# Client libraries for Ruby/Rails?

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/client-libraries-for-ruby-rails/117004>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [October 12, 2007, 12:48am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/client-libraries-for-ruby-rails/117004 "2007-10-12T00:48:57Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jeffro](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/7993a0/32.png) [@jeffro](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/jeffro)\
**Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 12:48am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/client-libraries-for-ruby-rails/117004/1 "2007-10-12T00:48:57Z")

</div>

Hope I’m asking a valid question, but I would like to provide a Ruby/  
Rails client library for a web service I’ve created. I’m not a  
proficient Ruby/Rails developer so I’m not even certain the metaphor  
of “client library” applies.

I have programmatic familiarity with supplying the appropriate bits  
for Java, PHP, Microsoft, etc. I want to support Ruby/Rails  
development against our service, but am not quite sure what to provide  
or supply.

If someone could point me in the right direction (or to the right  
documentation), I’d be greatly appreciative.

cheers,  
jro

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jeffro](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/7993a0/32.png) [@jeffro](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/jeffro)\
**Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 4:53am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/client-libraries-for-ruby-rails/117004/2 "2007-10-12T04:53:13Z")

</div>

Hi Jeff

In the rails world, we talk about plugins.  
You could just google for ‘rails plugins’ .

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jeffro](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/7993a0/32.png) [@jeffro](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/jeffro)\
**Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 3:21pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/client-libraries-for-ruby-rails/117004/3 "2007-10-12T15:21:37Z")

</div>

On 10/11/07, JeffRo [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:

> If someone could point me in the right direction (or to the right  
> documentation), I’d be greatly appreciative.

Rails is a server application framework. Ruby is a general purpose  
scripting language. Rails is written in Ruby.

Your client library should provide an API to your service. It should  
be written in Ruby and packaged as a gem. Gems ([rubygems.org](http://rubygems.org)) are the  
standard packaging system now. RubyForge ([rubyforge.org](http://rubyforge.org)) is the place  
to host development of your client library. If you publish a gem at  
your RubyForge project, any Ruby installation can install it with a  
simple “gem install jeff-lib”. There is quite a bit in the Ruby  
standard library and in 3rd party gems to support all kinds of  
networking and web service protocols, so you want to leverage those of  
course.

Rails plugins are a different beast. They are extensions to the Rails  
framework, to assist with development of Rails applications. You don’t  
want to lock yourself into a plugin; however, if Rails server  
applications need to interact with your service as a client, you might  
have a plugin that provides some “glue” between Rails and your client  
lib gem.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jeffro](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/7993a0/32.png) [@jeffro](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/jeffro)\
**Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 5:57pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/client-libraries-for-ruby-rails/117004/4 "2007-10-12T17:57:34Z")

</div>

Bob -

Thanks for your comments, this is super helpful. Are there any  
suggested gems worth looking at for guidance? Maybe a gem for working  
with Amazon web services, as an example?