The Ruby Central README: April 2025

Welcome to The Ruby Central README 🎉

Instead of combining updates on our Open Source Program, conferences, and organizational news into one, The README is a newsletter focused on Ruby Central as an organization, our events, and the broader community.

For Open Source Program news, check out our dedicated newsletter, The OSS Changelog, and subscribe here.

Welcome to Ruby Central’s New Executive Director!

Big news — Ruby Central is thrilled to welcome our new Executive Director, Shan Cureton!

Shan is joining our team at Ruby Central at a pivotal moment. Over the last few years, we launched our Open Source Program, redefined RubyConf as our flagship annual conference (beginning in 2026), expanded our grant program to support local Ruby meetups around the world, and much more. Looking to our next phase of growth, we sought an Executive Director with strong operational leadership experience and a deep understanding of how to support mission-driven communities.

With 15 years of experience leading nonprofits and startups, Shan brings exactly that. She has led complex programs, built sustainable systems from the ground up, and consistently prioritized equity, education, and long-term sustainability.

“What has really stood out to me is how aligned the team is around values and community,” says Shan. “I see so much potential to expand access, grow contributor support, and ensure Ruby remains a top choice for the next generation of developers. I can’t wait to be a part of that.”

As Shan steps into this role, she’ll be working closely with our outgoing interim Executive Director, Chelsea Kaufman, to ensure a smooth transition.

We’re looking forward to what’s ahead, and we hope you’ll join us in welcoming her to Ruby Central!

You can read more about Shan’s appointment here.

RailsConf Updates

This year’s RailsConf will take place July 8-10th in Philadelphia, PA. It will be the FINAL RailsConf and our only conference this year (there will be no RubyConf until Spring 2026).

RailsConf Program & Schedule is NOW LIVE

Our program for the final RailsConf is live!

Highlights include:

✨ Hotwire & modern frontend techniques

✨ Ruby internals & framework evolution

✨ Scaling, performance, & dev tooling

✨ Open source, careers, community stories

And MUCH more! 🎉

We will be announcing all of our keynotes within the coming weeks. Tickets for RailsConf are currently on sale—we can’t wait to see you in Philly!

Introducing: Aji Slater and the “Keynote of Keynotes”

Our first RailsConf 2025 keynote announcement is also LIVE.

We’re thrilled to welcome Aji Slater, Dev Team Lead at thoughtbot, as our first keynote speaker! 🤩

Aji’s talk, “The Keynote of Keynotes,” will be an incredible trip down memory lane for those who have been part of RailsConf since 2006, and a fascinating retrospective for those newer to Rails.

You can learn more about Aji, their unique career journey, and what to expect from their keynote in our recent video interview.

RailsConf Merch Store

New swag for RailsConf 2025 is now available in our merch store!

We've got some incredible original designs from Valenzia Cina at Flagrant, honoring the city the conference will be held in—Philadelphia, PA! Get your swag now.

Note: We will be offering t-shirts to the first 500 attendees, but the merch store includes exclusive items like crop tops and hats! Registered attendees also received a 10% off promo code via email last week. 😍

Sponsoring the final RailsConf will showcase your company’s dedication to the Rails and Ruby ecosystem, provide unparalleled visibility in the community, and highlight your support for open source and developer education.

Send sponsorship inquiries to Tom Chambers at sponsors@rubycentral.org.

Company Spotlight: Honeybadger

Every month, we feature incredible startups and corporations that are building with Ruby! This month’s feature is Honeybadger.

In 2012, Joshua Wood and his co-founders Ben Curtis and Starr Horne were frustrated with unreliable error monitoring tools, so they built their own.

They launched Honeybadger with paying customers on day one and have stayed 100% bootstrapped and profitable ever since.

From the start, Ruby on Rails was the obvious choice for building Honeybadger. “Rails has been critical to our ability to ship fast and scale quickly as a small team,” says Wood in an interview with us.

With a dev team of just five, Honeybadger ships faster than many companies ten times their size. They are proud to launch new feature requests quickly, often on the same day customers request them.

Recently, Honeybadger launched Insights, a performance and observability tool made for Rails teams. “It’s the most ambitious thing we’ve done both architecturally and at the UI layer,” says Wood.

You can read more about Honeybadger’s origin story, why they chose Ruby and Rails, their team culture, and much more in our interview.

You can also see the team IRL at RailsConf in Philly this summer, with Honeybadger as one of our sponsors!

Community Spotlight

Here we share exciting projects and events from the Ruby community! While these projects aren’t always directly affiliated with Ruby Central, we love highlighting interesting things happening in the ecosystem. If you would like to be featured in our next newsletter, apply here!

OSS Expo at Baltic Ruby (APPLY NOW!)

Applications are now open for the OSS Expo at Baltic Ruby, happening June 12–14 in Riga in partnership with Ruby Central.

Whether you want to demo your project, host a workshop, or run a hacking session, the OSS Expo is a great chance to gain contributors and visibility for your work.

Submit your application today! We hope to see you there. 🇱🇻

ChicagoRuby Meetups For May & June

ChicagoRuby is hosting monthly meetups in May and June, both in person and online!

📍 May 7 at Avant with speakers Chelsea Troy (Mozilla) and Joel Hawksley (GitHub)

📍 June 4 at Chime, with speakers TBA

You can find full event info and virtual links on the ChicagoRuby Meetup page.

Hack Club’s Open Source Neobank Platform

Sam Poder and the team at Hack Club just open sourced their neobank platform, which has processed over $50 million in nonprofit transactions, all built with Ruby on Rails!

You can learn more about the project here.

Other News & Updates

Reflections on RubyKaigi from Marty Haught, Director of Open Source at Ruby Central:

“I just got home from my first RubyKaigi, which took place this year in Matsuyama, Japan.

It can feel intimidating to attend a conference in another country, especially without speaking the language, but the experience was incredible. What struck me most was how vibrant, full of personality, and deeply technical the event felt. And with over 1,500 attendees and 60+ sponsoring companies, it felt like a different world where the Ruby scene is alive and thriving like 2010. It was heartwarming to see, and I left feeling inspired and energized.

Another thing that stood out was the level of care in every detail, from food trucks to the afterparties to the code party. It was clear how much thought went into creating a great experience.

It was also great to see our Security Engineer in Residence, Samuel Giddins, give a talk on his work with sigstore-ruby and advancing security in the Ruby ecosystem.

Seeing so many Rubyists and companies outside the U.S. ecosystem made me reflect on how Ruby Central can better engage with the global community. While RubyKaigi has a uniquely Japanese spirit that can’t be replicated, there’s so much we can learn from it.

I’m grateful to everyone who took the time to connect with me in Matsuyama, and I’m looking forward to finding more ways to build bridges with the global Ruby community in the year ahead.”

— Marty Haught, Director of Open Source, Ruby Central

Join Us on Slack

Did you know that Ruby Central has a Slack community? While it originally started as a space for conference attendees, it’s now open to all. Join us here!

Your company can support the security and growth of the Ruby ecosystem by becoming a sponsor of Ruby Central. As a sponsor, you’ll support Ruby’s core open source tools and community development work, be recognized as a community leader, and can get a seat at the table by joining a working group or advisory board.