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Integration Ruby On Rails

PostHogOfficialCreated by PostHog

  • Skill
  • Tool integration
  • Software development
  • MIT
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From the author

PostHog integration for Ruby on Rails applications
— the description by PostHog

AutoGineer summary

Written by AutoGineer from the skill’s own files, not by the author

This skill provides a structured workflow for adding PostHog to a Ruby on Rails project. It covers the installation of the posthog-rails and posthog-ruby gems, configuration of initializers, and best practices for event tracking, user identification, and automated error reporting. The skill emphasizes using environment variables for configuration, leveraging class-level methods for event capture, and maintaining consistency with provided implementation patterns to ensure reliable data collection across both backend and frontend environments.

What it does

  • Configures PostHog initialization for Rails applications.
  • Enables automated tracking of unhandled exceptions and background job failures.
  • Provides patterns for manual event capture and user identification.
  • Integrates feature flag support within Rails controllers.
  • Demonstrates how to correlate backend events with frontend sessions.
  • Offers a step-by-step workflow for planning and implementing event tracking.

When to use it

  • When you need to add product analytics to a Ruby on Rails application.
  • When you want to implement automated server-side error tracking.
  • When you need to associate backend events with authenticated users.
  • When you are setting up feature flags for Rails-based features.

Advantages

  • Follows established Rails conventions for gem configuration.
  • Ensures secure handling of API keys via environment variables.
  • Provides clear separation between backend event tracking and frontend instrumentation.
  • Includes built-in support for ActiveJob and Rails error reporting.

Usage examples

“How do I initialize PostHog in my Rails application?”
The agent will guide you to create an initializer file and configure the PostHog client using environment variables for the API key and host.
“How can I track background job failures in Rails?”
The agent will show you how to enable auto_instrument_active_job in the PostHog configuration to automatically capture job class, queue, and arguments.

Install

  1. Download the skill as a ZIP:

    https://mp-staging.autogineer.com/agent-skills/posthog/integration-ruby-on-rails/download
  2. Unzip it into the cross-client skills folder of your project:

    mkdir -p .agents/skills && unzip integration-ruby-on-rails.zip -d .agents/skills

Documentation by PostHog

PostHog integration for Ruby on Rails

This skill helps you add PostHog analytics to Ruby on Rails applications.

Workflow

Follow these steps in order to complete the integration:

  1. basic-integration-1.0-begin.md - PostHog Setup - Begin ← Start here

  2. basic-integration-1.1-edit.md - PostHog Setup - Edit

  3. basic-integration-1.2-revise.md - PostHog Setup - Revise

  4. basic-integration-1.3-conclude.md - PostHog Setup - Conclusion

Reference files

  • references/EXAMPLE.md - Ruby on Rails example project code

  • references/ruby-on-rails.md - Ruby on rails - docs

  • references/ruby.md - Ruby - docs

  • references/identify-users.md - Identify users - docs

  • references/basic-integration-1.0-begin.md - PostHog setup - begin

  • references/basic-integration-1.1-edit.md - PostHog setup - edit

  • references/basic-integration-1.2-revise.md - PostHog setup - revise

  • references/basic-integration-1.3-conclude.md - PostHog setup - conclusion

The example project shows the target implementation pattern. Consult the documentation for API details.

Key principles

  • Environment variables: Always use environment variables for PostHog keys. Never hardcode them.

  • Minimal changes: Add PostHog code alongside existing integrations. Don't replace or restructure existing code.

  • Match the example: Your implementation should follow the example project's patterns as closely as possible.

Framework guidelines

  • Use posthog-rails gem alongside posthog-ruby for automatic exception capture and ActiveJob instrumentation

  • Run rails generate posthog:install to create the initializer, or manually create config/initializers/posthog.rb

  • Configure auto_capture_exceptions: true to automatically track unhandled exceptions in controllers

  • Configure report_rescued_exceptions: true to also capture exceptions that Rails rescues (e.g. with rescue_from)

  • Configure auto_instrument_active_job: true to track background job failures with job class, queue, and arguments

  • Use PostHog.capture() and PostHog.identify() class-level methods (NOT instance methods) — the posthog-rails gem manages the client lifecycle via PostHog.init

  • Do NOT manually create PostHog::Client instances in Rails — use PostHog.init in the initializer and PostHog.capture/identify everywhere else

  • capture_exception takes POSITIONAL args: PostHog.capture_exception(exception, distinct_id, additional_properties) — do NOT use keyword args

  • Define posthog_distinct_id on the User model for automatic user association in error reports — posthog-rails auto-detects by trying: posthog_distinct_id, distinct_id, id, pk, uuid (in order)

  • For ActiveJob user association, use the class-level DSL posthog_distinct_id ->(user) { user.email } or pass user_id: in a hash argument

  • Store API key in Rails credentials or environment variables, never hardcode

  • For frontend tracking alongside posthog-rails, add the posthog-js snippet to the layout template — posthog-js handles pageviews, session replay, and client-side errors while posthog-ruby handles backend events, server errors, feature flags, and background jobs

  • posthog-ruby is the Ruby SDK gem name (add gem 'posthog-ruby' to Gemfile) but require it with require 'posthog' (NOT require 'posthog-ruby')

  • Use PostHog::Client.new(api_key: key, host: host) for instance-based initialization in scripts and CLIs

  • In CLIs and scripts: MUST call client.shutdown before exit or all events are lost

  • Use begin/rescue/ensure with shutdown in the ensure block for proper cleanup

  • capture and identify take a single hash argument: client.capture(distinct_id: 'user_123', event: 'my_event', properties: { key: 'value' })

  • capture_exception takes POSITIONAL args (not keyword): client.capture_exception(exception, distinct_id, additional_properties) — do NOT use distinct_id: keyword syntax

Identifying users

Identify users during login and signup events. Refer to the example code and documentation for the correct identify pattern for this framework. If both frontend and backend code exist, pass the client-side session and distinct ID using X-POSTHOG-DISTINCT-ID and X-POSTHOG-SESSION-ID headers to maintain correlation.

