vanilla-rails-naming

name	vanilla-rails-naming
description	Use when naming classes, methods, routes in vanilla Rails codebases - enforces concern adjectives (-able/-ible only), no bangs for state, resource naming cascade, and commit message format

Vanilla Rails Naming

37signals naming conventions from production Basecamp codebases.

The Naming Cascade

Every state change flows through this cascade:

Layer	Pattern	Example
Concern	Adjective (-able/-ible)	Card::Closeable
State model	Noun	Closure
Controller	Plural noun	ClosuresController
Route	Singular resource	resource :closure
Method	Plain verb (no !)	card.close
Async enqueue	*_later	notify_watchers_later
Sync execute	*_now or plain	notify_watchers_now

If the cascade doesn't flow, the naming is wrong.

Concern Names: -able/-ible ONLY

# Wrong
Card::Closing        # verb
Card::PinManager     # Manager/Handler/Service
Card::Closed         # past participle

# Right
Card::Closeable
Card::Pinnable
Card::Assignable

If concern name doesn't end in -able/-ible, STOP and rename immediately. No -ing, -er, -ish, Logic, Management, Handler, Service.

State Methods: No Bangs

Plain verbs for state changes. ! only when non-bang counterpart exists.

# Wrong                    # Right
card.close!                card.close
card.pin!                  card.pin_by(user)
card.archive!              card.archive

Async: _later/_now

_later always at the end of compound verbs:

notify_watchers_later      # enqueues job
notify_watchers_now        # actual logic (called by job)
pin_and_notify_later       # compound verb

File Locations

app/models/card/closeable.rb           # Model-specific concern
app/models/concerns/eventable.rb       # Shared concern
app/models/closure.rb                  # State record
app/controllers/cards/closures_controller.rb

Commit Messages

Present tense, lowercase, no type prefixes:

add pin feature to cards
extract closeable concern
fix closure validation

Not: feat:, fix:, [FEATURE], past tense, title case.

Red Flags

Red flag	Fix
Concern not -able/-ible	Rename immediately
State method with !	Remove bang
post :close in routes	resource :closure
Async without _later	Add suffix
ClosureController (singular)	ClosuresController (plural)
Commit with feat: prefix	Present tense, no prefix