Rails Activity Timeline

Rails Activity Timeline

Add a polymorphic activity timeline with live Turbo Stream updates to any Rails model. Track field changes, status transitions, comments, attachments, and more with configurable icons and colors per action type.

When to Use This Skill

Invoke this skill when:

• Adding an activity/audit timeline to any Rails model
• Tracking field changes, status transitions, comments, or attachments
• Displaying live-updating activity feeds via Turbo Streams
• Auto-logging lifecycle events on child/associated models
• Building activity feeds with configurable icons and colors

Architecture Overview

The system is built around four components:

1. ActivityEvent model (polymorphic) — the core event record
2. ActivityTrackable concern — auto-logs child model lifecycle events on a parent's timeline
3. Shared timeline partial — renders a vertical timeline with Turbo Stream live updates
4. Display configuration — icon SVG path + accent color per action type, kept in the model

Key Associations (on ActivityEvent)

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belongs_to :trackable, polymorphic: true            # required — parent entity whose timeline this belongs to
belongs_to :subject, polymorphic: true, optional: true  # related entity being acted upon
belongs_to :user, optional: true                     # who performed the action

Generic Action Set

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ACTIONS = %w[
  created updated destroyed
  field_updated status_changed
  comment_added
  attachment_added attachment_removed
  assigned unassigned
  relationship_added relationship_removed
  tag_added tag_removed
].freeze

Add domain-specific actions as needed (e.g., published, approved, merged). Just add them to ACTIONS and the DISPLAY hash.

Core Patterns

1. Setup from Scratch

Migration, full ActivityEvent model, ActivityTrackable concern, and prerequisites.

See: references/setup.md

2. Turbo Stream Broadcasting

Stream naming convention, broadcast methods, partial routing, shared timeline partial, and event partial.

See: references/broadcasting.md

3. Display Configuration

The DISPLAY hash, adding custom actions with icons, display methods, and customizing the event partial.

See: references/display.md

4. AI Summaries (Optional)

AI-generated change summaries for field_updated events with long text changes.

See: references/ai-summaries.md

Adding Timeline to a New Model

Quick step-by-step for adding a timeline to any model (e.g., Project, Article, Post):

Step 1: Add the association

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class Project < ApplicationRecord
  has_many :activity_events, as: :trackable, dependent: :destroy
end

Step 2: Add the model type to broadcast routing

In ActivityEvent#broadcast_activity_prepend, add your model to the partial routing case statement:

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def broadcast_partial
  case trackable_type
  when "Project", "Article" then "activity_events/activity_event"
  # Add new types here as needed
  else "activity_events/activity_event"
  end
end

Step 3: Render the shared partial in your show view

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<%# app/views/projects/show.html.erb %>
<%= render "shared/activity_timeline", record: @project %>

Step 4: Create events in controllers or callbacks

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# In a controller action
ActivityEvent.create!(
  trackable: @project,
  user: current_user,
  action: "status_changed",
  details: { from_status: "draft", to_status: "active", rationale: "Ready for review" }
)

# Or track field changes
if @project.saved_change_to_status?
  ActivityEvent.create!(
    trackable: @project,
    user: current_user,
    action: "field_updated",
    details: {
      field: "status",
      from: @project.status_previously_was,
      to: @project.status
    }
  )
end

ActivityTrackable Concern

For child models that should auto-log events on a parent's timeline, include ActivityTrackable and implement the interface:

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class Comment < ApplicationRecord
  include ActivityTrackable

  def activity_trackable = post       # parent entity whose timeline gets the event
  def activity_action_created = "comment_added"
  def activity_action_destroyed = "comment_removed"
  def activity_label = body.truncate(60)
  def activity_user = user
end

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class Attachment < ApplicationRecord
  include ActivityTrackable

  def activity_trackable = record     # polymorphic parent
  def activity_action_created = "attachment_added"
  def activity_action_destroyed = "attachment_removed"
  def activity_label = filename
  def activity_user = user
end

Override activity_created_details or activity_destroyed_details to store additional metadata:

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def activity_created_details
  { file_size: byte_size, content_type: content_type }
end

Querying

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# Recent events on a record's timeline (includes user, limit 50)
@project.activity_events.timeline

# Filter by action type
@project.activity_events.by_type("status_changed")

# Find events related to a specific subject across all timelines
ActivityEvent.where(subject: @task).recent

# Events by a specific user
@project.activity_events.where(user: current_user).recent

Common Pitfalls

1. Events created with wrong trackable — events appear on the wrong timeline. Double-check activity_trackable returns the parent entity, not self.

2. Missing broadcast partial routing for new trackable types — if you add a new model type and it uses a different partial, add it to the case statement in broadcast_partial. Without this, broadcasts silently fail or render the wrong template.

3. Forgetting to add new actions to ACTIONS constant and DISPLAY hash — validation will reject events with unrecognized actions. Always add both the action string to ACTIONS and a display entry to DISPLAY.

4. Using trackable: parent when you want event on the child's own timeline — if a model has its own timeline AND appears as a subject on a parent's timeline, you need two separate events or a clear decision about which timeline the event belongs to.

5. N+1 queries on the timeline — always use the .timeline scope which includes :user. If you add other associations to the event partial, add them to the scope.

6. Turbo Stream not updating — verify the turbo_stream_from tag in your view matches the stream name in the broadcast method. The convention is "#{record_type}_{id}_activity".

Prerequisites

• Rails 7+ with Turbo (via turbo-rails gem)
• Action Cable or Solid Cable (Rails 8) configured
• A User model (optional but recommended for attribution)
• Tailwind CSS for the default styling (or adapt the classes to your design system)