Error tracking

Add PostHog error tracking to relevant files, particularly around critical user flows and API boundaries.

Files

references/EXAMPLE.md

PostHog Ruby on Rails Example Project

Repository: https://github.com/PostHog/context-mill Path: basics/ruby-on-rails


README.md

PostHog Ruby on Rails example

This is a Ruby on Rails example demonstrating PostHog integration with product analytics, error tracking (auto-instrumentation), feature flags, user identification, and ActiveJob instrumentation via the posthog-rails gem.

Features

  • Product analytics: Track user events and behaviors with PostHog.capture

  • Error tracking (auto): Unhandled exceptions captured automatically by posthog-rails

  • Error tracking (manual): Handled errors captured with PostHog.capture_exception

  • Rails.error integration: Rails 7+ error reporting captured automatically

  • ActiveJob instrumentation: Background job failures captured automatically

  • User identification: Associate events with authenticated users via PostHog.identify

  • Feature flags: Control feature rollouts with PostHog.is_feature_enabled

  • User context: Exceptions automatically associated with current_user

  • Frontend tracking: posthog-js captures pageviews and session replay alongside backend events

Getting started

1. Install dependencies
bundle install
2. Configure environment variables
cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env and add your PostHog project token

Get your PostHog project token from your PostHog project settings.

3. Setup database
bin/rails db:create db:migrate db:seed
4. Run the development server
bin/rails server

Open http://localhost:3000 with your browser. Login with [email protected] / admin.

Project structure

ruby-on-rails/
├── config/
│   ├── routes.rb                        # URL routing
│   └── initializers/
│       └── posthog.rb                   # PostHog + posthog-rails configuration
├── app/
│   ├── controllers/
│   │   ├── application_controller.rb    # Base controller with current_user
│   │   ├── sessions_controller.rb       # Login/logout with PostHog identify
│   │   ├── registrations_controller.rb  # Signup with PostHog identify
│   │   ├── dashboard_controller.rb      # Feature flags + ActiveJob demo
│   │   ├── burritos_controller.rb       # Custom event tracking
│   │   ├── profiles_controller.rb       # Page view tracking
│   │   └── errors_controller.rb         # Error tracking demos
│   ├── jobs/
│   │   └── example_job.rb              # ActiveJob auto-instrumentation demo
│   ├── models/
│   │   └── user.rb                     # posthog_distinct_id + posthog_properties
│   └── views/
│       ├── layouts/application.html.erb # Base layout with posthog-js snippet
│       ├── sessions/new.html.erb        # Login page
│       ├── registrations/new.html.erb   # Signup page
│       ├── dashboard/show.html.erb      # Feature flags demo
│       ├── burritos/show.html.erb       # Event tracking demo
│       └── profiles/show.html.erb       # Error tracking demo
├── db/
│   ├── migrate/                         # Database migrations
│   └── seeds.rb                         # Default admin user
├── .env.example                         # Environment variable template
├── Gemfile                              # Ruby dependencies
└── README.md                            # This file

Key integration points

PostHog initialization (config/initializers/posthog.rb)
# Rails-specific auto-instrumentation
PostHog::Rails.configure do |config|
  config.auto_capture_exceptions = true
  config.report_rescued_exceptions = true
  config.auto_instrument_active_job = true
  config.capture_user_context = true
  config.current_user_method = :current_user
  config.user_id_method = :posthog_distinct_id
end

PostHog.init do |config|
  config.api_key = ENV.fetch('POSTHOG_PROJECT_TOKEN', nil)
  config.host = ENV.fetch('POSTHOG_HOST', 'https://us.i.posthog.com')
end
User model (app/models/user.rb)
class User < ApplicationRecord
  has_secure_password

  # Called by posthog-rails for automatic user association in error reports
  def posthog_distinct_id
    email
  end

  def posthog_properties
    { email: email, is_staff: is_staff, date_joined: created_at&.iso8601 }
  end
end
User identification (app/controllers/sessions_controller.rb)
# Identify the user and capture login event
PostHog.identify(
  distinct_id: user.posthog_distinct_id,
  properties: user.posthog_properties
)

PostHog.capture(
  distinct_id: user.posthog_distinct_id,
  event: 'user_logged_in',
  properties: { login_method: 'email' }
)
Feature flags (app/controllers/dashboard_controller.rb)
# Check if a feature flag is enabled
@show_new_feature = PostHog.is_feature_enabled(
  'new-dashboard-feature',
  user.posthog_distinct_id,
  person_properties: user.posthog_properties
)

