Since Visual Studio Code is the most popular editor according to the Rails Developer Survey, I want to share essential tools for Ruby on Rails development that are relevant for 2025, at least from my perspective. This information could be helpful for both beginners and experienced developers. If you think I've missed anything, feel free to let me know in the comments!
Ruby LSP
The Ruby LSP is an implementation of the language server protocol for Ruby, used to improve rich features in editors. Simply put, it provides several key functionalities such as Go to Definition, Hover, Workspace Symbol, Document Symbol, Completion, and Signature Help.
In this post, you can check the setup options. What’s great is that you don’t need to install any additional packages. If you open a Rails project, it will load the Rails LSP automatically. By default, Ruby LSP also offers linting and formatting through integration with RuboCop, though it can be used with other linters, such as Standard. This means you don't need to install a separate extension for linting.
As of v0.3.0, Ruby LSP will automatically include the Ruby LSP Rails add-on in its custom bundle when a Rails app is detected. There is no need to add the gem to your bundle.
A Ruby LSP add-on for Rails
Ruby LSP in VS Code
Stimulus LSP
Stimulus LSP from Marco Roth - Intelligent Stimulus tooling for Visual Studio Code that helps you to get helpful hints on controllers, actions, targets, values, and a bunch of other Stimulus features.
Stimulus LSP in VS Code
GitHub Copilot
GitHub Copilot is an AI pair programmer tool that helps you write code faster and smarter. Although AI is still a hot topic in 2025, the most important update is that you can now try Copilot for free. It will help you with faster prototyping and often provides better autocomplete suggestions than LSP, especially when writing tests.
When you install Copilot in Visual Studio Code, you get two extensions:
- GitHub Copilot - Provides inline coding suggestions as you type.
- GitHub Copilot Chat - A companion extension that provides conversational AI assistance.
GitHub Copilot in VS Code
GitHub Copilot Chat in VS Code
ERB Commenter
ERB Commenter extension is less popular, but I find it incredibly useful. Since commenting out code during testing or debugging is common. While Ruby LSP handles this well for Ruby files, it’s less convenient in HTML ERB templates. This extension helps you easily comment and uncomment lines of pure HTML and multi-line ERB and HTML comments.
ERB comment in VS Code
Rails Partial
Rails Partial extension helps with definition and completion for Rails Partial. While the Rails extension is often mentioned in similar posts, I’ve noticed it occasionally freezes and blocks the work (on MacOS with M1 chip). To ensure smooth development, I’ve set up VS Code without it. However, as Ruby LSP has evolved rapidly, we might not need the extension for much longer. Until then, I still rely on the Rails Partial extension for partial definitions.
Rails Partial in VS Code
Ruby Test Runner
Ruby Test Runner runs tests with one click or key binding. It’s especially useful if you follow a Test-Driven Development (TDD) approach and often run tests.
Ruby Test Runner in VS Code
Less important but handy extensions that I use
Yaml Path Extractor
This extension copies the path to a key in a YAML file. It’s particularly useful for I18n files when you need to copy the nested key to the translation.
GitLens — Git supercharged
It enhances your workflows with powerful Git functionality. I mostly use it for in-line blame history.
YAML
Provides comprehensive YAML Language support.
Vscode-gemfile
Provides hover link in Gemfile refers to an online site.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on this list in the comments. If you believe I’ve overlooked anything important, please let me know.
Additionally, if you’re interested in Ruby on Rails, check out my other posts:
- Why Ruby on Rails is Ideal for Solo Developers
- Getting Started with Rails: The Basics Every Developer Should Know
