[Experiment] Herb as source of truth — engine-agnostic component export#357
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djalmaaraujo wants to merge 4 commits intomainfrom
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[Experiment] Herb as source of truth — engine-agnostic component export#357djalmaaraujo wants to merge 4 commits intomainfrom
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April 10, 2026 19:00
- HerbToPhlexVisitor: walks a Herb AST parsed from .html.erb templates
and emits Phlex DSL code. Handles HTML elements, ERB output/control-flow
tags, yield, tag_attributes() splat, and SVG block variable pattern.
- PhlexGenerator: convenience wrapper — template string in, Phlex class out.
- EngineUtils: engine-aware file selection (detects .html.erb presence).
- ComponentGenerator --engine flag:
phlex (default) copies a pre-generated Phlex class, no herb needed
erb/herb copies the plain Ruby class + .html.erb template
- PhlexTransformer: converts a plain ComponentBase class to a Phlex class
by text-transformation + inserting the visitor-generated view_template.
Design spec covers: Herb as sole source of truth, three-engine generator, ComponentBase architecture, docs single-source-of-truth approach (ERB tab / Phlex tab generated from one _docs.html.erb file), and the incremental migration strategy.
ComponentBase (lib/ruby_ui/component_base.rb): Plain Ruby mixin for all component classes. Provides TailwindMerge class merging, deep data-attribute merging, and attrs accessor. No Phlex dependency — usable standalone or with any rendering engine. Phlex Base (lib/ruby_ui/base.rb): Updated to use the same class-merging semantics as ComponentBase (array class values, deep merge). Generated Phlex classes that extend Base now behave identically to their plain Ruby source counterparts.
…+ Herb
Every component directory now has two source files:
component.rb — plain Ruby class (include ComponentBase, no Phlex)
component.html.erb — Herb/ERB template (HTML source of truth)
The Phlex class is no longer hand-written. It is generated at gem build
time by PhlexTransformer + HerbToPhlexVisitor and stored as a pre-built
artifact (component_phlex.rb) that the generator copies for --engine=phlex.
Component changes:
- class X < Base replaced by class X; include ComponentBase
- default_attrs unchanged (same Tailwind classes and Stimulus data attrs)
- view_template moved to .html.erb; templates use tag_attributes(attrs)
which the visitor converts to **attrs in the generated Phlex output
- _docs.rb replaced by _docs.html.erb (ERB usage examples)
- All tests rewritten to test plain Ruby class attrs directly
Components: accordion, alert, alert_dialog, aspect_ratio, avatar, badge,
breadcrumb, button, calendar, card, carousel, chart, checkbox, clipboard,
codeblock, collapsible, combobox, command, context_menu, dialog,
dropdown_menu, form, hover_card, input, link, masked_input, native_select,
pagination, popover, progress, radio_button, select, separator, sheet,
shortcut_key, sidebar, skeleton, switch, table, tabs, textarea,
theme_toggle, tooltip, typography (44 directories, 500+ files)
649 tests, 1266 assertions, 0 failures, 0 errors, lint clean.
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What this does
Replaces hand-written Phlex as the authoring format for components with Herb (HTML+ERB templates) as the single source of truth. Components are now authored once and exported to any rendering engine on demand.
Why
RubyUI components are currently Phlex-only. To use them with plain ERB, ViewComponent, or future rendering targets you'd have to rewrite the whole library. That's the core limitation this PR removes.
Herb gives us:
.html.erbby defaultArchitecture
Every component now has two source files:
The
--engineflag on the generator controls what consumers get:--engine=phlex(default)--engine=erb.html.erbtemplate--engine=herbbundle add herbThe Phlex output is generated, not hand-written.
HerbToPhlexVisitorwalks the Herb AST and emits Phlex DSL;PhlexTransformerwraps the result into a proper< Baseclass. The pre-generated_phlex.rbartifacts are committed so consumers don't need Herb installed.What changed
ComponentBasemodule — engine-agnostic TailwindMerge + deep attr mergeHerbToPhlexVisitor+PhlexGenerator— ERB template → Phlex DSLPhlexTransformer— plain Ruby class → Phlex class via text transformationEngineUtils— engine-aware file selection in the generator_docs.rb→_docs.html.erb— docs written in ERB, Phlex tab auto-generated by visitorPhlex::Baseto use ComponentBase-compatible class mergingTests
649 tests, 1266 assertions, 0 failures, 0 errors. StandardRB clean.
All 44 component docs pages confirmed returning 200 on the rubyui/web app after exporting with the default
--engine=phlex.