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Overview
Administrate is a Rails engine that generates index, show, create, and edit screens for application models. It provides an admin foundation while leaving Dashboard classes, Fields, and page templates customizable in the host app.
Features and best fit
Based on official documentation; not hands-on tested · Content checked:
Key features
Best fit
Before adoption
What to check before use
Administrate does not complete authentication or authorization by itself; the host application must protect admin routes and enforce field-level permissions. Generated data actions affect real records, so authorization and auditing still matter. The pinned LICENSE is MIT.
Official sources
- [1]thoughtbot/administrate README at v1.0.0(2026-10-05)
- [2]Administrate official documentation(2026-10-05)
- [3]Administrate v1.0.0 source(2026-10-05)
- [4]thoughtbot/administrate LICENSE.md at v1.0.0(2026-10-05)
- [5]thoughtbot/administrate GitHub metadata(2026-10-05)
Supplemental curator note
It suits teams that want a quick admin surface over existing Rails models and gradual Ruby customization. First generate Customer index, show, and form configuration plus routes, then identify where authorization belongs.
Try it in 3 steps
- 1
Prepare a pinned Rails environment
Requires Ruby 3.2 or later, Bundler, and SQLite development support. Install Rails 8.0.4 in an isolated temporary bundle.
demo=$(mktemp -d "${TMPDIR:-/tmp}/administrate-demo.XXXXXX") && cd "$demo" && printf '%s\n' 'source "https://rubygems.org"' 'gem "rails", "8.0.4"' > Gemfile && bundle config set path vendor/bundle && bundle install - 2
Add Administrate to an application
Create a Rails application and add pinned Administrate 1.0.0. Keep the SQLite dependency generated by Rails, and remain in dashboard for the next step.
bundle exec rails new dashboard --skip-bundle --skip-git --skip-javascript --skip-hotwire --skip-action-mailbox --skip-action-text && cd dashboard && printf '%s\n' 'gem "administrate", "1.0.0"' >> Gemfile && bundle config set path ../vendor/bundle && bundle install - 3
Generate the Customer dashboard
Migrate a Customer model, run the Administrate installer, and require its Dashboard file plus admin_customers route.
bin/rails generate model Customer name:string active:boolean && bin/rails db:migrate && bin/rails generate administrate:install && test -f app/dashboards/customer_dashboard.rb && bin/rails routes | grep admin_customers
Growth
Growth trends · Last 30 days
6,032 Stars
Trend data is still being collected.
Development activity
Last 90 days · weekly
- Commits (last 30 days)
- 3
- Open PRs
- 38
Development activity is still being collected.
Built with
Categories and tags
Categories
GitHub data
GitHub dataView detailed GitHub data
GitHub Topics
- ruby
- rails
- admin-dashboard
- Stars
- 6,032
- Forks
- 1,129
- Watchers
- 83
- Open issues
- 97
- Contributors
- 281
- Owner type
- Organization
- Primary language
- JavaScript
- License
- MIT
- Repository last updated
- Sep 30, 2026
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