New Discussion

Notifications

You’re not receiving notifications from this thread.

Coming back to Rails after ~6 years, are the older API-mode tutorials still current?

2
General
Harsha MV Harsha MV

Hi all. I built quite a bit with Rails up to around 2019-2020, then spent the last few years in the JS/TS world (Node, Next.js). I'm now picking Rails back up for the backend of a new project, API-only, with a separate Next.js frontend.

While looking for up-to-date learning material, I've noticed most of the "Rails API" tutorials and videos I can find are from 2017-2018. So I wanted to ask:

  1. Do those older API-mode tutorials still hold up, or has enough changed (Rails 4/5 → 8) that I'd be learning outdated patterns?
  2. Is the API side of Rails basically stable/mature (so old material is fine), or are there newer conventions I should learn instead, SolidQueue, the built-in auth generator, Kamal, etc.?
  3. Any current resources (2023+) you'd recommend for someone experienced but rusty, who mainly needs to refresh on what's changed rather than learn from scratch?

For context, the stack I'm planning: Rails 8 API + Postgres, Next.js frontend, likely Render or Fly for hosting. Thanks!

Chris Oliver Chris Oliver

Hey Harsha,

Rails is pretty much the same regarding APIs. Kamal, SolidQueue, etc are all great to know, but aren't specific to APIs.

We have several series that talk about what's new in each Rails release.
https://gorails.com/series/rails-8-1
https://gorails.com/series/rails-8-0
https://gorails.com/series/rails-7-2
https://gorails.com/series/rails-7-1
https://gorails.com/series/rails-7-0

If you want to see all of the latest stuff put together, the Domain Monitoring SaaS series builds an actual product from scratch to production with Rails: https://gorails.com/series/domain-monitor-saas

Join the discussion
Create an account Log in

Learning Ruby on Rails? Join our newsletter.

We won't send you spam. Unsubscribe at any time.