This tutorial shows how to prepare your local machine for Ruby development, including developing Ruby apps that run on Google Cloud. Follow this tutorial to install Ruby and relevant tools.
Read Quickstart for Ruby and Google Cloud to get an overview of Ruby and learn ways to run Ruby apps on Google Cloud.
Objectives
- Install Ruby.
- Install Bundler.
- Install an editor (optional).
- Install the Google Cloud CLI.
- Install the Cloud Client Libraries for Ruby.
- Set up authentication.
Install Ruby
Ruby's installation instructions vary by operating system. Follow the guide for the operating system you're using on your local development machine. This tutorial applies to stable and non-end-of-life (EOL) Ruby versions listed on Ruby-lang.
macOS
We recommend using
rbenv
to manage your Ruby installations on macOS. rbenv
manages multiple Ruby version
installations on your machine and a rbenv plugin
named
ruby-build
adds support to rbenv
to install a specified version of Ruby.
While macOS includes a version of Ruby by default, it's best to perform a separate install of the latest versions of Ruby to stay up-to-date and avoid conflicts with the operating system's use of its default version.
- Install XCode.
Install XCode's command line tools by using the following command in a terminal:
xcode-select --install
Install
homebrew
by following the instructions on the homebrew homepage.Install
rbenv
by usinghomebrew
, following the instructions in the rbenv readme. The homebrew installation includes theruby-build
plugin.
Learn more about
using rbenv
and ruby-build
to install different versions of Ruby.
Linux
We recommend using
rbenv
to manage your Ruby installations on Linux distributions. rbenv
manages multiple Ruby version
installations on your machine and a rbenv
plugin named
ruby-build
adds support to rbenv
to install a specified version of Ruby.
Install
rbenv
on your Linux distribution by using therbenv
readme.Install the
ruby-build
plugin forrbenv
by using the instructions in theruby-build
readme.
Learn more about using rbenv
and ruby-build
to install different versions of Ruby.
Windows
For Windows, we recommend one of the following:
Install Bundler
Bundler
is a Ruby gem that manages project gem dependencies defined in a file named
Gemfile
. The Ruby samples in Google Cloud's documentation use
Gemfile
files to specify required gems and versions.
Install Bundler.
gem install bundler
Install
gem
dependencies defined in theGemfile
.bundle install
Run your Ruby project only using gems defined in your
Gemfile
.bundle exec ruby app.rb
Learn more about creating a Gemfile
by reading
Bundler documentation.
Install an editor
Popular editors (in no particular order) used to develop Ruby apps include, but aren't limited to:
- Sublime Text by Jon Skinner
- Atom by GitHub
- RubyMine by JetBrains
- Vim by Vim the editor
These editors (sometimes with the help of plugins) give you everything from syntax highlighting, intelli-sense, and code completion to fully integrated debugging capabilities, maximizing your Ruby development efficacy.
Install the gcloud CLI
The gcloud CLI
is a set of tools for Google Cloud. It contains gcloud
and bq
, which
you can use to access Compute Engine, Cloud Storage, BigQuery, and
other products and services from the command line. You can run these tools
interactively or in your automated scripts.
As an example, here is a simple command that deploys a Ruby web
app to the App Engine flexible environment. After deployment,
App Engine attempts to start the app with
bundle exec ruby app.rb -p 8080
:
gcloud app deploy
Learn how to deploy a Ruby on Rails app to the App Engine flexible environment.
Install the Cloud Client Library for Ruby
The Cloud Client Library for Ruby is the idiomatic way for Ruby developers to integrate with Google Cloud services. You can install the package for an individual API, such as Cloud Storage for example:
gem install google-cloud-storage
You can also use Bundler and add the gem to your Gemfile
dependencies, for
example:
bundle add google-cloud-storage
Set up authentication
To use the Cloud Client Libraries in a local development environment, set up Application Default Credentials.
If you're using a local shell, then create local authentication credentials for your user account:
gcloud auth application-default login
You don't need to do this if you're using Cloud Shell.
For more information, see Authenticate for using client libraries.
What's next
- Browse the documentation for Google Cloud products.
- Clone the Ruby samples repository from GitHub.
- Explore Ruby tutorials submitted by the community.
- Learn to deploy Ruby on Rails to Google App Engine flexible environment.