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by Riccardo Merolla —
? Introducing RapiTapir: Type-Safe HTTP APIs for Ruby
TL;DR: RapiTapir brings Scala Tapir’s elegance to Ruby with type-safe API development, automatic OpenAPI docs, and a clean DSL that makes building production APIs a joy.
The Problem: Ruby API Development Pain Points
Ruby developers love the language’s expressiveness, but API development often involves:
- Manual documentation that gets out of sync with code
- Runtime errors from type mismatches that could be caught earlier
- Boilerplate code for validation, serialization, and error handling
- Inconsistent patterns across different teams and projects
What if we could have the type safety of languages like Scala while keeping Ruby’s elegance?
Enter RapiTapir ?
RapiTapir is inspired by Scala’s Tapir library, bringing declarative, type-safe API development to Ruby. Define your endpoints once with strong typing, and get automatic validation, documentation, and client generation.
Start the server and visit http://localhost:4567/docs
for interactive Swagger documentation that’s always in sync with your code.
Why RapiTapir Feels Like Ruby Magic ✨ 1. Zero Boilerplate Setup 2. Type Safety Without Ceremony 3. RESTful Resources Made Simple Production-Ready Features ?️ Built-in Security & Auth Observability Out of the Box Real-World Benefits
? Development Speed: Define endpoints declaratively, get validation + docs for free
? Fewer Bugs: Type checking catches issues at definition time, not runtime
? Always-Current Docs: Swagger UI generated from your actual code
? Better DX: Enhanced error messages, auto-completion, consistent patterns
⚡ Easy Testing: Validate schemas independently, generate test fixtures
Framework Integration The Ruby Community Connection
RapiTapir builds on Ruby’s strengths:
- Sinatra’s simplicity with enhanced capabilities
- Rack’s composability for middleware and deployment
- Ruby’s expressiveness with added type safety
- Community gems for auth, testing, deployment
It’s not about replacing your stack - it’s about making it better.
Check out the comprehensive examples and documentation.
What’s Next?
- ? Rails integration for seamless adoption in existing apps
- ? Multi-language client generation (TypeScript, Python, Go)
- ? Enhanced observability with distributed tracing
- ? Plugin ecosystem for community extensions
Try It Today
RapiTapir is production-ready with comprehensive tests, clear documentation, and real-world examples. Whether you’re building a new API or enhancing an existing one, RapiTapir helps you write better Ruby code.
Links:
- ? Gem: rubygems.org/gems/rapitapir
- ? Source: github.com/riccardomerolla/rapitapir
- ? Docs: Examples and guides
Built with ❤️ for the Ruby community. Questions? Feedback? Open an issue or discussion on GitHub!
RapiTapir - APIs so clean and fast, they practically run wild! ?⚡