Active Agent
Build AI in Rails
Production observability for Rails AI agents — traces, evaluations, costs, and team workspaces, built on the open-source Active Agent framework. Point your telemetry at us and ship.
What's in the Box
Everything to build agents in Rails. Free forever.
Agents are Controllers
Actions, callbacks, views. Your agents speak Rails.
hover for code tap for codeclass TranslationAgent < ApplicationAgent
generate_with :openai, model: "gpt-4o"
def translate
prompt message: "Translate '#{params[:text]}' to #{params[:target_lang]}"
end
end
TranslationAgent.with(text: "Hello", target_lang: "es").translate.generate_now
docs/agents →
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Action Prompt
Composable prompts. Like Action Mailer, but for AI.
hover for code tap for codedef summarize
prompt(
instructions: "Summarize in 2-3 sentences",
message: params[:text],
temperature: 0.3
)
end
SummaryAgent.with(text:).summarize.generate_now
docs/actions →
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Any LLM
OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, Bedrock, Ollama. Switch with one line.
hover for code tap for code# OpenAI
generate_with :open_ai, model: "gpt-4o"
# Anthropic
generate_with :anthropic, model: "claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929"
# Google Gemini
generate_with :gemini, model: "gemini-2.0-flash"
# Ollama (local)
generate_with :ollama, model: "llama3"
docs/providers →
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Resilient by Default
Automatic retries on provider errors. Configure once, apply everywhere.
hover for code tap for code# config/active_agent.yml
production:
openai:
service: "OpenAI"
model: "gpt-4o"
retries: true
retries_count: 3
docs/framework →
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Streaming
Real-time responses. Your agents think out loud.
hover for code tap for codeclass ChatAgent < ApplicationAgent
generate_with :openai, model: "gpt-4o", stream: true
on_stream :handle_chunk
def chat
prompt message: params[:message]
end
private
def handle_chunk(chunk)
print chunk.delta if chunk.delta
end
end
docs/streaming →
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Structured Output
JSON schemas, typed data. Agents that follow instructions.
hover for code tap for codedef parse_resume
prompt(
message: "Extract: #{params[:data]}",
response_format: :json_schema
)
end
# Loads schema from views/agents/*/parse_resume.json
docs/structured_output →
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Tool Calling
AI calls Ruby methods. Fetch data, take actions, make decisions.
hover for code tap for codedef weather_update
prompt(
message: params[:query],
tools: [{
name: "get_weather",
description: "Get weather for a location",
parameters: { type: "object", properties: {
location: { type: "string" }
}, required: ["location"] }
}]
)
end
def get_weather(location:)
# AI calls this method automatically
end
docs/tools →
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MCP Support
Model Context Protocol. Connect agents to remote MCP servers.
hover for code tap for codegenerate_with :anthropic,
model: "claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929",
mcp_servers: [
{
type: "url",
name: "stripe",
url: "https://mcp.stripe.com"
}
]
docs/mcp →
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Background Jobs
ActiveJob integration. Run agents async, at scale.
hover for code tap for code# Queue for later
ApplicationAgent.prompt(message: "Analyze").generate_later
# With options
ApplicationAgent.prompt(message: "Report").generate_later(
queue: :reports,
wait: 5.minutes
)
# Configure queue at class level
self.generate_later_queue_name = :ai_tasks
docs/generation →
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Observe Every Interaction
Build with the gem's dev console, then point your telemetry at the platform for production. Same traces, same pipeline — every workspace starts with a free trial.
Measures semantic correctness of translation
Natural language flow and readability
Preservation of original meaning
The Gems
Gem licenses for your codebase — the MIT core is free forever, including a local dev console. Production observability lives in the hosted plans below.
Ship your first agent today
Production-ready agents
activeagent-enterprise
Commercial License
Agents at scale
Gem Feature Comparison
| activeagent | activeagent-pro | enterprise | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Core Framework | |||
| Active Agent | |||
| Action Prompt | |||
| Generation Providers (OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, Bedrock, Ollama, RubyLLM…) | |||
| Instrumentation, Error Handling, Retries | |||
| Streaming & Structured Output | |||
| Dev console (local traces & metrics) | |||
| Active Agent Pro | |||
| Versioned agents, prompts & contexts | |||
| Generative UI components | |||
| Parallel tasks & advanced retries | |||
| HITL generative UI | |||
| Agentic workflows (pausable multi-agent) | |||
| Async tasks with external triggers | |||
| Agent rate limiting | |||
| Licensing | |||
| License type | MIT | Commercial | Commercial |
| Multi-app / embedded licensing | |||
| Custom terms | |||
| Support | |||
| Community (Discord, GitHub) | |||
| Email support | |||
| Priority support | |||
The Platform
Production observability for your agents — traces, costs, evaluations, and team workspaces. Point your gem's telemetry at us and ship. Every workspace starts with a free trial: 25 executions and 250 traces/month.
