// the find
dennybritz/rails_startup_template
A startup template for Ruby on Rails 4 applications
A Rails 4 application template from 2014 that scaffolds a new project with a standard set of gems and configuration. It targets solo founders or small teams who want a sensible starting point rather than a blank slate.
Rolls custom `has_secure_password` authentication instead of defaulting to Devise — that's a reasonable call for apps that want to own their auth logic. Using Segment for analytics is smart: one integration, forward to anything. Cleaning up the asset pipeline defaults (removing `require_tree`) is a small thing that saves real pain later. Foreman for environment variable management is the right habit to build from day one.
Rails 4 is ancient — Rails 8 is current and this template has not been touched since 2017. CanCan was superseded by Pundit for most teams and CanCanCan for those who wanted to stay on the CanCan API; either way, this points at the dead original. Bourbon is also effectively unmaintained. The template is a single 200-line script with no tests and no way to selectively opt out of features beyond the two or three hardcoded prompts — you either take it all or edit the script by hand.