How Rails Powers PopaDex for Simplified Net Worth Tracking
Tags: webdev, rails, personalfinance, fintech
Published: 2024-03-30 23:56:50

The current landscape of personal finance management is full of bloated apps, half of which have a business model based on selling user data. [PopaDex](https://popadex.com) is a net worth tracking app that instead focuses on simplicity and ease of use to let users plan their finances. This article is about how Ruby on Rails, known for its 'convention over configuration' philosophy, has enabled PopaDex to rapidly develop a user-friendly platform that enables financial planning for its users. PopaDex uses some of Rails' latest features like solid_queue, and deployment tools like Kamal, to enhance user experience and maintain a robust, scalable service, all while getting to market quickly.

**SolidQueue for Efficient Background Processing**

One of the key challenges in any applications is managing long-running tasks without affecting the user experience. PopaDex leverages the [solid_queue gem](https://github.com/rails/solid_queue) to handle background processing efficiently. This "DB-based queuing backend for Active Job" allows for tasks such as report generation and notifications to be processed in the background, ensuring the application remains responsive. The beauty of solid_queue lies in its simplicity and efficiency, obviating the need for more complex solutions like Redis or Sidekiq for background job management. This choice offers several distinct advantages:

1. Reduced Complexity: This simplicity is invaluable, especially for smaller teams (or a team of 1 in this case) and projects where resources are limited. By keeping the technology stack simple and manageable, more time and resources to can be dedicated to enhancing the core features of the app, rather than getting bogged down by complex infrastructure management.

2. Lower Surface Area: Without the need to integrate and maintain additional infrastructure like Redis or Sidekiq, PopaDex benefits from a leaner stack. This not only simplifies deployment but also reduces potential points of failure, making the app more robust.

**Kamal for Effortless Deployment**

Navigating the deployment landscape can be a daunting task for any developer, particularly those going it alone. PopaDex uses [Kamal](https://kamal-deploy.org/) as its deployment solution, due to its straightforward and efficient nature. This tool is designed to facilitate the quick deployment of Rails applications across diverse environments, streamlining what can often be a complicated process. Kamal's appeal lies in its ability to demystify deployment, removing the hurdles commonly associated with Docker and app deployment in general. A couple of the main benefits of Kamal:

1. Simplified Deployment Process: Kamal's user-friendly approach means that even developers working solo can confidently deploy their applications without the need for extensive DevOps knowledge. 

2. The robustness of being able to deploy swiftly to various Virtual Private Servers is also a great feature. PopaDex can maintain a high level of service availability and performance, as it allows for rapid scaling and redundancy across different hosting environments. 

**Omakase and CoPilot**

The "[omakase](https://dhh.dk/2012/rails-is-omakase.html)" approach of Rails works exceptionally well with tools like GitHub Copilot. Copilot thrives on context and convention, making Rails' standardised environment an ideal setting. Given Rails' convention over configuration ethos, Copilot can more accurately predict and offer suggestions that align with the Rails way of doing things, therefore accelerating development time even further. For example, when working within a Rails application, Copilot can quite accurately suggest controller actions or model validations, streamlining the development process.

Moreover, the "omakase" nature of Rails means that most of the gems and tools recommended by the Rails community are widely adopted and well-documented. This widespread adoption provides a rich dataset for GitHub Copilot to draw from, meaning that its suggestions are accurate and adhere to community best practices, more often than not. Naturally, this means solo developers can write more efficient, secure, and clean code for a huge variety of applications.

**The Rails Architecture: An Ideal Tool for Solo Developers**

Rails is a solo entrepreneur's best friend. Seriously, its monolithic and cohesive nature makes it a dream for anyone trying to hit the market fast and without a VC-funded engineering team. Using gems like solid_queue for those behind-the-scenes tasks and Kamal for fast and efficient deployment means that PopaDex keeps things running smooth and allows us to focus on adding value to our users. It's (famously) like having a Swiss Army knife; Rails equips developers with a curated set of features that streamline the development process, making it possible to achieve more with less.

Finally, Rails is only getting better. With Rails 8 on the horizon, progressive web apps will be first-class citizens and a [whole host of other juicy features](https://fly.io/ruby-dispatch/the-plan-for-rails-8/) are setting the stage for an even more mature framework. Rails is going to reinforce its position as a mature and forward-thinking framework, and it has made all the difference in taking PopaDex to market.