Examples and Migration References

Use this page as the canonical index for public React on Rails reference repos. The goal is to make evaluation, migration, and React on Rails Pro adoption easy to navigate without scattering hard-coded repository links across the docs.

Some public repos still use older slugs with underscores or legacy wording. This page is the source of truth for which public repos are current and worth starting from.

Starter Repos

Check each entry's note before evaluating — some starters are fully open source, while others require React on Rails Pro.

OSS Flagship Demo (open source)

• Repo: shakacode/react-on-rails-demo-flagship
• Use it when you want the canonical clone-and-run open-source demo: a real ActiveRecord-backed CRUD task board with server-side rendering, React 19, TypeScript, Redux Toolkit, and Shakapacker + Rspack — no Pro, no RSC.
• Two run modes: bin/dev for local development and docker compose up for a deterministic container boot; bin/smoke verifies the server-rendered HTML and exits non-zero if SSR fails.

SSR + HMR Tutorial Demo (open source)

• Repo: shakacode/react-on-rails-demo-ssr-hmr
• Use it when you want the maintained Rails + React + SSR + HMR walkthrough repo that backs the tutorial and Webpack configuration guidance.

React on Rails Pro + TanStack/RSC Starter (Pro)

• Repo: shakacode/react-on-rails-starter-tanstack
• Use it when you want the maintained Rails 8 + React on Rails Pro + TanStack Router/Query/Table starter with React Server Components, Rspack, Tailwind, and shadcn/ui.
• Upstream branch testing: the starter documents how to validate unreleased react_on_rails and react_on_rails_rsc branches in Testing Upstream Branches. For the general gem/npm recipes, see Consuming an Unreleased Build.
• Note: this repo uses React on Rails Pro. See OSS vs Pro for evaluation guidance.

In-Repo Reference

Spec Dummy App

• Repo: shakacode/react_on_rails — spec/dummy
• Use it when you want the simplest in-repo reference for current generator and feature behavior.
• Note: this is the in-repo test app used by the RSpec suite, not a standalone starter repository.

Migration References

For detailed proof criteria and migration contribution guidance, see Example Migrations.

• shakacode/react-on-rails-example-migration — focused before/after react-rails → React on Rails migration reference.
• shakacode/react-on-rails-example-open-flights — larger example app that shows React on Rails replacing react-rails in a more realistic codebase.

React on Rails Pro + RSC Demos

Note: The repos below use React on Rails Pro. See OSS vs Pro for evaluation guidance.

Hacker News RSC Demo

• Repo: shakacode/react-on-rails-demo-hacker-news-rsc
• Live demo: hn.reactonrails.com
• Use it when you want a compact public demo of React on Rails Pro with React Server Components on a familiar read-heavy UI.

Marketplace RSC Performance Demo

• Repo: shakacode/react-on-rails-demo-marketplace-rsc
• Live demo & evidence: see the Live Demo and Evidence section for Lighthouse reports, bundle-size breakdowns, and the demo itself.
• Use it when you want a public performance-oriented RSC demo showing the shape of the user-visible win on a marketplace-style surface.

Gumroad-Style RSC Benchmark Demo

• Repo: shakacode/react-on-rails-demo-gumroad-rsc
• Use it when you want a benchmark-oriented comparison between an Inertia-style surface and a React on Rails Pro + RSC surface on the same product domain.
• Note: this is a ShakaCode-built demo modeled on a Gumroad-style UI, not an official Gumroad product or integration.

Live Demos

• hn.reactonrails.com — Hacker News reader showing React on Rails Pro with React 19 and React Server Components on a familiar read-heavy UI.
• www.reactrails.com — production-style React on Rails app you can click through in your browser without any local setup. Backed by the legacy shakacode/react-webpack-rails-tutorial source.

Control Plane Cost Posture

For public demo and starter staging deployments on Control Plane, keep the app workload as type: standard with minScale: 1, set its autoscaling metric to disabled, and enable capacityAI: true so Control Plane can right-size idle capacity while the demo keeps one warm replica. With the autoscaling metric set to disabled, treat replica count as fixed; maxScale is not a burst-scaling lever in this posture. If a demo must absorb traffic bursts, choose a compatible autoscaling metric deliberately and set a tested maxScale ceiling for that separate scaling posture. Avoid CPU Utilization autoscaling with minScale: 1 / maxScale: 1 for these small staging apps because that combination prevents Capacity AI from right-sizing the warm workload.

This is not the same as scale-to-zero: steady RAM usage and background work can still drive cost, and shared Postgres should usually stay manually sized. If a demo explicitly needs true idle scale-to-zero, create a separate serverless workload before first deploy or plan a delete/recreate migration because Control Plane will not change an existing standard workload to serverless in place. The reusable guidance lives in Control Plane Flow: Enable Capacity AI for Demo and Starter Staging Apps.

Legacy Repos

Version-specific demos, test-* repos, generator snapshots, and older tutorial repos are useful historical references, but they are not the primary starting point for new evaluations.

• Legacy full app: shakacode/react-webpack-rails-tutorial — older production-style app (see Live Demos above for the running site at www.reactrails.com). Still useful as a historical reference, but not the recommended starting point for new projects.
• Minimal RSC sample: shakacode/react-on-rails-rsc-demo — older minimal React Server Components sample. Use the TanStack Starter above for a current React on Rails Pro + RSC starting point.

If you are choosing a public reference repo for docs, talks, or adoption work, start with the repos above.