diff --git a/frameworks/rails/Dockerfile b/frameworks/rails/Dockerfile
index caa99f58..5d115834 100644
--- a/frameworks/rails/Dockerfile
+++ b/frameworks/rails/Dockerfile
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ ENV RUBY_MN_THREADS=1
 ENV RACK_ENV=production
 ENV WEB_CONCURRENCY=auto
 ENV RAILS_MAX_THREADS=3
+ENV MAX_IO_THREADS=5
 
 WORKDIR /app
 
diff --git a/frameworks/rails/Gemfile b/frameworks/rails/Gemfile
index 6fcea7fe..28f8346d 100644
--- a/frameworks/rails/Gemfile
+++ b/frameworks/rails/Gemfile
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 source 'https://rubygems.org'
 
 gem 'rails', '~> 8.0'
-gem 'puma', '~> 7.2'
+gem 'puma', '~> 8.0'
 gem 'pg', '~> 1.5'
 gem 'bootsnap', require: false
 gem 'connection_pool'
diff --git a/frameworks/rails/Gemfile.lock b/frameworks/rails/Gemfile.lock
index fd29f8b6..71a85dc2 100644
--- a/frameworks/rails/Gemfile.lock
+++ b/frameworks/rails/Gemfile.lock
@@ -137,7 +137,7 @@ GEM
     psych (5.3.1)
       date
       stringio
-    puma (7.2.0)
+    puma (8.0.1)
       nio4r (~> 2.0)
     racc (1.8.1)
     rack (3.2.6)
@@ -208,7 +208,7 @@ DEPENDENCIES
   bootsnap
   connection_pool
   pg (~> 1.5)
-  puma (~> 7.2)
+  puma (~> 8.0)
   rails (~> 8.0)
 
 CHECKSUMS
@@ -260,7 +260,7 @@ CHECKSUMS
   prettyprint (0.2.0) sha256=2bc9e15581a94742064a3cc8b0fb9d45aae3d03a1baa6ef80922627a0766f193
   prism (1.9.0) sha256=7b530c6a9f92c24300014919c9dcbc055bf4cdf51ec30aed099b06cd6674ef85
   psych (5.3.1) sha256=eb7a57cef10c9d70173ff74e739d843ac3b2c019a003de48447b2963d81b1974
-  puma (7.2.0) sha256=bf8ef4ab514a4e6d4554cb4326b2004eba5036ae05cf765cfe51aba9706a72a8
+  puma (8.0.1) sha256=7b94e50c07655718c1fb8ae41a11fc06c7d61293208b3aa608ff71a46d3ad37c
   racc (1.8.1) sha256=4a7f6929691dbec8b5209a0b373bc2614882b55fc5d2e447a21aaa691303d62f
   rack (3.2.6) sha256=5ed78e1f73b2e25679bec7d45ee2d4483cc4146eb1be0264fc4d94cb5ef212c2
   rack-session (2.1.2) sha256=595434f8c0c3473ae7d7ac56ecda6cc6dfd9d37c0b2b5255330aa1576967ffe8
diff --git a/frameworks/rails/config/application.rb b/frameworks/rails/config/application.rb
index 56375b95..3ffc5b05 100644
--- a/frameworks/rails/config/application.rb
+++ b/frameworks/rails/config/application.rb
@@ -3,6 +3,46 @@
 
 Bundler.require(*Rails.groups)
 
+# Catch unknown HTTP methods, routing errors, and mark /upload as binary
+class MethodGuard
+  VALID_METHODS = %w[GET HEAD POST PUT DELETE PATCH OPTIONS TRACE].to_set.freeze
+
+  def initialize(app)
+    @app = app
+  end
+
+  def call(env)
+    unless VALID_METHODS.include?(env['REQUEST_METHOD'])
+      return [405, { 'content-type' => 'text/plain' }, ['Method Not Allowed']]
+    end
+    # Mark /upload as binary so Rack skips form parameter parsing
+    if env['PATH_INFO'] == '/upload'
+      env['CONTENT_TYPE'] = 'application/octet-stream'
+    end
+    @app.call(env)
+  rescue => e
+    if e.class.name.include?('UnknownHttpMethod') || e.class.name.include?('RoutingError')
+      [400, { 'content-type' => 'text/plain' }, ['Bad Request']]
+    else
+      raise
+    end
+  end
+end
+
+# Threads marked as IO bound are allowed to go over Puma's max thread limit.
+class MarkAsIOBoundThreads
+  def initialize(app)
+    @app = app
+  end
+
+  def call(env)
+    if env['PATH_INFO'].start_with?('/baseline')
+      env["puma.mark_as_io_bound"].call
+    end
+    @app.call(env)
+  end
+end
+
 class BenchmarkApp < Rails::Application
   config.load_defaults Rails::VERSION::STRING.to_f
   config.eager_load = true
@@ -25,32 +65,8 @@ class BenchmarkApp < Rails::Application
 
   # Add gzip support
   config.middleware.insert 0, Rack::Deflater
-
-  # Catch unknown HTTP methods, routing errors, and mark /upload as binary
-  config.middleware.insert 0, Class.new {
-    VALID_METHODS = %w[GET HEAD POST PUT DELETE PATCH OPTIONS TRACE].to_set.freeze
-
-    def initialize(app)
-      @app = app
-    end
-
-    def call(env)
-      unless VALID_METHODS.include?(env['REQUEST_METHOD'])
-        return [405, { 'content-type' => 'text/plain' }, ['Method Not Allowed']]
-      end
-      # Mark /upload as binary so Rack skips form parameter parsing
-      if env['PATH_INFO'] == '/upload'
-        env['CONTENT_TYPE'] = 'application/octet-stream'
-      end
-      @app.call(env)
-    rescue => e
-      if e.class.name.include?('UnknownHttpMethod') || e.class.name.include?('RoutingError')
-        [400, { 'content-type' => 'text/plain' }, ['Bad Request']]
-      else
-        raise
-      end
-    end
-  }
+  config.middleware.insert 0, MethodGuard
+  config.middleware.insert 0, MarkAsIOBoundThreads
 
   # Silence logging
   config.logger = nil
diff --git a/frameworks/rails/config/puma.rb b/frameworks/rails/config/puma.rb
index 296826d4..a7aff98a 100644
--- a/frameworks/rails/config/puma.rb
+++ b/frameworks/rails/config/puma.rb
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 thread_count = ENV.fetch('RAILS_MAX_THREADS', 4).to_i
 threads thread_count, thread_count
+max_io_threads ENV.fetch("MAX_IO_THREADS", 10).to_i
 
 tls_cert_path = ENV.fetch('TLS_CERT', '/certs/server.crt')
 tls_key_path = ENV.fetch('TLS_KEY', '/certs/server.key')