Kasper Timm Hansen
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kaspth.com
Kasper Timm Hansen
@kaspth.com
1.7K followers 340 following 540 posts
Rails core alumni, gone Rails consulting on kaspth.com. You'll find my services, guestbook, talks, YouTube, posts, and newsletter there.

I also do deep-dives into the Rails source https://lu.ma/kaspth and riffing https://github.com/kaspth/riffing-on-rails
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kaspth.com
I'm sad I can't make it to the @xoruby.com events that @jremsikjr.bsky.social is putting on, so what if you went instead 😄

September
6th Chicago • 13th Atlanta • 20th New Orleans

October
11th, Portland • 18th San Diego • 25th Austin

Tickets xoruby.com/events
A US map showing the locations in the post with the text "XO Ruby is hitting the road!"
September 1, 2025 at 7:14 PM
kaspth.com
When Open Source goes well, you don't necessarily hear that much from users because things are fine, so I like to track gem downloads just to see what's going on.

Looks like Associated Objects & Performs have both doubled, Stashed Redirects have been picking up, and Oaken's almost quadrupled!
active_record-associated_object 51,992 downloads active_job-performs 39,849 downloads oaken 29,492 downloads action_controller-stashed_redirects 7,035 downloads
August 10, 2025 at 3:30 PM
kaspth.com
Another thing, sometimes I've also just cached the object instance directly like this (like for defining to_partial_path).

Then you're relying on the block capturing the local state and just returning that directly.
module PointFactory REFERENCE_SYSTEM = 4326 def self.build(...) = nil raw_point_factory = RGeo::Geographic.spherical_factory(srid: REFERENCE_SYSTEM) define_singleton_method(:raw_point_factory) { raw_point_factory } end
August 7, 2025 at 5:08 PM
kaspth.com
Just gotta add some special effects so it looks great
Superman and Lois flying
July 13, 2025 at 6:17 PM
kaspth.com
I'm really proud of how oaken holds up in practice so far.

@thomascannon.me's been a big adopter, and last week I went in and found some extra places to trim things.
A pull request showing about 70 lines saved by slimming the seeds down.
June 20, 2025 at 4:26 PM
kaspth.com
I'm working on an overhaul of Oaken's internals with more cohesiveness & flexibility.

Had the idea to compare with friends and see file and line of code count of their /lib directory. Oaken's gonna grow but this feels pretty good still!
| gem | files | loc | |--------------------|-------|------| | activerecord-8.0.2 | 8 | 822 | | factory_bot-6.5.1 | 52 | 1883 | | fabrication-2.31.0 | 30 | 1141 | | test_data-0.3.2 | 44 | 1297 | | oaken-0.7.1 | 10 | 265 |
April 20, 2025 at 7:03 PM
kaspth.com
Gonzo sitting crosslegged on a stool wearing a red suit and looking stunned.
April 16, 2025 at 6:55 PM
kaspth.com
.@garrettdimon.com attended my recent Action View specific deep-dive and had this to say:
Kasper: How'd you like the deep-dive, was it helpful for what you're looking into with ERB + partials? Garrett: Definitely. It helped provide a lot of context about how and why things are the way they are. The Rails documentation and source code is great for showing how something can be done, but there’s always a tinge of doubt in my head about whether I’m using a feature as intended or not.
April 12, 2025 at 3:22 PM
kaspth.com
I'm speaking at #railsconf this July, and I'm showing off my unique approach to leveling yourself up — you deserve genuine durable skills.

So come learn how: yes, you can work on Rails & any other gem.
A promotional image of my RailsConf talk Yes, You Can Work on Rails & any other Gem
April 11, 2025 at 12:56 PM
kaspth.com
#railsconf
Fresh Willem Dafoe on the left with text "Ok I'll submit to the CFP" Exhausted Willem Dafoe on the right with text "5 min into writing"
February 25, 2025 at 9:14 PM
kaspth.com
This is cool! The programmer in me wishes I could just configure it like this, maybe not healthy 😂
t ->/Applications/WezTerm.app o -> 1 ->/Applications/1password.app a ->/Applications/Arc.app c ->/Applications/Google Chrome.app s ->/Applications/Safari.app e ->/System/Applications/Mail.app z ->/Applications/Slack.app i ->/System/Applications/Music.app n ->/Applications/Notion.app t ->/Applications/WezTerm.app m ->/System/Applications/Messages.app o ->/Applications/Obsidian.app r -> e ->raycast://extensions/raycast/emoji-symbols/search-emoji-symbols p ->raycast://confetti c ->raycast://extensions/raycast/system/open-camera v ->raycast://extensions/raycast/clipboard-history/clipboard-history s -> l ->raycast://extensions/raycast/system/lock-screen s ->raycast://extensions/raycast/system/sleep a ->/Users/mikker/Applications/DarkMode.app w -> f ->raycast://extensions/raycast/window-management/maximize h ->raycast://extensions/raycast/window-management/left-half l ->raycast://extensions/raycast/window-management/right-half o ->raycast://extensions/raycast/window-management/last-two-thirds n ->raycast://extensions/raycast/window-management/first-third - ->raycast://extensions/raycast/window-management/center = ->raycast://extensions/raycast/window-management/maximize-height
January 8, 2025 at 12:36 PM
kaspth.com
Yeah, I'm thinking I'd be something like this and then you get both `record_path` and `record_url`.

