Alex Kumar

Network failures and client retries can cause duplicate request processing, leading to duplicate charges, double-created resources, or inconsistent state. Idempotency keys solve this by tracking processed requests and returning cached responses for du

PostgreSQL's jsonb columns provide schema flexibility for semi-structured data without sacrificing query performance. I use JSON columns for user preferences, feature flags, or metadata that varies by record type. Unlike traditional EAV patterns, json

Inserting thousands of records one-by-one is prohibitively slow due to the overhead of individual INSERT statements. The activerecord-import gem provides bulk insert capabilities that compile multiple records into a single multi-row INSERT, dramatical

Audit logs provide accountability and forensic capabilities for sensitive operations like permission changes, data deletion, or financial transactions. I store audit events in a dedicated table with who performed the action, what changed, when it occu

While Rack::Attack handles basic rate limiting, custom throttling logic gives fine-grained control over quotas, burst allowances, and per-feature limits. I implement a token bucket algorithm in Redis using sorted sets to track request timestamps per u

Action Cable brings WebSocket support to Rails, enabling real-time features like live notifications, collaborative editing, or chat systems. Clients subscribe to channels that broadcast updates when server-side events occur. I use Redis as the pub/sub

Rack middleware sits between the web server and Rails application, providing a hook for cross-cutting concerns like request logging, metrics collection, or custom authentication. I use middleware to inject request IDs, track response times, or enforce

GraphQL provides clients flexibility to request exactly the data they need, reducing over-fetching and under-fetching compared to REST. The graphql-ruby gem integrates GraphQL into Rails with a schema-first approach. I define types for each model, fie

As applications grow, read operations often dominate database load. Directing reads to replica databases while keeping writes on the primary reduces contention and improves response times. Rails makes this straightforward with connects_to and role-bas

Storing secrets in environment variables works but gets messy at scale with dozens of keys. Rails encrypted credentials provide a structured alternative where secrets live in version-controlled credentials.yml.enc files, encrypted with a master key st

Hard deletes make data recovery impossible and complicate audit trails. Soft deletes mark records as deleted without removing them from the database, preserving history and enabling undo functionality. The paranoia gem adds a deleted_at timestamp colu

Auto-generated API documentation from code annotations keeps docs in sync with implementation and reduces maintenance burden. The rswag gem generates OpenAPI 3.0 specs from RSpec request specs, providing interactive documentation via Swagger UI. I wri