud integration, Python-based alternative)
- •Laravel with AWS (PHP framework, comparable ecosystem maturity)
- •Node.js/Express with AWS (lighter-weight, better Lambda cold-start performance)
Resources
Related Compatibility Guides
Explore more compatibility guides