Requirements

Rails Pulse requires:

• Ruby 3.3+
• Rails 7.2+
• Database: SQLite, PostgreSQL, or MySQL

Installation Steps

1. Add the Gem

Add Rails Pulse to your application’s Gemfile:

# Gemfile
gem 'rails_pulse'

2. Install the Gem

Run bundle install:

bundle install

3. Generate Installation Files

Generate the Rails Pulse configuration and database files:

# Install with single database setup (default - recommended)
rails generate rails_pulse:install

# Or install with separate database setup
rails generate rails_pulse:install --database=separate

4. Run Migrations

For single database setup (default):

rails db:migrate

For separate database setup:

1. Configure config/database.yml with your Rails Pulse database settings
2. Run: rails db:prepare to create and load the schema

See the Database documentation for detailed configuration examples.

5. Mount the Engine

Add the Rails Pulse route to your application:

# config/routes.rb
Rails.application.routes.draw do
  mount RailsPulse::Engine => "/rails_pulse"
end

Quick Setup

Rails Pulse automatically starts collecting performance data once installed. Access your monitoring dashboard at:

http://localhost:3000/rails_pulse

Database Setup Options

Single Database (default): Rails Pulse tables are created in your main database - no additional configuration needed.

Separate Database: See the Database section for setup instructions.

Schedule Background Jobs

Rails Pulse uses two background jobs to maintain performance data. Schedule them using your preferred job scheduler (cron, whenever, solid_queue, etc.):

# Schedule to run 5 minutes past every hour
# cron: 5 * * * *
RailsPulse::SummaryJob.perform_later

# Schedule to run daily
# cron: 0 1 * * *
RailsPulse::CleanupJob.perform_later

Basic Configuration

The installation generator creates config/initializers/rails_pulse.rb with sensible defaults. Here are some common configuration options:

# config/initializers/rails_pulse.rb
RailsPulse.configure do |config|
  # Enable or disable Rails Pulse
  config.enabled = true

  # Set performance thresholds (in milliseconds)
  config.request_thresholds = {
    slow: 700,
    very_slow: 2000,
    critical: 4000
  }

  # Track background jobs
  config.track_jobs = true

  # Enable automatic cleanup
  config.archiving_enabled = true
end

For complete configuration options, see the Advanced Configuration documentation.

Next Steps

Explore Features

Learn about the dashboard, SQL tracking, background job monitoring, and more.

View Features →

Secure Your Dashboard

Set up authentication to protect access to your monitoring dashboard.

Setup Authentication →