# Get feature flag payload for configuration
@feature_config = PostHog.get_feature_flag_payload(
  'new-dashboard-feature',
  user.posthog_distinct_id
)
Error tracking — auto-capture

With auto_capture_exceptions: true, unhandled exceptions in controllers are captured automatically. No code needed:

# This exception is automatically captured by posthog-rails
# with the current_user's posthog_distinct_id attached
def show
  raise "Something went wrong"  # Captured automatically!
end
Error tracking — manual capture
begin
  risky_operation
rescue => e
  PostHog.capture_exception(e, current_user.posthog_distinct_id)
end
Error tracking — Rails.error integration
# posthog-rails subscribes to Rails.error automatically
Rails.error.handle(context: { user_id: user.id }) do
  risky_operation
end
ActiveJob instrumentation
# config: auto_instrument_active_job = true
# Job failures are captured automatically.
# Use the posthog_distinct_id DSL to associate errors with a user.
class ExampleJob < ApplicationJob
  posthog_distinct_id ->(distinct_id, *) { distinct_id }

  def perform(distinct_id, should_fail: false)
    raise "Job failed"  # Captured automatically with user context
  end
end

# In the controller, pass the distinct_id when enqueuing:
ExampleJob.perform_later(current_user.posthog_distinct_id, should_fail: true)

Frontend + Backend integration

This example includes the posthog-js snippet in the layout template to demonstrate how frontend and backend tracking work together.

How it works
  1. posthog-js (frontend) captures pageviews, clicks, and session replay

  2. posthog-ruby + posthog-rails (backend) captures business logic events, errors, and feature flag evaluations

  3. Shared distinct_id — frontend and backend events are linked when the same distinct_id is used on both sides. Call posthog.identify(user.email) in posthog-js after login, matching the posthog_distinct_id used on the backend

  4. Session replay lets you watch user sessions where errors occurred

Note: Unlike the Django SDK, posthog-rails does not include a context middleware that reads X-POSTHOG-SESSION-ID or X-POSTHOG-DISTINCT-ID tracing headers. Frontend and backend events are correlated through the shared distinct_id.

When to track frontend vs backend
  • Frontend: UI interactions, client-side errors, session replay, pageviews

  • Backend: Business logic (signups, purchases), server errors, feature flag evaluations, background jobs

Learn more


.env.example

# PostHog Configuration
POSTHOG_PROJECT_TOKEN=phc_your_project_token_here
POSTHOG_HOST=https://us.i.posthog.com

# Optional: Enable debug mode to see PostHog requests
# POSTHOG_DEBUG=true

app/controllers/application_controller.rb

class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base
  protect_from_forgery with: :exception

  private

  def current_user
    @current_user ||= User.find_by(id: session[:user_id]) if session[:user_id]
  end
  helper_method :current_user

  def require_login
    unless current_user
      redirect_to login_path
    end
  end
end

app/controllers/burritos_controller.rb

class BurritosController < ApplicationController
  before_action :require_login

  def show
    @burrito_count = session[:burrito_count] || 0
  end

  def consider
    count = (session[:burrito_count] || 0) + 1
    session[:burrito_count] = count

    user = current_user

    # PostHog: Track custom event
    PostHog.identify(
      distinct_id: user.posthog_distinct_id,
      properties: user.posthog_properties
    )

    PostHog.capture(
      distinct_id: user.posthog_distinct_id,
      event: 'burrito_considered',
      properties: { total_considerations: count }
    )

    render json: { success: true, count: count }
  end
end

app/controllers/dashboard_controller.rb

class DashboardController < ApplicationController
  before_action :require_login

  def show
    user = current_user

    # PostHog: Track dashboard view
    PostHog.capture(
      distinct_id: user.posthog_distinct_id,
      event: 'dashboard_viewed',
      properties: { is_staff: user.is_staff }
    )

    # PostHog: Check feature flag
    @show_new_feature = PostHog.is_feature_enabled(
      'new-dashboard-feature',
      user.posthog_distinct_id,
      person_properties: user.posthog_properties
    )

    # PostHog: Get feature flag payload for configuration
    @feature_config = PostHog.get_feature_flag_payload(
      'new-dashboard-feature',
      user.posthog_distinct_id
    )
  end

  def enqueue_test_job
    # Enqueue a job that will fail — posthog-rails captures the error automatically.
    # The distinct_id is passed so the posthog_distinct_id DSL can associate the error with this user.
    ExampleJob.perform_later(current_user.posthog_distinct_id, should_fail: true)

    render json: {
      success: true,
      message: 'Job enqueued. The job will fail and posthog-rails will capture the error automatically.'
    }
  end
end

app/controllers/errors_controller.rb

class ErrorsController < ApplicationController
  before_action :require_login

  def test
    # Manual exception capture — catch the error and report it explicitly
    begin
      raise StandardError, 'Test exception from critical operation'
    rescue StandardError => e
      # PostHog: Manually capture the exception
      PostHog.capture_exception(e, current_user.posthog_distinct_id)

