seed_builder.rb

Seed builder for ActiveRecord. Includes seeds loader and generator.

Sponsored by Kisko Labs.

Using Bundler:

bundle add seed_builder

Using RubyGems:

gem install seed_builder

gem "seed_builder"

Run all seeds:

bin/rails db:seed

Or in code:

Rails.application.load_seed

Run a specific seed file:

bin/rails seed:run[create_users]

You can specify the seed name in different formats:

• Class name: create_users (matches 20241206200111_create_users.rb)
• Full name: 20241206200111_create_users
• Timestamp: 20241206200111

Note: If multiple seed files match the same name, you'll be prompted to use the full name with timestamp to avoid ambiguity. For example, if both 20241206200111_create_users.rb and 20241206200112_create_users.rb exist, running bin/rails seed:run[create_users] will show an error listing all matches and ask you to be more specific.

bin/rails g seed create_users

By default seed file db/seeds.rb is loaded.

To turn off loading default seeds.rb file:

SeedBuilder.config.load_default_seeds = false

Absolute path will be resolved by using Rails.root.

SeedBuilder.config.seeds_path = "db/seeds"

SeedBuilder.config.generate_spec = false

SeedBuilder.config.use_seed_loader = false

By default, SeedBuilder uses Rails.logger (or falls back to Logger.new($stdout) if Rails is not available). All seed-related log messages are tagged with [seed].

To use a custom logger:

SeedBuilder.config.logger = MyCustomLogger.new

The logger will be automatically wrapped with ActiveSupport::TaggedLogging if it doesn't already support tagging, ensuring all seed messages are tagged with [seed].

• User can generate seed file under db/seeds directory with common format
• User can generate seed file with test script included
• User can run all seeds
• User can run specific seed file

• Gem patches ActiveRecord::Tasks::DatabaseTasks.seed_loader to have custom loader
• ActiveRecord migrations generator is used to generate seed files
• Seeded data is not reversible, there is no point to implement it as logic can be complex and operations on data might lead to irreversible changes
• Seed file is not a migration, although as good practice is to keep it idempotent, e.g. by checking uniqueness of seeded records

# Install dependencies
bundle install
bundle exec appraisal generate

# Run tests for current Rails version
bundle exec rspec

# Run tests for all Rails versions (6.1, 7.2, 8.1)
bin/appraisals

# Run tests for specific Rails version
bin/appraisals rails-7.2

# Run tests for multiple versions
bin/appraisals rails-7.2 rails-8.1

# Or use appraisal directly
bundle exec appraisal rails-7.2 rspec

# Run linter
bundle exec standardrb --fix

# Check type signatures
bundle exec rbs validate

When developing the gem or testing changes in your application, you can point your Gemfile to a local path:

# In your application's Gemfile
gem "seed_builder", path: "../seed_builder.rb"

Then run:

bundle install

Note: When using path: in your Gemfile, Bundler will use the local gem directly. Changes you make to the gem code will be immediately available in your application without needing to rebuild or reinstall the gem. This is ideal for development and testing.

Bug reports and pull requests are welcome on GitHub at https://github.com/amkisko/seed_builder.rb

Contribution policy:

• New features are not necessarily added to the gem
• Pull request should have test coverage for affected parts
• Pull request should have changelog entry

Review policy:

• It might take up to 2 calendar weeks to review and merge critical fixes
• It might take up to 6 calendar months to review and merge pull request
• It might take up to 1 calendar year to review an issue

Prefer using script usr/bin/release.rb, it will ensure that repository is synced and after publishing gem will create a tag.

GEM_VERSION=$(grep -Eo "VERSION\s*=\s*\".+\"" lib/seed_builder.rb  | grep -Eo "[0-9.]{5,}")
rm seed_builder-*.gem
gem build seed_builder.gemspec
gem push seed_builder-$GEM_VERSION.gem
git tag $GEM_VERSION && git push --tags

The gem is available as open source under the terms of the MIT License.