---
title: Hoptoad's notifier now available in convenient gem form
teaser: Include the Hoptoad gem in your Ruby app for error notifications.
tags: web,airbrake,open source
author: Joe Ferris
published_on: 2010-01-27
---

![Frog in a box](http://images.thoughtbot.com/ui/frogsinbox.jpg)

The [hoptoad_notifier](http://github.com/thoughtbot/hoptoad_notifier) library
has traditionally been a Rails-only plugin. Although the majority of the code
was not Rails-specific, the internals of the notifier were not decoupled such
that the notifier parts could be loaded without also using the Rails-specific
catcher parts.

However, at the end of last year, we released a newly refactored
hoptoad_notifier plugin that targetted our brand new [v2 server
API](http://help.airbrake.io/faqs/api-2/notifier-api-v2), as well as sporting
improved separation of concerns. Starting with version 2.0 of hoptoad_notifier,
the notifier code was usable outside of Rails applications.

# The quest for a reusable notifier

Unfortunately, it was still packaged as a Rails plugin, which made it difficult
to build libraries based on it or use it in non-Rails applications. A number of
people have requested a gem version of the library, and we're happy to provide
one. However, we thought it would be a good idea to explain some of the reasons
that we were unable to provide a gem sooner.

## The folly of two distribution methods

For a while, we tried packaging the notifier as both a plugin as a gem. Although
using the gem version had some advantages, it made it much more difficult for us
to identify problems that our users were experiencing. There was a different set
of common problems for plugin users and gem users, and without access to our
users' codebases or servers, it was often impossible to debug anything without a
game of 20 questions that was frustrating to our users.

In the end, we decided that our users would be happier with fewer possibilities
to debug. When we released version 2 of the notifier, we decided to wait until
the gem was fully supported, and then switch to that entirely. However, before
restricting our users to the gem, we wanted to make sure that the installation
and configuration process remained seamless, and there were a few issues with
Rails and gems that stood in our way.

## The pitfalls of Rails and gems

There are a few things that "just work" in plugins that Rails treats very
differently in gems. Rails does not automatically load rake tasks from gems, and
Capistrano only looks for recipes in plugins. Additionally, gems could
potentially be installed on the system, vendored in the vendor/gems directory,
or both. To make matters worse, handling of gems has changed substantially
through the history of Rails, and we don't want to abandon our users that aren't
on the latest and greatest Rails.

## Generators (sort of) to the rescue

We decided to add one more step to the install process: running the "hoptoad"
generator. This has the added benefit of generating an appropriate configuration
file and automatically running the integration test for new users. However,
generators in gems suffer from similar problems to rake tasks: old versions of
Rails only look for generators in gems ending in "\_generator," and some newer
versions won't load generators from vendored gems.

## What's a toad to do

In the end, we decided to add an automated test to make sure that the catcher,
notifier, and installer continue to work on various versions of Rails. We wrote
up some Cucumber features that go through the whole process, starting from a
freshly built hoptoad\_notifier gem, continuing with installing and configuring
the notifier in a freshly generated Rails application, and ending with receiving
a test notification. The test runs several different scenarios (vendored gems,
installed gems, and so on) and runs for every supported version of Rails. If
you'd like to see this in action, check it out on
[Github](http://github.com/thoughtbot/hoptoad_notifier/tree/master/features/).

# What's in it for me

As a user of Hoptoad, this means two things:

If you're using a Rails application, the [installation and upgrade
process](http://github.com/thoughtbot/hoptoad_notifier/blob/master/README.md)
has changed slightly:

    # in config/environment.rb
    config.gem 'hoptoad_notifier'

    # from your Rails root:
    $ rake gems:install
    $ rake gems:unpack GEM=hoptoad_notifier
    $ script/generate hoptoad --api-key your_key_here

If you're writing a library or non-Rails application, using hoptoad\_notifier is
now much easier:

```ruby
require 'rubygems'
require 'hoptoad_notifier'
HoptoadNotifier.configure do |config|
  config.api_key 'your_key_here'
end
HoptoadNotifier.notify(:error_message => 'Krakow')
```

So go ahead and "gem install hoptoad\_notifier," and send all your Rails (or
not) errors to the [toad](http://www.hoptoadapp.com)!

FYI: _Hoptoad/Airbrake was sold to RackSpace and is now called [Airbrake Bug Tracker](http://airbrake.io)_.