      PostHog.capture(
        distinct_id: current_user.posthog_distinct_id,
        event: 'error_triggered',
        properties: {
          error_type: e.class.name,
          error_message: e.message
        }
      )

      render json: {
        success: false,
        error: e.message,
        message: 'Error has been captured by PostHog'
      }, status: :internal_server_error
    end
  end

  def test_rails_error
    # Rails.error.handle — Rails 7+ error reporting integration.
    # posthog-rails subscribes to Rails.error, so exceptions reported
    # via Rails.error.handle are automatically captured in PostHog.
    Rails.error.handle(context: { user_id: current_user.id }) do
      raise StandardError, 'Test error via Rails.error.handle — captured automatically by posthog-rails'
    end

    render json: {
      success: true,
      message: 'Error was handled via Rails.error.handle and captured by posthog-rails'
    }
  end
end

app/controllers/profiles_controller.rb

class ProfilesController < ApplicationController
  before_action :require_login

  def show
    # PostHog: Track profile view
    PostHog.capture(
      distinct_id: current_user.posthog_distinct_id,
      event: 'profile_viewed'
    )
  end
end

app/controllers/registrations_controller.rb

class RegistrationsController < ApplicationController
  def new
    redirect_to dashboard_path if current_user
  end

  def create
    user = User.new(
      email: params[:email],
      password: params[:password],
      password_confirmation: params[:password_confirmation]
    )

    if user.save
      session[:user_id] = user.id

      # PostHog: Identify the new user and capture signup event
      PostHog.identify(
        distinct_id: user.posthog_distinct_id,
        properties: user.posthog_properties
      )

      PostHog.capture(
        distinct_id: user.posthog_distinct_id,
        event: 'user_signed_up',
        properties: { signup_method: 'form' }
      )

      redirect_to dashboard_path
    else
      flash[:error] = user.errors.full_messages.join(', ')
      render :new, status: :unprocessable_entity
    end
  end
end

app/controllers/sessions_controller.rb

class SessionsController < ApplicationController
  def new
    redirect_to dashboard_path if current_user
  end

  def create
    user = User.find_by(email: params[:email])

    if user&.authenticate(params[:password])
      session[:user_id] = user.id

      # PostHog: Identify the user and capture login event
      PostHog.identify(
        distinct_id: user.posthog_distinct_id,
        properties: user.posthog_properties
      )

      PostHog.capture(
        distinct_id: user.posthog_distinct_id,
        event: 'user_logged_in',
        properties: { login_method: 'email' }
      )

      redirect_to dashboard_path
    else
      flash[:error] = 'Invalid email or password'
      render :new, status: :unprocessable_entity
    end
  end

  def destroy
    if current_user
      # PostHog: Track logout before session ends
      PostHog.capture(
        distinct_id: current_user.posthog_distinct_id,
        event: 'user_logged_out'
      )
    end

    session.delete(:user_id)
    redirect_to login_path
  end
end

app/jobs/application_job.rb

class ApplicationJob < ActiveJob::Base
end

app/jobs/example_job.rb

# Example ActiveJob demonstrating posthog-rails auto-instrumentation.
#
# When auto_instrument_active_job is enabled in the PostHog config,
# posthog-rails automatically captures exceptions from failed jobs.
# The job class name, queue, and arguments are included as properties
# on the error event.
#
# Use the posthog_distinct_id DSL to associate job errors with a user.
# The proc receives the same arguments as perform and should return
# the distinct_id string. Without this, job errors have no user context.
class ExampleJob < ApplicationJob
  queue_as :default

  # Extract distinct_id from the first argument so posthog-rails
  # can associate the error with the user who triggered the job.
  posthog_distinct_id ->(distinct_id, *) { distinct_id }

  def perform(distinct_id, should_fail: false)
    if should_fail
      raise StandardError, 'Example job failure - this error is automatically captured by posthog-rails'
    end

    Rails.logger.info "ExampleJob completed successfully for #{distinct_id}"
  end
end

app/models/application_record.rb

class ApplicationRecord < ActiveRecord::Base
  primary_abstract_class
end

app/models/user.rb

class User < ApplicationRecord
  has_secure_password

  validates :email, presence: true, uniqueness: true

  # Called by posthog-rails for automatic user association in error reports.
  # When auto_capture_exceptions and capture_user_context are enabled,
  # posthog-rails calls this method on current_user to get the distinct_id.
  def posthog_distinct_id
    email
  end

  # Helper used by controllers when calling PostHog.identify to set person properties.
  # These properties appear on the person profile in PostHog.
  def posthog_properties
    {
      email: email,
      is_staff: is_staff,
      date_joined: created_at&.iso8601
    }
  end
end

app/views/burritos/show.html.erb

<% content_for(:title) { 'Burrito - PostHog Rails example' } %>

<div class="card">
    <h1>Burrito consideration tracker</h1>
    <p>This page demonstrates custom event tracking with PostHog.</p>
</div>

<div class="card" style="text-align: center;">
    <h2>Times considered</h2>
    <div class="count" id="burrito-count"><%= @burrito_count %></div>
    <button onclick="considerBurrito()" style="font-size: 18px; padding: 15px 30px;">
        Consider a burrito
    </button>
</div>

<div class="card">
    <h3>How event tracking works</h3>
    <p>Each time you click the button, a <code>burrito_considered</code> event is sent to PostHog:</p>
    <pre style="background: #f3f4f6; padding: 15px; border-radius: 5px; overflow-x: auto; margin-top: 15px;"><code>PostHog.capture(
  distinct_id: user.posthog_distinct_id,
  event: 'burrito_considered',
  properties: { total_considerations: count }
)</code></pre>
</div>

