About Gooey Reader

Gooey Reader (aka GUI, Graphical User Interface...) is an RSS Reader web app designed to act as a playground for ideas, patterns and concepts.

It uses Ruby on Rails, with a React front-end. However, unlike most other projects – it's not an SPA. Gooey uses InertiaJS to act as glue between to the two. Allowing the app to continue to use server-side routing and controllers.

It's development is driven by it's creator's whims (does an RSS Reader need a Dashboard? No, but I made one anyway). Sometimes I just want to play around in the front-end, sometimes I want to try something in the backend. So if elements seem over-refined compared to others that is probably why.

Some things I like / find interesting:

• It uses Vite Ruby instead of Webpacker.
• It uses InertiaJS (as discussed above)
• It uses a result object pattern for returning service objects
• Lefthook for pre-commit git hooks
• Alba for generating serialized objects (finally leaving behind Active Model Serializers)
• Cuprite for driving headless-Chrome
• It uses HeadlessUI to provide accessible, but visually customisable components like dropdowns and modals.
• Webmock and VCR for stubbing external API requests (super useful for creating feeds)
• Broadly, it's trying to retain a server-side approach, and limit the amount of front-end state while still feeling responsive like an API-driven SPA. This has worked better in some places than others.

Rubocop

• Run bundle exec rubocop --auto-gen-config to generate a todo list of existing exceptions
• Run rubocop -a to autocorrect offenses
• Run rubocop -x to fix layout issues