Thinking in Inertia + Rails

Slides from the Inertia Rails workshop at the 2025 SFRuby conference.

The demo application has open Pull Requests for the advanced features we presented (and some that we didn't have time to present!)

Transcript

1. Thinking in Inertia + Rails SF Ruby Nov 19, 2025
2. Agenda • Introduction ◦ Who we are ◦ What is Inertia? ◦ Principles for thinking in Inertia • Workshop Demo: Starting from scratch • Workshop Demo: Advanced features • Questions
3. Who we are • Svyatoslav Kryukov ◦ Backend Engineer @ Evil Martians ◦ Contributor since 2024 ◦ Loves coffee • Brandon Shar ◦ Staff Software Engineer @ EZCater ◦ InertiaRails author since 2019 ◦ Hates coffee, loves his dog • Brian Knoles ◦ CTO @ Bellawatt ◦ InertiaRails author since 2019 ◦ Loves his dog and his coffee
4. Who we are - summary ☕ 🐕 Svyat ✅ ✅ Not yet… Brandon ✅ 🚫 Brian ✅ ✅
5. What is Inertia? • Core JS + Server adapter • A protocol, not a framework • Analogies ◦ Turbolinks ◦ Haml
6. The Protocol
7. Inertia Is: • Core JS + Server adapter • A protocol, not a framework • Analogies ◦ Turbolinks ◦ Haml • Friendly Glue • Leave behind ◦ JSON/GraphQL API ◦ JWTs ◦ Redux/Context ◦ Client side routing ◦ Messy asset versioning
8. InertiaRails History • 2019: Inertia.js launched • 2019: InertiaRails created in a hackathon • 2020-2024: Modest usage • 2024-current: Takeoff ◦ Evil Martians support in 2024 ◦ Laravel maintains JS in 2025
9. InertiaRails History • 2019: Inertia.js launched • 2019: InertiaRails created in a hackathon • 2020-2024: Modest usage • 2024-current: Takeoff ◦ Evil Martians support in 2024 ◦ Laravel maintains JS in 2025 Takeaways! • Inertia is not new • Inertia is well supported
10. Why Choose Something Else? Other options: • Rails + JSON/GraphQL API • Hotwire • Ember or Alpine or jQuery You: • Already have microservice APIs to build against • Want a single cross platform codebase • Really like Hotwire! ◦ Or Ember, or Alpine, or jQuery
11. Why Choose Inertia? You: 1. Want an MVC monolith with a React view layer 2. Appreciate the Javascript/Typescript ecosystem and its talent pool 3. Really like React/Vue/Svelte a. Many Rails teams fall in this bucket!
12. The Promise Rails feels familiar. React* feels lighter. *Or Vue/Svelte
13. The Proof: Rails
14. The Proof: Rails
15. The Proof: React
16. Thinking in Inertia 1. Just use HTTP a. Links for navigation; POST/PATCH/DELETE for mutation 2. Let Rails drive a. Server driven state; DBs are great at updates; routing 3. React is just the view layer a. One way data flow; fewer useEffects; local state for UI only 4. The Page is the contract a. View models
17. Workshop Demo: Getting Started • Svyat drives • Brandon narrates
18. The Protocol (versioned)
19. Workshop Demo: Advanced Features https://github.com/inertia-rails/inertia-workshop-demo Features: • Co-existing with Rails view stack (Devise) • Instant Search • Deferred props • Realtime Chat • RSpec testing • Server managed meta tags • Rails driven types w/ Alba and Typelizer • Optimistic UI Updates • Saving multiple models at once • Infinite Scrolling
20. The Protocol (revisited)
21. Thinking in Inertia 1. Just use HTTP a. Links for navigation; POST/PATCH/DELETE for mutation 2. Let Rails drive a. Server driven state; DBs are great at updates; routing 3. React is just the view layer a. One way data flow; fewer useEffects; local state for UI only 4. The Page is the contract a. View models
22. Questions?