<% content_for :scripts do %>
<script>
async function considerBurrito() {
    try {
        const response = await fetch('/api/burrito/consider', {
            method: 'POST',
            headers: {
                'X-CSRF-Token': document.querySelector('meta[name="csrf-token"]').content,
                'Content-Type': 'application/json',
            },
        });

        const data = await response.json();

        if (data.success) {
            document.getElementById('burrito-count').textContent = data.count;
        }
    } catch (error) {
        console.error('Error:', error);
    }
}
</script>
<% end %>

app/views/dashboard/show.html.erb

<% content_for(:title) { 'Dashboard - PostHog Rails example' } %>

<div class="card">
    <h1>Dashboard</h1>
    <p>Welcome back, <strong><%= current_user.email %></strong>!</p>
</div>

<div class="card">
    <h2>Feature flags</h2>
    <p>Feature flags allow you to control feature rollouts and run A/B tests.</p>

    <% if @show_new_feature %>
    <div class="feature-flag">
        <h3>New feature enabled!</h3>
        <p>
            This section is only visible because the <code>new-dashboard-feature</code>
            flag is enabled for your user.
        </p>
        <% if @feature_config %>
        <p><strong>Feature config:</strong> <%= @feature_config %></p>
        <% end %>
    </div>
    <% else %>
    <div style="background: #f3f4f6; padding: 15px; border-radius: 8px; margin-top: 15px;">
        <p>
            The <code>new-dashboard-feature</code> flag is not enabled for your user.
            Create this flag in your PostHog project to see it in action.
        </p>
    </div>
    <% end %>
</div>

<div class="card">
    <h2>ActiveJob instrumentation</h2>
    <p>
        Click below to enqueue a background job that will fail.
        <code>posthog-rails</code> automatically captures the exception — no extra code needed.
    </p>
    <button onclick="enqueueTestJob()" style="margin-top: 10px;">Enqueue failing job</button>
    <div id="job-result" style="margin-top: 15px; display: none;"></div>
</div>

<div class="card">
    <h3>How feature flags work</h3>
    <pre style="background: #f3f4f6; padding: 15px; border-radius: 5px; overflow-x: auto;"><code># Check if a feature flag is enabled
show_feature = PostHog.is_feature_enabled(
  'new-dashboard-feature',
  user.posthog_distinct_id,
  person_properties: user.posthog_properties
)

# Get feature flag payload for configuration
config = PostHog.get_feature_flag_payload(
  'new-dashboard-feature',
  user.posthog_distinct_id
)</code></pre>
</div>

<% content_for :scripts do %>
<script>
async function enqueueTestJob() {
    const resultDiv = document.getElementById('job-result');
    try {
        const response = await fetch('/api/test-job', {
            method: 'POST',
            headers: {
                'X-CSRF-Token': document.querySelector('meta[name="csrf-token"]').content,
                'Content-Type': 'application/json',
            },
        });
        const data = await response.json();
        resultDiv.style.display = 'block';
        resultDiv.innerHTML = '<div class="flash success">' + data.message + '</div>';
    } catch (error) {
        resultDiv.style.display = 'block';
        resultDiv.innerHTML = '<div class="flash error">Request failed: ' + error + '</div>';
    }
}
</script>
<% end %>

app/views/layouts/application.html.erb

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8">
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
    <title><%= content_for?(:title) ? yield(:title) : 'PostHog Rails example' %></title>
    <%= csrf_meta_tags %>
    <style>
        * {
            box-sizing: border-box;
            margin: 0;
            padding: 0;
        }
        body {
            font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, sans-serif;
            line-height: 1.6;
            background-color: #f5f5f5;
            color: #333;
        }
        .container {
            max-width: 800px;
            margin: 0 auto;
            padding: 20px;
        }
        nav {
            background: #1d4ed8;
            padding: 15px 20px;
            margin-bottom: 30px;
        }
        nav a {
            color: white;
            text-decoration: none;
            margin-right: 20px;
        }
        nav a:hover {
            text-decoration: underline;
        }
        .card {
            background: white;
            border-radius: 8px;
            padding: 20px;
            margin-bottom: 20px;
            box-shadow: 0 2px 4px rgba(0,0,0,0.1);
        }
        h1, h2, h3 {
            margin-bottom: 15px;
            color: #1d4ed8;
        }
        button, .btn {
            background: #1d4ed8;
            color: white;
            border: none;
            padding: 10px 20px;
            border-radius: 5px;
            cursor: pointer;
            font-size: 14px;
            display: inline-block;
            text-decoration: none;
        }
        button:hover, .btn:hover {
            background: #1e40af;
        }
        button.danger {
            background: #dc2626;
        }
        button.danger:hover {
            background: #b91c1c;
        }
        input {
            width: 100%;
            padding: 10px;
            margin-bottom: 15px;
            border: 1px solid #ddd;
            border-radius: 5px;
            font-size: 14px;
        }
        .flash {
            padding: 10px 15px;
            border-radius: 5px;
            margin-bottom: 20px;
        }
        .flash.error {
            background: #fee2e2;
            color: #dc2626;
        }
        .flash.success {
            background: #d1fae5;
            color: #059669;
        }
        .feature-flag {
            background: #fef3c7;
            border: 2px dashed #f59e0b;
            padding: 15px;
            border-radius: 8px;
            margin: 20px 0;
        }
        code {
            background: #f3f4f6;
            padding: 2px 6px;
            border-radius: 3px;
            font-family: monospace;
        }
        .count {
            font-size: 48px;
            font-weight: bold;
            color: #1d4ed8;
            text-align: center;
            padding: 20px;
        }
    </style>

