RubyLLM 1.7: Rails Revolution & Vertex AI 🚀

Major Rails integration overhaul bringing database-backed models, UI generators, and a more intuitive acts_as API. Plus Google Cloud Vertex AI support, regional AWS Bedrock, and streamlined installation!

🌟 Google Cloud Vertex AI Support

Full Vertex AI provider integration with dynamic model discovery:

# Add to your Gemfile:
gem "googleauth"  # Required for Vertex AI authentication

# Configure Vertex AI:
RubyLLM.configure do |config|
  config.vertexai_project_id = "your-project"
  config.vertexai_location = "us-central1"
end

# Access Gemini and other Google models through Vertex AI
chat = RubyLLM.chat(model: "gemini-2.5-pro", provider: :vertexai)
response = chat.ask("What can you do?")

Features:

Dynamic model fetching from Vertex AI API with pagination
Automatic discovery of Gemini foundation models
Metadata enrichment from Parsera API
Full chat and embeddings support
Seamless integration with existing Gemini provider
Uses Application Default Credentials (ADC) for authentication

🎉 New Rails-Like acts_as API

The Rails integration gets a massive upgrade with a more intuitive, Rails-like API:

# OLD way (still works, deprecated in v2.0)
class Chat < ApplicationRecord
  acts_as_chat message_class: 'Message', tool_call_class: 'ToolCall'
end

# NEW way - use association names as primary parameters!
class Chat < ApplicationRecord
  acts_as_chat messages: :messages, model: :model
end

class Message < ApplicationRecord
  acts_as_message chat: :chat, tool_calls: :tool_calls, model: :model
end

Two-Command Upgrade

Existing apps can upgrade seamlessly:

# Step 1: Run the upgrade generator
rails generate ruby_llm:upgrade_to_v1_7

# Step 2: Run migrations
rails db:migrate

That's it! The upgrade generator:

Creates the models table if needed
Automatically adds config.use_new_acts_as = true to your initializer
Migrates your existing data to use foreign keys
Preserves all your data (old string columns renamed to model_id_string)

🖥️ Complete Chat UI Generator

Build a full chat interface with one command:

# Generate complete chat UI with Turbo streaming
rails generate ruby_llm:chat_ui

This creates:

Controllers: Chat and message controllers with Rails best practices
Views: Clean HTML views for chat list, creation, and messaging
Models page: Browse available AI models
Turbo Streams: Real-time message updates
Background job: Streaming AI responses
Model selector: Choose models in chat creation

The UI is intentionally simple and clean - perfect for customization!

💾 Database-Backed Model Registry

Models are now first-class ActiveRecord objects with rich metadata:

# Chat.create! has the same interface as RubyLLM.chat (PORO)
chat = Chat.create!  # Uses default model from config
chat = Chat.create!(model: "gpt-4o-mini")  # Specify model
chat = Chat.create!(model: "claude-3-5-haiku", provider: "bedrock")  # Cross-provider
chat = Chat.create!(
  model: "experimental-llm-v2",
  provider: "openrouter",
  assume_model_exists: true  # Creates Model record if not found
)

# Access rich model metadata through associations
chat.model.context_window  # => 128000
chat.model.capabilities    # => ["streaming", "function_calling", "structured_output"]
chat.model.pricing["text_tokens"]["standard"]["input_per_million"]  # => 2.5

# Works with Model objects too
model = Model.find_by(model_id: "gpt-4o")
chat = Chat.create!(model: model)

# Refresh models from provider APIs
Model.refresh!  # Populates/updates models table from all configured providers

The install generator creates a Model model by default:

# Custom model names supported
rails g ruby_llm:install chat:Discussion message:Comment model:LLModel

🌍 AWS Bedrock Regional Support

Cross-region inference now works correctly in all AWS regions:

# EU regions now work!
RubyLLM.configure do |config|
  config.bedrock_region = "eu-west-3"
end

# Automatically uses correct region prefix:
# - EU: eu.anthropic.claude-3-sonnet...
# - US: us.anthropic.claude-3-sonnet...
# - AP: ap.anthropic.claude-3-sonnet...
# - CA: ca.anthropic.claude-3-sonnet...

Thanks to @elthariel for the contribution! (#338)

🎵 MP3 Audio Support Fixed

OpenAI's Whisper API now correctly handles MP3 files:

# Previously failed with MIME type errors
chat.add_attachment("audio.mp3")
response = chat.ask("Transcribe this audio")  # Now works!

The fix properly converts audio/mpeg MIME type to the mp3 format string OpenAI expects. (#390)

🚀 Performance & Developer Experience

Simplified Installation

The post-install message is now concise and helpful, pointing to docs instead of overwhelming with text.

Better Generator Experience

All generators now support consistent interfaces:

# All use the same pattern
rails g ruby_llm:install chat:Chat message:Message
rails g ruby_llm:upgrade_to_v1_7 chat:Chat message:Message
rails g ruby_llm:chat_ui

ActiveStorage Integration

The install generator now automatically:

Installs ActiveStorage if not present
Configures RubyLLM for attachment support
Ensures smooth multimodal experiences out of the box

🔧 Fixes & Improvements

Provider Enhancements

Local provider models: Models.refresh! now supports Ollama and GPUStack with proper capability mapping
Provider architecture: Providers no longer call RubyLLM.models.find internally (#366)
Tool calling: Fixed OpenAI tool calls with missing function.arguments (#385, thanks @elthariel!)
Streaming callbacks: on_new_message now fires before API request, not after first chunk (#367)

Documentation & Testing

Documentation variables: Model names now use variables for easier updates
IRB compatibility: #instance_variables method now public for ls command (#374, thanks @matijs!)
Test improvements: Fixed CI issues with acts_as modules and database initialization
VCR enhancements: Better VertexAI recording and cassette management

Breaking Changes

with_params Behavior

with_params now takes precedence over internal defaults, allowing full control:

# You can now override ANY parameter
chat.with_params(max_tokens: 100)  # This now works!
chat.with_params(tools: [web_search_tool])  # Provider-specific features

Set RUBYLLM_DEBUG=true to see exactly what's being sent to the API.

Installation

gem 'ruby_llm', '1.7.0'

Upgrading from 1.6.x

Update your Gemfile
Run bundle update ruby_llm
Run rails generate ruby_llm:upgrade_to_v1_7
Run rails db:migrate
Enjoy the new features! 🎉

Full backward compatibility maintained - the old acts_as API continues working with a deprecation warning.

Merged PRs.

Add missing code block ending in the docs by @AlexVPopov in #368
Make overrides of #instance_variables method public by @mvz in #374
Handle missing function.arguments in OpenAI tool_calls by @elthariel in #385
Inference regions by @ESegundoRolon in #338

New Contributors

@AlexVPopov made their first contribution in #368
@mvz made their first contribution in #374
@elthariel made their first contribution in #385
@ESegundoRolon made their first contribution in #338

Full Changelog: 1.6.4...1.7.0

crmne/ruby_llm 1.7.0 on GitHub