Rails UI

What Is RailsUI?

RailsUI is a plug-and-play UI toolkit for Ruby on Rails that bundles Tailwind v4-ready components, full page templates, and theme packs (Hound, Shepherd, Retriever, etc.) into a single gem. Install it, pick a theme, and you’re looking at a polished app on localhost:3000 in minutes

Features ✨

200 + reusable components—buttons, forms, tables, modals, dark-mode ready
Production-ready pages: auth flows, dashboards, CRUD, mailers
Theme system with color palettes and niche layouts (CRM, property-management SaaS, server PaaS)
Built for Rails conventions (ERB/HAML), Hotwire & Stimulus out of the box
Constant updates; latest 3.1.3 released Mar 28 2025
Tailwind v4 support baked in

Included Components 📒

Alerts, badges, breadcrumbs
Data tables with pagination
Multi-step forms & wizards
Modal & drawer patterns
Heroicons-powered icon set
Stimulus controllers for dropdowns, tooltips, count-up stats

Pros & Cons

Pros ✅

Time-saver: replaces ~100 hours of UI work
Rails-first: no awkward JS framework migrations
Easily themed: swap or tweak palettes without touching core JS
Ongoing growth: active maintainer & community (~430 GitHub stars, 1.8 k followers on X)

Cons ⚠️

Paid licence for full component library
Requires Tailwind knowledge—might clash with existing Bootstrap setup
Limited docs for Importmaps/Propshaft installs
Opinionated aesthetics—deep customisation still takes CSS effort

Integration

gem "railsui" + rails railsui:install one-liner
Works with cssbundling-rails & jsbundling-rails (esbuild, bun, rollup, webpack)
Hotwire & Stimulus controllers included for interactive elements
Heroicons for consistent iconography
Fits any Rails 7/8 app running Tailwind v4

FAQ

Is RailsUI open-source?

Core gem is MIT, but premium themes/components require a paid licence.

Will it work with Turbo/Hotwire?

Yes—components and templates are Turbo-ready and include Stimulus controllers.

Can I mix RailsUI with existing Tailwind classes?

Definitely; assets live under /railsui, so your own Tailwind config won’t collide.

What Rails versions are supported?

Officially tested on Rails 7 and 8; older versions may need manual tweaks.