    <!-- PostHog frontend tracking (posthog-js) -->
    <script>
      !function(t,e){var o,n,p,r;e.__SV||(window.posthog=e,e._i=[],e.init=function(i,s,a){function g(t,e){var o=e.split(".");2==o.length&&(t=t[o[0]],e=o[1]),t[e]=function(){t.push([e].concat(Array.prototype.slice.call(arguments,0)))}}(p=t.createElement("script")).type="text/javascript",p.crossOrigin="anonymous",p.async=!0,p.src=s.api_host.replace(".i.posthog.com","-assets.i.posthog.com")+"/static/array.js",(r=t.getElementsByTagName("script")[0]).parentNode.insertBefore(p,r);var u=e;for(void 0!==a?u=e[a]=[]:a="posthog",u.people=u.people||[],u.toString=function(t){var e="posthog";return"posthog"!==a&&(e+="."+a),t||(e+=" (stub)"),e},u.people.toString=function(){return u.toString(1)+".people (stub)"},o="init capture register register_once register_for_session unregister unregister_for_session getFeatureFlag getFeatureFlagPayload isFeatureEnabled reloadFeatureFlags updateEarlyAccessFeatureEnrollment getEarlyAccessFeatures on onFeatureFlags onSessionId getSurveys getActiveMatchingSurveys renderSurvey canRenderSurvey identify setPersonProperties group resetGroups setPersonPropertiesForFlags resetPersonPropertiesForFlags setGroupPropertiesForFlags resetGroupPropertiesForFlags reset get_distinct_id getGroups get_session_id get_session_replay_url alias set_config startSessionRecording stopSessionRecording sessionRecordingStarted captureException loadToolbar get_property getSessionProperty createPersonProfile opt_in_capturing opt_out_capturing has_opted_in_capturing has_opted_out_capturing clear_opt_in_out_capturing debug getPageViewId".split(" "),n=0;n<o.length;n++)g(u,o[n]);e._i.push([i,s,a])},e.__SV=1)}(document,window.posthog||[]);
      posthog.init('<%= ENV["POSTHOG_PROJECT_TOKEN"] %>', {
        api_host: '<%= ENV.fetch("POSTHOG_HOST", "https://us.i.posthog.com") %>',
        person_profiles: 'identified_only'
      })
    </script>
</head>
<body>
    <% if current_user %>
    <nav style="display: flex; align-items: center;">
        <a href="<%= dashboard_path %>">Dashboard</a>
        <a href="<%= burrito_path %>">Burrito</a>
        <a href="<%= profile_path %>">Profile</a>
        <%= button_to 'Logout (' + current_user.email + ')', logout_path, method: :delete, form: { style: 'margin-left: auto;' }, style: 'background: transparent; border: none; color: white; cursor: pointer; font-size: inherit; padding: 0;' %>
    </nav>
    <% end %>

    <div class="container">
        <% if flash[:error] %>
        <div class="flash error"><%= flash[:error] %></div>
        <% end %>
        <% if flash[:notice] %>
        <div class="flash success"><%= flash[:notice] %></div>
        <% end %>

        <%= yield %>
    </div>

    <%= yield :scripts %>
</body>
</html>

app/views/profiles/show.html.erb

<% content_for(:title) { 'Profile - PostHog Rails example' } %>

<div class="card">
    <h1>Profile</h1>
    <p>This page demonstrates error tracking with PostHog and <code>posthog-rails</code>.</p>
</div>

<div class="card">
    <h2>User information</h2>
    <table style="width: 100%; border-collapse: collapse;">
        <tr>
            <td style="padding: 10px; border-bottom: 1px solid #eee;"><strong>Email:</strong></td>
            <td style="padding: 10px; border-bottom: 1px solid #eee;"><%= current_user.email %></td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td style="padding: 10px; border-bottom: 1px solid #eee;"><strong>Date Joined:</strong></td>
            <td style="padding: 10px; border-bottom: 1px solid #eee;"><%= current_user.created_at %></td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td style="padding: 10px;"><strong>Staff Status:</strong></td>
            <td style="padding: 10px;"><%= current_user.is_staff ? 'Yes' : 'No' %></td>
        </tr>
    </table>
</div>

<div class="card">
    <h2>Error tracking demo</h2>
    <p>Click the buttons below to trigger different types of errors and see how PostHog captures them.</p>

    <div style="margin-top: 20px;">
        <button class="danger" onclick="triggerError('manual')">
            Manual capture_exception
        </button>
        <button class="danger" onclick="triggerError('rails')" style="margin-left: 10px;">
            Rails.error.handle
        </button>
    </div>

    <div id="error-result" style="margin-top: 20px; display: none;"></div>
</div>

<div class="card">
    <h3>How error tracking works</h3>
    <p><strong>Auto-capture (no code needed):</strong></p>
    <pre style="background: #f3f4f6; padding: 15px; border-radius: 5px; overflow-x: auto;"><code># config/initializers/posthog.rb
PostHog::Rails.configure do |config|
  config.auto_capture_exceptions = true
  config.capture_user_context = true
end
# That's it! Unhandled exceptions are captured automatically.</code></pre>

