Plutonium

The Rails framework for things you should never write again.

Convention over configuration, extended to everything you keep rebuilding: CRUD. Auth. Authorization. Multi-tenancy. Admin portals. Search, filters, bulk actions. All generated. All customizable. All Rails.

Quick Start

rails new myapp -a propshaft -j esbuild -c tailwind \
  -m https://radioactive-labs.github.io/plutonium-core/templates/plutonium.rb

Then scaffold a resource, create a portal, and connect them:

cd myapp

# Scaffold a resource — model, migration, definition, policy
rails g pu:res:scaffold Post title:string body:text published_at:datetime --dest=main_app
rails db:prepare

# Create a portal (web interface) and connect the resource to it
rails g pu:pkg:portal app --public
rails g pu:res:conn Post --dest=app_portal

bin/dev

Visit http://localhost:3000/app/posts — you have a complete CRUD interface.

What You Stop Writing

Same scaffold command you already know. A very different surface area.

rails g scaffold Post ...              # Rails:     just CRUD
rails g pu:res:scaffold Post ...       # Plutonium: full CRUD + search + filters + bulk actions

And it doesn't stop at scaffolds:

Resource-oriented architecture — models, policies, definitions, and controllers that work together:

# Policy controls WHO can do WHAT
class PostPolicy < ResourcePolicy
  def create? = user.present?
  def update? = record.author == user || user.admin?

  def permitted_attributes_for_create
    %i[title body]
  end
end

# Definition controls HOW it renders
class PostDefinition < ResourceDefinition
  input :body, as: :markdown
  search { |scope, q| scope.where("title ILIKE ?", "%#{q}%") }
  scope :published
  scope :drafts
end

Packages and portals — split your app into feature engines and themed web interfaces:

rails g pu:pkg:package blogging      # Business logic
rails g pu:pkg:portal admin          # Web interface
rails g pu:res:conn Post --dest=admin_portal

Built-in authentication via Rodauth:

rails g pu:rodauth:install
rails g pu:rodauth:account user

Multi-tenancy with entity scoping:

# In a portal engine
scope_to_entity Organization, strategy: :path
# Routes become /organizations/:organization_id/posts

Custom actions with interactions:

class PublishInteraction < ResourceInteraction
  attribute :resource
  attribute :publish_at, :datetime

  def execute
    resource.update!(published_at: publish_at)
    succeed(resource).with_message("Published!")
  rescue ActiveRecord::RecordInvalid => e
    failed(e.record.errors)
  end
end

Why Plutonium

• Convention over configuration — extended to resources, policies, portals, and tenancy, not just routes and views.
• It's just Rails — generated code lives in your repo. Edit it, override it, delete it. The "magic" is regular Ruby mixins you can read.
• Multi-tenant ready — path or domain tenancy, scoped relations, invites and memberships out of the box.
• AI-readable — predictable file layout and naming, plus built-in Claude Code skills that teach AI assistants the patterns.

Documentation

Full documentation at radioactive-labs.github.io/plutonium-core

• Installation
• Tutorial
• Guides
• Reference

Requirements

• Ruby 3.2.2+
• Rails 7.2+ (Rails 8 recommended)
• Node.js 18+

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md for development setup and guidelines.

License

MIT License — see LICENSE.txt.