pryrails

PryRails, commonly installed as the gem pry-rails, is a Ruby library that integrates the Pry interactive console with Ruby on Rails. It replaces the default IRB-based Rails console with a more feature-rich Pry prompt, enabling enhanced introspection and debugging during development and testing.

Installation typically involves adding PryRails to the Gemfile in the development and test groups, for example: group :development, :test do; gem 'pry-rails'; end. After running bundle install, Rails console will launch with Pry instead of IRB. PryRails also loads Pry automatically when you require the gem, so no additional configuration is usually required. It is designed to be used in development environments and should be avoided in production.

Usage and capabilities center on interactive debugging and exploration. Inserting binding.pry into application code will pause execution and drop you into a Pry session at that point, allowing you to inspect variables, navigate object hierarchies, and evaluate expressions. Pry, often enhanced with pry-byebug, provides advanced features such as step-by-step debugging, syntax highlighting, and improved navigation through code.

PryRails is maintained as a community-supported tool compatible with various Ruby and Rails versions, with dependencies managed through Bundler. As with other debugging tools, it should be used with caution in non-production environments and removed or disabled in production deployments. See also Pry and Pry-byebug for related debugging capabilities.