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In no particular order:

Please add more and I will update periodically.

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closed as off-topic by legoscia, tjameson, hexacyanide, Ilya, toniedzwiedz Oct 23 '13 at 19:56



22 Answers 22

up vote 21 down vote accepted

Aptana RadRails

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my favorite, for AIR, Ruby, and Java :) –  balexandre May 5 '09 at 19:08
Aptana Studio also comes with great editors for other Rails project files, such as HTML, CSS, and YAML. –  Schrockwell May 8 '09 at 2:06
My only gripe with Aptana is that it isn't more lightweight. It (and other Java based IDE's) can be very slow to start up. –  pauliephonic Jul 7 '09 at 15:43
+1 for the wedding cake! :) –  epatel Dec 6 '09 at 11:47
Very Slow, Needs Improvement –  Zephiro Mar 9 at 21:52


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I second RubyMine –  Nazar May 6 '09 at 7:52


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TextMate 2 Rules –  Zephiro Mar 9 at 21:51


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NOTE: As of NetBeans IDE 7.0, support for Ruby and Ruby on Rails is no longer available in the standard NetBeans IDE build. Please see the Ruby Support Wiki page for more information. –  tivo Oct 3 '11 at 20:11

Vim with rails.vim plugin

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I tried Vim, but the best I can describe it as is "clunky". :/ –  Robert K Jun 4 '09 at 17:22
Trying vim is not enough to experience what it can do. With vim, there's a long learning tunnel, a steep slope, but there's light at the end of it. –  jskulski Jun 4 '09 at 17:55
Isn't Vim quite inconvenient when you use it to manage large project? –  Jakub Arnold Aug 13 '09 at 23:35
youtube.com/watch?v=SkdrYWhh-8s try this video to see the power of vim. –  chemredoc Jan 22 at 9:59

Try Redcar . I have used it a bit and have liked it so far. It is in active development

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Not updated 2 years ago! –  Zephiro Mar 9 at 21:54

gedit with snapopen plugin

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Sublime Text 2, with ruby plugins (package control).

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Can Sublime Text 2 be categorized as an IDE? –  Marius Butuc Oct 30 '12 at 23:26
If you consider all the plugins you can get with Package Control, I would say yes. This is really all I use when working with rails. Sublime text 2 and the terminal. It is actually the best solution I have found. –  Cort3z Oct 31 '12 at 7:30

Emacs with Rinari minor mode

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Eclipse 3.4 with the RadRails plugin. I think it works better then the standalone RadRails 1.2 right now. I'm guessing when 1.3 comes out I will need to look at the standalone application again.

How to get it to work: http://forums.aptana.com/viewtopic.php?p=21964#p21857

  1. Add http://update.aptana.com/update/studio/3.2/ to the list of plugin repositories and install "Aptana Web Development Tools".

  2. "Reboot" Eclipse.

  3. After some time, the Aptana Start Page will show up (or you can start it from the Help menue). From this page you can add and install Aptana RadRails 1.0.2.

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I like Textmate in Mac, and E in Windows ( textmate clone ). Aptana is a really good IDE also, but I find that it's heavy and can become sluggish after a while.

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On the list: Komodo

Best: +1 for vim with rails.vim plugin

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Komodo IDE is pretty good, but the opensource Edit will do just fine for most. –  SeanJA May 13 '09 at 1:51


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While this link may answer the question, it is better to include the essential parts of the answer here and provide the link for reference. Link-only answers can become invalid if the linked page changes. –  Jon Aug 29 '12 at 23:41

Textmate (Mac osx) E-Texteditor(Windows/Linux)

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Surprisingly I like using a few Windows Command Prompts, Explorer, and many Scite instances (with a custom configuration). Not really an IDE but I've found it more flexible and useful than any other IDE that I've tried.

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Ruby In Steel For IronRuby I haven't used it myself... (A plugin for Visual Studio I believe)

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I like Komodo for PHP and Python development but its support for Ruby is pretty thin. I've only recently started working with Rails and Komodo has been disappointing. I'm giving Aptana a try based on the accepted answer.

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