Or do a `resolve` for each record and then pass them straight without needing the `record_url` helpers? Hm.
direct :record do |record| case record when then [:account_member, record] # … else url_for(record) end end resolve("Accounts::Member") { [:account_member] } # …
December 21, 2024 at 11:17 PM
kaspth.com
Now that more people are catching onto my gems, I'm finding it validating to see these numbers going up bit by bit.
active_record-associated_object 0.8.3 25,623 DOWNLOADS active_job-performs 0.3.2 19,418 DOWNLOADS oaken 0.7.1 7,958 DOWNLOADS
December 20, 2024 at 5:04 PM
kaspth.com
I probably should cut 1.0 of performs, it's ridiculously stable.
VERSIONS: 0.3.2 December 16, 2024 (11.5 KB) 0.3.1 May 27, 2024 (10.5 KB) 0.3.0 November 04, 2023 (9.5 KB) 0.2.0 January 12, 2023 (9 KB) 0.1.1 September 27, 2022 (8.5 KB)
December 16, 2024 at 7:08 PM
kaspth.com
I've been polishing up the github.com/kaspth/activ... README.

You can now see all the benefits and more praise quotes now that people are seeing this in practice — I'm really proud of where this is going! 🚀
ActiveJob::Performs ActiveJob::Performs adds a performs class method to make the model + job loop vastly more conventional. You use it like this: class Post < ApplicationRecord performs :publish # Or `performs def publish`! def publish # Some logic to publish a post end end Then we build a job for the instance method and define a post.publish_later instance method, and more: class Post < ApplicationRecord class Job < ApplicationJob; end # We build a general Job class to share configuration between method jobs. # Individual method jobs inherit from the `Post::Job` defined above. class PublishJob < Job # We generate the required `perform` method passing in the `post` and calling `publish` on it. def perform(post, *, **) = post.publish(*, **) end # On Rails 7.1, where `ActiveJob.perform_all_later` exists, we also generate # a bulk method to enqueue many jobs at once. So you can do this: # # Post.unpublished.in_batches.each(&:publish_later_bulk) def self.publish_later_bulk ActiveJob.perform_all_later all.map { PublishJob.new(_1) } end # We generate `publish_later` to wrap the job execution forwarding arguments and options. def publish_later(*, **) = PublishJob.perform_later(self, *, **) def publish # Some logic to publish a post. end end Benefits Conventional Jobs: they'll now mostly call instance methods like publish_later -> publish. Follows Rails' internal conventions: this borrows from ActionMailbox::InboundEmail#process_later calling process and ActionMailer::Base#deliver_later calling deliver. Clarity & less guess work: the _later methods standardize how you call jobs throughout your app, so you can instantly tell what's happening. Less tedium: getting an instance method run in the background is just now a performs call with some potential configuration. Fewer files to manage: you don't have to dig up something in app/jobs just to learn almost nothing from the boilerplate in there. Remaining jobs stand out: app/jobs is way lighter, so any jobs in there that don't fit the performs pattern now stand out way more. More consolidated logic: sometimes Job classes house model-level logic, but now it's all the way out in app/jobs instead of app/models, huh? Tip On that last point, performs does put more logic back within your Active Records, so if you need further encapsulation to prevent them growing too large, consider checking out active_record-associated_object. Praise from people Here's what @claudiob had to say after using ActiveJob::Performs: I’ve been using active_job-performs for the last month and I love it love it love it!! Your thought process behind it is so thorough. I have a bunch of jobs now attached to models and my app/jobs folder… is empty!! This saves me a lot of mental hoops, I don’t have to switch between files anymore, everything is self-contained. Thank you!!! From @andycroll in a writeup about launching UsingRails: I’ve also adopted a couple of gems—with exceptional Rails-level taste and author pedigree—that I hadn’t used in anger before, including active_job-performs from Kasper […]. Would recommend both. And @nshki after trying it: Spent some time playing with @kaspth's ActiveRecord::AssociatedObject and ActiveJob::Performs and wow! The conventions these gems put in place help simplify a codebase drastically. I particularly love ActiveJob::Performs—it helped me refactor out all ApplicationJob classes I had and keep important context in the right domain model.
December 16, 2024 at 6:38 PM
kaspth.com
@garrettdimon.com you're here in spirit 😄
Cans of Garrett popcorn
November 13, 2024 at 10:38 PM
kaspth.com
I find bio writing tough, but now it's hopefully a little more inviting ✨
Full-stack Rails consultant, who's interested in clear teams and concise Ruby👨‍🍳 • former Rails core • try riffing 🎸 https://github.com/kaspth/riffing-on-rails • 💎 https://rubygems.org/profiles/kaspth + services + newsletter + more: https://kaspth.omg.lol
November 10, 2024 at 2:42 PM