Quick Recipe Parser

A tool to parse, normalize, and manage recipes from spreadsheets and websites. Built with modern Rails.

Tech Stack

• Ruby 3.4.8
• Rails 8.1 with Hotwire (Turbo + Stimulus), Importmaps, Propshaft
• PostgreSQL for the database
• Tailwind CSS via tailwindcss-rails
• Docker for containerized development and deployment

No secondary JavaScript frameworks — all UI is built with native Rails tech.

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Ruby 3.4.8 (recommended: install via rbenv)
• PostgreSQL 14+
• Or just Docker and Docker Compose

Local Setup (without Docker)

# Install Ruby dependencies
bundle install

# Create and migrate the database
bin/rails db:prepare

# Start the development server
bin/dev

The app will be available at http://localhost:3000.

Docker Setup

# Build and start all services
docker compose up --build

# In a separate terminal, create the database (first time only)
docker compose exec web bin/rails db:prepare

The app will be available at http://localhost:3000.

Running Tests

bin/rails test
bin/rails test:system

Linting

bin/rubocop

Deployment

The app is deployed on Fly.io with Neon for PostgreSQL.

Live app: https://quick-recipe-parser.fly.dev

Infrastructure

Service	Purpose	Plan
Fly.io	App hosting (Docker containers)	Free tier (shared CPU, 1GB RAM)
Neon	PostgreSQL database	Free tier

Initial Setup (from scratch)

If you ever need to recreate this deployment, here are the full steps:

1. Install the Fly.io CLI

curl -L https://fly.io/install.sh | sh

2. Create the Fly.io app

Sign up at fly.io, then create the app:

fly apps create quick-recipe-parser

3. Create a Neon PostgreSQL database

1. Sign up at neon.tech (free tier, no credit card required)
2. Create a new project (e.g. name: quick-recipe-parser, region: US East)
3. Copy the connection string — it looks like:

   postgresql://<user>:<password>@<host>.neon.tech/<dbname>?sslmode=require
   

4. Configure Fly.io secrets

Set the two required secrets (these are stored encrypted on Fly.io, never in source code):

# The Rails master key (from config/master.key, gitignored)
fly secrets set RAILS_MASTER_KEY=<value from config/master.key> -a quick-recipe-parser

# The Neon PostgreSQL connection string
fly secrets set DATABASE_URL=<your-neon-connection-string> -a quick-recipe-parser

Secret	Description	Where to find it
RAILS_MASTER_KEY	Decrypts Rails encrypted credentials	config/master.key (gitignored)
DATABASE_URL	Neon PostgreSQL connection string	Neon dashboard → project → Connection Details

5. Configure fly.toml

The fly.toml in the repo root configures the app. Key settings:

• HTTP_PORT = '8080' — Thruster (Rails HTTP proxy) listens on 8080 because the container runs as a non-root user and can't bind to port 80
• internal_port = 8080 — Fly.io routes traffic to this port inside the container
• auto_stop_machines = 'stop' — Machines spin down when idle to save resources
• release_command = './bin/rails db:prepare' — Runs migrations automatically on each deploy

6. Deploy

fly deploy

This builds the Docker image (using the repo's Dockerfile), pushes it to Fly.io's registry, runs the release command (db:prepare), and starts the app.

Redeploying

After the initial setup, future deploys are just:

fly deploy

Useful Fly.io commands

fly status -a quick-recipe-parser   # App status and machine info
fly logs -a quick-recipe-parser     # Tail production logs
fly secrets list -a quick-recipe-parser  # List configured secrets (names only)
fly ssh console -a quick-recipe-parser   # SSH into a running machine
fly apps open -a quick-recipe-parser     # Open the app in your browser

CI

GitHub Actions runs on every PR and push to main:

• Security scans: Brakeman (static analysis) and bundler-audit (dependency vulnerabilities)
• Lint: RuboCop with Rails Omakase style
• Tests: Unit and system tests against PostgreSQL