    <p style="margin-top: 15px;"><strong>Manual capture:</strong></p>
    <pre style="background: #f3f4f6; padding: 15px; border-radius: 5px; overflow-x: auto;"><code>begin
  risky_operation
rescue => e
  PostHog.capture_exception(e, user.posthog_distinct_id)
end</code></pre>

    <p style="margin-top: 15px;"><strong>Rails.error integration:</strong></p>
    <pre style="background: #f3f4f6; padding: 15px; border-radius: 5px; overflow-x: auto;"><code># posthog-rails subscribes to Rails.error automatically
Rails.error.handle(context: { user_id: user.id }) do
  risky_operation
end</code></pre>
</div>

<% content_for :scripts do %>
<script>
async function triggerError(type) {
    const resultDiv = document.getElementById('error-result');
    const url = type === 'rails' ? '/api/test-rails-error' : '/api/test-error';

    try {
        const response = await fetch(url, {
            method: 'POST',
            headers: {
                'X-CSRF-Token': document.querySelector('meta[name="csrf-token"]').content,
                'Content-Type': 'application/json',
            },
        });

        const data = await response.json();

        resultDiv.style.display = 'block';
        if (data.success) {
            resultDiv.innerHTML = '<div class="flash success">' + data.message + '</div>';
        } else {
            resultDiv.innerHTML = '<div class="flash error"><strong>Error captured:</strong> ' + data.error + '<br><small>' + data.message + '</small></div>';
        }
    } catch (error) {
        resultDiv.style.display = 'block';
        resultDiv.innerHTML = '<div class="flash error">Request failed: ' + error + '</div>';
    }
}
</script>
<% end %>

app/views/registrations/new.html.erb

<% content_for(:title) { 'Sign Up - PostHog Rails example' } %>

<div class="card">
    <h1>Sign Up</h1>
    <p>Create an account to see PostHog analytics in action.</p>

    <form action="<%= signup_path %>" method="post" style="margin-top: 20px;">
        <%= hidden_field_tag :authenticity_token, form_authenticity_token %>
        <input type="email" name="email" placeholder="Email" required>
        <input type="password" name="password" placeholder="Password" required>
        <input type="password" name="password_confirmation" placeholder="Confirm Password" required>
        <button type="submit">Sign Up</button>
    </form>

    <p style="margin-top: 15px; color: #666; font-size: 14px;">
        Already have an account? <a href="<%= login_path %>">Login</a>
    </p>
</div>

app/views/sessions/new.html.erb

<% content_for(:title) { 'Login - PostHog Rails example' } %>

<div class="card">
    <h1>PostHog Rails example</h1>
    <p>Welcome! This example demonstrates PostHog integration with Ruby on Rails, including automatic error tracking via <code>posthog-rails</code>.</p>
</div>

<div class="card">
    <h2>Login</h2>
    <p>Login to see PostHog analytics in action.</p>

    <form action="<%= login_path %>" method="post" style="margin-top: 20px;">
        <%= hidden_field_tag :authenticity_token, form_authenticity_token %>
        <input type="email" name="email" placeholder="Email" required>
        <input type="password" name="password" placeholder="Password" required>
        <button type="submit">Login</button>
    </form>

    <p style="margin-top: 15px; color: #666; font-size: 14px;">
        Don't have an account? <a href="<%= signup_path %>">Sign up</a><br>
        Tip: Run <code>bin/rails db:seed</code> to create [email protected] / admin
    </p>
</div>

<div class="card">
    <h3>What this example demonstrates</h3>
    <ul style="padding-left: 20px;">
        <li><strong>User identification</strong> — Users are identified with <code>PostHog.identify</code> on login</li>
        <li><strong>Event tracking</strong> — Custom events captured with <code>PostHog.capture</code></li>
        <li><strong>Feature flags</strong> — Conditional features with <code>PostHog.is_feature_enabled</code></li>
        <li><strong>Error tracking (auto)</strong> — Unhandled exceptions captured automatically by <code>posthog-rails</code></li>
        <li><strong>Error tracking (manual)</strong> — Handled errors captured with <code>PostHog.capture_exception</code></li>
        <li><strong>ActiveJob instrumentation</strong> — Background job failures captured automatically</li>
        <li><strong>Rails.error integration</strong> — Rails 7+ error reporting captured by <code>posthog-rails</code></li>
        <li><strong>Frontend tracking</strong> — posthog-js captures pageviews and session replay</li>
    </ul>
</div>

bin/rails

#!/usr/bin/env ruby
APP_PATH = File.expand_path('../config/application', __dir__)
require_relative '../config/boot'
require 'rails/commands'

config.ru

require_relative 'config/environment'
run Rails.application

config/application.rb

require_relative 'boot'
require 'rails/all'

Bundler.require(*Rails.groups)

module PosthogExample
  class Application < Rails::Application
    config.load_defaults 7.1

    # Use SQLite for all stores
    config.active_job.queue_adapter = :async
  end
end

config/boot.rb

ENV['BUNDLE_GEMFILE'] ||= File.expand_path('../Gemfile', __dir__)

require 'bundler/setup'

config/environment.rb

require_relative 'application'
Rails.application.initialize!

config/environments/development.rb

require 'active_support/core_ext/integer/time'

