--- title: Coding guidelines | daily.dev description: A personal, opinionated set of coding guidelines spanning general programming principles, Ruby-specific style choices, and Rails conventions. Covers encryption... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/coding-guidelines-1x9sh8pl0 twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Coding guidelines | daily.dev og:description: A personal, opinionated set of coding guidelines spanning general programming principles, Ruby-specific style choices, and Rails conventions. Covers encryption... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/coding-guidelines-1x9sh8pl0 og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/1X9SH8pL0.png og:image:alt: Coding guidelines og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Coding guidelines **[Ruby Flow](https://daily.dev/sources/rubyflow)** · 6 min read · 2 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A personal, opinionated set of coding guidelines spanning general programming principles, Ruby-specific style choices, and Rails conventions. Covers encryption of personal data, optimistic coding, method naming, git commit discipline, test coverage, file length limits, avoiding metaprogramming and service objects, RuboCop-enforced formatting rules, and Rails-specific practices like Turbo defaults, reversible migrations, Active Record custom types, PostgreSQL native types (citext, arrays, enums), and query caching. A full example builds a Train model, controller, migration, and view demonstrating the guidelines in practice. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### How do I add strict locals to a Rails partial to avoid passing instance variables? Declare locals explicitly at the top of the partial using the magic comment syntax, for example `<%# locals: (train:) -%>`, instead of relying on instance variables leaking into the view. This makes the partial's required inputs explicit and prevents accidental coupling to controller-set instance variables. _Developers tightening up Rails view conventions can find practical examples like this one through daily.dev._ ### How do I make a Postgres column encrypted but still queryable in Rails 8? Use Active Record encryption with the deterministic option set to allow querying, for example adding `deterministic: { fixed: false }` to an encrypted email column, which lets you run lookups like `User.find_by(email:)` while keeping the value encrypted at rest. _Rails developers balancing data privacy with query needs can track patterns like this via daily.dev._ ### How do I create a native PostgreSQL enum column in a Rails migration? Use the `create_enum` migration method to declare a Postgres-backed enum type by name rather than storing integers, then reference it on a column with `t.enum :status, enum_type: :train_status`. This leverages PostgreSQL's native enum type instead of Rails' integer-backed enum mapping. _Teams adopting Postgres-native types in Rails migrations can keep up with such techniques on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Enforcing Your Ruby Style Guide on AI-Generated Code](https://daily.dev/posts/enforcing-your-ruby-style-guide-on-ai-generated-code-flixahyod) · thoughbot · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Tips for effective prototyping with Rails 8 and Claude Code](https://daily.dev/posts/tips-for-effective-prototyping-with-rails-8-and-claude-code-h5acnjzue) · Ruby Flow · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Better guides, better framework](https://daily.dev/posts/better-guides-better-framework-u808pzsy9) · Rails · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [One year of Ruby on Rails configuration](https://daily.dev/posts/one-year-of-ruby-on-rails-configuration-3xgfj4tsp) · RUBYLAND · 2 upvotes · 0 comments - [Rails Security Best Practices: A Comprehensive Guide](https://daily.dev/posts/rails-security-best-practices-a-comprehensive-guide-4klfoqpgy) · Saeloun · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#postgresql](https://daily.dev/tags/postgresql), [#ruby](https://daily.dev/tags/ruby), [#rails](https://daily.dev/tags/rails) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/coding-guidelines-1x9sh8pl0) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Coding guidelines","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/coding-guidelines-1x9sh8pl0","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/coding-guidelines-1x9sh8pl0"},"datePublished":"2026-08-24T02:25:09.482Z","dateModified":"2026-09-14T07:55:43.453Z","description":"A personal, opinionated set of coding guidelines spanning general programming principles, Ruby-specific style choices, and Rails conventions. 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