Open Source · MIT License

The missing bridge between your backend & frontend team

Stop wasting hours explaining your Rails API to frontend developers. RailsMap automatically maps your routes, controllers, and models into beautiful, interactive documentation that everyone can understand.

Zero
Configuration
30 sec
Setup Time
100%
Automatic
💎
Backend
Rails API
🗺️
Bridge
RailsMap
⚛️
Frontend
React / Angular
🛣️
Routes
🎮
Controllers
📊
Models
💎 Ruby ≥ 2.7
🛤️ Rails 5 – 8
📦 v1.3.0
⚖️ MIT License
⚙️ Zero Config

Sound familiar?

Every Rails developer knows the pain. Your backend is powerful, but getting the frontend team on the same page feels impossible.

😩

"What endpoints do we have?"

Frontend devs constantly asking about available routes, required params, and response formats. You spend more time explaining than coding.

📝

Documentation is always outdated

You wrote docs once, then the API changed. Now nobody trusts them, and you're back to Slack messages and screen shares.

🔄

Constant context switching

Every time someone needs API info, you have to stop what you're doing, dig through controllers, and piece together the answer.

🤷

"What columns does this model have?"

New team members struggle to understand your data structure. They open migration files, check schemas, ask questions...

RailsMap does the work for you

Install once, forget forever. Your API documentation stays in sync automatically.

🛣️

Automatic Route Discovery

Every route in your Rails app is automatically discovered and documented. HTTP methods, paths, constraints, and route names—all mapped instantly.

GET / POST / PUT / DELETE Route Params Auto Parameter Detection
📊

Model Introspection

Database columns, associations, validations, and scopes are extracted automatically. Your data structure, documented without writing a single line.

Columns & Types Associations Validations & Scopes
🎨

Beautiful Dark UI

Modern, responsive interface that developers actually want to use. Searchable, filterable, and easy to navigate. Looks great on any device.

Dark Theme Instant Search Responsive
🔒

Environment-Based Auth

Secure by default with environment variables. No database, no migrations—just set RAILS_MAP_USERNAME and RAILS_MAP_PASSWORD. Defaults to admin/password.

No Database ENV Variables Default Credentials

Zero Configuration

Run one command. That's it. No config files, no annotations, no comments. RailsMap reads your code and generates docs automatically.

One Command Rails 5 – 8 Works Instantly
🔄

Always In Sync

Add a route? It's documented. Change a model? Updated automatically. Your docs are always current because they come from your actual code.

Live Updates No Manual Work Always Accurate

Automatic API parameter extraction

RailsMap reads your controller code and automatically documents every parameter—path, query, and body—with type inference.

Your Controller Code
class UsersController < ApplicationController
  def update
    @user = User.find(params[:id])
    @user.update!(user_params)
  end

  private
  def user_params
    params.require(:user).permit(
      :name, :email, :is_admin
    )
  end
end
🗺️ RailsMap Auto-Generates
PUT /users/:id
:id integer required path
user[name] string required body
user[email] email required body
user[is_admin] boolean required body
🔍
Strong Params Reads params.require().permit() patterns
🧠
Type Inference Detects integer, boolean, email, datetime, etc.
📍
Location Aware Distinguishes path, query, and body params
Required / Optional Marks each parameter automatically

See what your team will see

A clean, organized view of your entire Rails API. No more digging through code.

localhost:3000/rails-map
Dashboard Routes Models
15
Controllers
67
Routes
12
Models
Api::V1::UsersController 7 routes
/api/v1/users · index, show, create, update, destroy
Api::V1::PostsController 5 routes
/api/v1/posts · index, show, create, update, destroy
User 8 columns
has_many :posts, has_many :comments
Post 6 columns
belongs_to :user, has_many :comments

How does it compare?

No annotations. No YAML files. No manual work. Just install and go.

Feature Manual Docs Swagger / rswag RailsMap
Setup time Hours 30+ min 30 seconds
Configuration needed Manual Annotations Zero
Auto-syncs with code Partially
Route documentation Manual ✓ Automatic
Model documentation ✓ Automatic
Parameter detection Manual DSL ✓ Automatic
Built-in auth
Static HTML export JSON only

Up and running in 30 seconds

Seriously. Three commands and you're done.

1

Add RailsMap to your Gemfile

Just one line. That's all you need to add.

# Gemfile
gem 'rails_map'
2

Run the install generator

This mounts the engine and creates the config. Set environment variables to customize credentials (defaults: admin/password).

$ bundle install
$ rails generate rails_map:install
# Optional: export RAILS_MAP_USERNAME=your_user
# Optional: export RAILS_MAP_PASSWORD=your_pass
3

Visit your docs

Start your server and open the documentation URL. Login with default credentials: admin/password

$ rails server
# Open http://localhost:3000/rails-map
# Default: username=admin, password=password

Common questions

Yes! RailsMap works with both full Rails apps and API-only apps. It reads your routes and models regardless of your app configuration.
RailsMap documents your app's structure (routes, model columns, associations) — not actual data. Authentication is enabled by default to restrict access. You can also disable it in production entirely.
Yes, with authentication enabled. You can also conditionally mount the engine only in specific environments, or use rails doc:generate to export static HTML and host it separately.
Absolutely. The authenticate_with config accepts any proc. Use authenticate_user! for Devise, or write your own custom logic — IP whitelisting, role checks, anything.
Ruby 2.7+ and Rails 5.0 through 8.x. We test across multiple versions to ensure compatibility.
Yes. Run rails doc:generate to export static HTML to doc/rails-map/. You can then host it anywhere — S3, Netlify, internal wiki, etc.

Stop explaining. Start shipping.

Give your team the documentation they need. Install RailsMap today and bridge the gap between backend and frontend—permanently.

gem install rails_map