Rails.application.configure do
  config.enable_reloading = true
  config.eager_load = false
  config.consider_all_requests_local = true
  config.server_timing = true

  # Secret key for development (not used in production)
  config.secret_key_base = 'dev-secret-key-for-posthog-example-only'

  config.action_controller.perform_caching = false
  config.cache_store = :memory_store

  config.active_support.deprecation = :log
  config.active_support.disallowed_deprecation = :raise
  config.active_support.disallowed_deprecation_warnings = []

  config.active_record.migration_error = :page_load
  config.active_record.verbose_query_logs = true
end

config/initializers/posthog.rb

# PostHog configuration with posthog-rails auto-instrumentation
#
# The posthog-rails gem provides:
# - Automatic exception capture for unhandled controller errors
# - ActiveJob instrumentation for background job failures
# - User context detection from current_user
# - Rails.error integration for rescued exceptions 
PostHog.init do |config|
  config.api_key = ENV.fetch('POSTHOG_PROJECT_TOKEN', nil)
  config.host = ENV.fetch('POSTHOG_HOST', 'https://us.i.posthog.com')
end

PostHog::Rails.configure do |config|
  # Auto-capture unhandled exceptions in controllers
  config.auto_capture_exceptions = true

  # Also capture exceptions that Rails rescues (e.g. ActiveRecord::RecordNotFound)
  config.report_rescued_exceptions = true

  # Auto-instrument ActiveJob failures
  config.auto_instrument_active_job = true

  # Automatically associate errors with the current user
  config.capture_user_context = true
  config.current_user_method = :current_user
  config.user_id_method = :posthog_distinct_id
end


config/routes.rb

Rails.application.routes.draw do
  # Auth
  get 'login', to: 'sessions#new'
  post 'login', to: 'sessions#create'
  delete 'logout', to: 'sessions#destroy'

  get 'signup', to: 'registrations#new'
  post 'signup', to: 'registrations#create'

  # App
  get 'dashboard', to: 'dashboard#show'
  get 'burrito', to: 'burritos#show'
  post 'api/burrito/consider', to: 'burritos#consider'
  get 'profile', to: 'profiles#show'

  # Error tracking demos
  post 'api/test-error', to: 'errors#test'
  post 'api/test-rails-error', to: 'errors#test_rails_error'

  # Background job demo
  post 'api/test-job', to: 'dashboard#enqueue_test_job'

  root 'sessions#new'
end

db/migrate/20240101000000_create_users.rb

class CreateUsers < ActiveRecord::Migration[7.1]
  def change
    create_table :users do |t|
      t.string :email, null: false
      t.string :password_digest, null: false
      t.boolean :is_staff, default: false

      t.timestamps
    end

    add_index :users, :email, unique: true
  end
end

db/schema.rb

# This file is auto-generated from the current state of the database. Instead
# of editing this file, please use the migrations feature of Active Record to
# incrementally modify your database, and then regenerate this schema definition.
#
# This file is the source Rails uses to define your schema when running `bin/rails
# db:schema:load`. When creating a new database, `bin/rails db:schema:load` tends to
# be faster and is potentially less error prone than running all of your
# migrations from scratch. Old migrations may fail to apply correctly if those
# migrations use external dependencies or application code.
#
# It's strongly recommended that you check this file into your version control system.

ActiveRecord::Schema[7.2].define(version: 2024_01_01_000000) do
  create_table "users", force: :cascade do |t|
    t.string "email", null: false
    t.string "password_digest", null: false
    t.boolean "is_staff", default: false
    t.datetime "created_at", null: false
    t.datetime "updated_at", null: false
    t.index ["email"], name: "index_users_on_email", unique: true
  end
end

db/seeds.rb

# Create a default admin user for testing
User.find_or_create_by!(email: '[email protected]') do |user|
  user.password = 'admin'
  user.password_confirmation = 'admin'
  user.is_staff = true
end

puts 'Seed data created: [email protected] / admin'

Gemfile

source 'https://rubygems.org'

gem 'rails', '~> 7.1'
gem 'sqlite3', '~> 1.7'
gem 'puma', '~> 6.0'
gem 'bcrypt', '~> 3.1'
gem 'dotenv-rails', '~> 3.0'

# PostHog
gem 'posthog-ruby', '~> 3.0'
gem 'posthog-rails'

Rakefile

require_relative 'config/application'
Rails.application.load_tasks

Requirements and compatibility

Works with: Claude Code, Claude apps, OpenAI Codex, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Gemini CLI, Kiro, OpenCode, Goose, Amp, Roo Code, JetBrains Junie, Factory Droid, Devin (ex-Windsurf), Mistral Vibe, OpenHands, Letta

“Works with” means the tool reads the open Agent Skills format; a skill written for one tool may use features others lack.

Needs: Needs an API key

Security

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Attribution and licence

Created by
PostHog
Publisher
PostHog (Official)
Source
PostHog/skills · skills/posthog/integration/skills/ruby-on-rails · commit a5d30e7
Licence
MIT License (redistribution allowed)
  • LICENSE (added by AutoGineer from LICENSE)
  • ATTRIBUTION.md (written by AutoGineer)
Synced
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Download ZIP

The ZIP holds the skill’s files, its licence files and an ATTRIBUTION.md. Download integration-ruby-on-rails.zip