# Suspenders [](http://travis-ci.org/thoughtbot/suspenders)
Suspenders is the base Rails application used at
[thoughtbot](http://thoughtbot.com).
Installation
------------
First install the suspenders gem:
gem install suspenders
Then run:
suspenders projectname
This will create a Rails app in `projectname` using the latest version of Rails.
Gemfile
-------
To see the latest and greatest gems, look at Suspenders'
[Gemfile](templates/Gemfile.erb), which will be appended to the default
generated projectname/Gemfile.
It includes application gems like:
* [Airbrake](https://github.com/airbrake/airbrake) for exception notification
* [Bourbon](https://github.com/thoughtbot/bourbon) for Sass mixins
* [Bitters](https://github.com/thoughtbot/bitters) for scaffold application styles
* [Delayed Job](https://github.com/collectiveidea/delayed_job) for background
processing
* [Email Validator](https://github.com/balexand/email_validator) for email
validation
* [Flutie](https://github.com/thoughtbot/flutie) for and `body_class` view
helper
* [High Voltage](https://github.com/thoughtbot/high_voltage) for static pages
* [jQuery Rails](https://github.com/rails/jquery-rails) for jQuery
* [Neat](https://github.com/thoughtbot/neat) for semantic grids
* [New Relic RPM](https://github.com/newrelic/rpm) for monitoring performance
* [Normalize](https://necolas.github.io/normalize.css/) for resetting browser styles
* [Postgres](https://github.com/ged/ruby-pg) for access to the Postgres database
* [Rack Timeout](https://github.com/kch/rack-timeout) to abort requests that are
taking too long
* [Recipient Interceptor](https://github.com/croaky/recipient_interceptor) to
avoid accidentally sending emails to real people from staging
* [Simple Form](https://github.com/plataformatec/simple_form) for form markup
and style
* [Title](https://github.com/calebthompson/title) for storing titles in
translations
* [Unicorn](https://github.com/defunkt/unicorn) to serve HTTP requests
And development gems like:
* [Dotenv](https://github.com/bkeepers/dotenv) for loading environment variables
* [Pry Rails](https://github.com/rweng/pry-rails) for interactively exploring
objects
* [ByeBug](https://github.com/deivid-rodriguez/byebug) for interactively
debugging behavior
* [Spring](https://github.com/rails/spring) for fast Rails actions via
pre-loading
And testing gems like:
* [Capybara](https://github.com/jnicklas/capybara) and
[Capybara Webkit](https://github.com/thoughtbot/capybara-webkit) for
integration testing
* [Factory Girl](https://github.com/thoughtbot/factory_girl) for test data
* [Formulaic](https://github.com/thoughtbot/formulaic) for integration testing
HTML forms
* [RSpec](https://github.com/rspec/rspec) for unit testing
* [RSpec Mocks](https://github.com/rspec/rspec-mocks) for stubbing and spying
* [Shoulda Matchers](https://github.com/thoughtbot/shoulda-matchers) for common
RSpec matchers
* [Timecop](https://github.com/jtrupiano/timecop-console) for testing time
Other goodies
-------------
Suspenders also comes with:
* The [`./bin/setup`][bin] convention for new developer setup
* Rails' flashes set up and in application layout
* A few nice time formats set up for localization
* `Rack::Deflater` to [compress responses with Gzip][compress]
* [Fast-failing factories][fast]
* A [low database connection pool limit][pool]
* [Safe binstubs][binstub]
* [t() and l() in specs without prefixing with I18n][i18n]
* An automatically-created `SECRET_KEY_BASE` environment variable in all
environments.
* Configuration for [Travis Pro][travis] continuous integration.
* The analytics adapter [Segment.io][segment] (and therefore config for Google
Analytics, Intercom, Facebook Ads, Twitter Ads, etc.).
[bin]: http://robots.thoughtbot.com/bin-setup
[compress]: http://robots.thoughtbot.com/content-compression-with-rack-deflater/
[fast]: http://robots.thoughtbot.com/testing-your-factories-first
[pool]: https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/concurrency-and-database-connections
[binstub]: https://github.com/thoughtbot/suspenders/pull/282
[i18n]: https://github.com/thoughtbot/suspenders/pull/304
[travis]: http://docs.travis-ci.com/user/travis-pro/
[segment]: https://segment.io
Heroku
------
You can optionally create Heroku staging and production apps:
suspenders app --heroku true
This:
* Creates a staging and production Heroku app
* Sets them as `staging` and `production` Git remotes
* Configures staging with `RACK_ENV` and `RAILS_ENV` environment variables set
to `staging`
* Adds the [Rails 12 Factor](https://github.com/heroku/rails_12factor) gem
to make running Rails 4 apps easier on Heroku
Git
---
This will initialize a new git repository for your Rails app. You can
bypass this with the `--skip-git` option:
suspenders app --skip-git true
GitHub
------
You can optionally create a GitHub repository for the suspended Rails app. It
requires that you have [Hub](https://github.com/github/hub) on your system:
curl http://hub.github.com/standalone -sLo ~/bin/hub && chmod +x ~/bin/hub
suspenders app --github organization/project
This has the same effect as running:
hub create organization/project
Dependencies
------------
Suspenders requires the latest version of Ruby.
Some gems included in Suspenders have native extensions. You should have GCC
installed on your machine before generating an app with Suspenders.
Use [OS X GCC Installer](https://github.com/kennethreitz/osx-gcc-installer/) for
Snow Leopard (OS X 10.6).
Use [Command Line Tools for XCode](https://developer.apple.com/downloads/index.action)
for Lion (OS X 10.7) or Mountain Lion (OS X 10.8).
We use [Capybara Webkit](https://github.com/thoughtbot/capybara-webkit) for
full-stack JavaScript integration testing. It requires QT. Instructions for
installing QT are
[here](https://github.com/thoughtbot/capybara-webkit/wiki/Installing-Qt-and-compiling-capybara-webkit).
PostgreSQL needs to be installed and running for the `db:create` rake task.
Issues
------
If you have problems, please create a
[GitHub Issue](https://github.com/thoughtbot/suspenders/issues).
Contributing
------------
To update Suspenders' Ruby version, change `.ruby-version` and `.travis.yml`.
Please see [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md) for further details.
Credits
-------
Suspenders is maintained and funded by
[thoughtbot, inc](http://thoughtbot.com/community).
The names and logos for thoughtbot are trademarks of thoughtbot, inc.
License
-------
Suspenders is Copyright © 2008-2014 thoughtbot. It is free software, and may be
redistributed under the terms specified in the LICENSE file.