Watch
Traces, costs, latency. Know exactly what your agents are doing and what they cost.
Judge
Rule-based checks and LLM-as-judge evaluations on production output.
Ship
Team workspaces, dashboards, SSO. Built for teams shipping agents together.
Dev Console
In the free gem, for development
See your agents while you build
Pro Platform
For small/medium teams
We watch your agents in production
Enterprise Platform
For serious agent deployments
Custom quotas, retention, and support
Platform Feature Comparison
| Dev Console (gem) | Pro Platform | Enterprise | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Infrastructure | |||
| Web UI dashboard | Local dev only | Hosted | Hosted |
| Agent deployments | — | 3 | Unlimited |
| Executions / month | Local dev only | 10,000 | Unlimited |
| Traces / month | Local dev only | 25,000 | 500,000+ |
| Trace retention | While you develop | 14 days | 400 days |
| Private VPC / on-premise | — | ||
| Agent rate limiting | |||
| Observability & Evaluation | |||
| Cost & latency analytics | Tokens & latency only | ||
| Rule-based evaluations | DIY | ||
| LLM-as-judge evaluations | DIY | Unlimited custom | |
| Conversation history & provenance | Via solid_agent | ||
| Team & Security | |||
| Team seats | — | 5 | Unlimited |
| Workspaces | — | 1 | Unlimited |
| SSO / SAML & RBAC | |||
| SOC 2 Type II & HIPAA | |||
| Support | |||
| Community support | |||
| Email support SLA | 48 hours | 4 hours | |
| Dedicated Slack channel | |||
Platform Add-Ons
Scale beyond your plan with usage-based pricing
Pro Add-Ons
Enterprise Add-Ons
Services
We'll help you ship agents faster
Workshops
$2,500 half-day | $4,500 full-day
Learn by building
Advisory
From $3,000/month
Expert on your team
Development
$250/hr or project-based
We ship, you own
FAQ
Common questions about Active Agent
How do I install Active Agent?
Add gem 'activeagent' to your Gemfile and run bundle install. Then run rails generate active_agent:install to set up the initial configuration.
What's free and what's paid?
The gem — the framework, every provider, and a local dev console — is MIT licensed and free forever. Production observability and monitoring live on the hosted platform: every workspace starts with a low-volume free trial, and paid plans lift the limits. Commercial gem extensions and services are separate.
Which providers are supported?
OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini, AWS Bedrock, Azure OpenAI, Ollama, OpenRouter, Requesty, and RubyLLM (which unlocks 15+ more). Switch providers with one line of code.
How does the hosted platform get my data?
Your app's gem posts trace JSON to our ingest endpoint, authenticated with your workspace API key — one YAML block in config/active_agent.yml. In development the same traces stay local in the gem's dev console; the wire format is documented and open.
What's the difference between the free gem and Pro?
The free gem covers the framework, all providers, and the local dev console. ActiveAgent.PRO ($99/mo or $995/yr) adds versioned agents and prompts, pausable multi-agent workflows, cached reasoning traces, generative UI with human-in-the-loop controls, and email support.
Do I need the platform to get observability?
For production, yes. The gem includes a dev console (rails g active_agent:dashboard:install) so you can watch traces while you build, but production monitoring — hosted ingestion, evaluations, conversation history, cost estimates, retention, and team workspaces — is the platform. Every workspace starts with a free low-volume trial.
Can I use Active Agent with existing Rails apps?
Yes! Active Agent is designed to integrate seamlessly with existing Rails applications. It works alongside your existing models, controllers, and services.
Can I self-host everything?
The framework is MIT licensed with no limits — your agents and data never leave your infrastructure, and the gem's dev console keeps development traces local. Production observability (evaluations, retention, teams) is the hosted platform's job; if your traces can't leave your network, Enterprise includes private VPC deployment.
Start building agents today
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