Getting Grunt to start your Rails server is extremely simple and quick if you just know how.
By the way, you might want to check out my How to Wire Up Ruby on Rails and AngularJS as a Single-Page Application tutorial before you proceed. I realize your existing Gruntfile.js setup might be different from mine, and I frankly have no idea if what I’m suggesting here will work if your setup differs.
First you’ll need to install grunt-shell-spawn:
$ npm install grunt-shell-spawn --save-devNext, add this to your Gruntfile.js:
grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-shell-spawn');Then, inside the grunt.initConfig part, add this:
shell: {
startRailsServer: {
command: 'rails server',
options: {
// If async: true were omitted, the rails server
// command would prevent subsequent commands
// from running.
async: true
}
}
},Lastly, add shell:startRailsServer to the server task.
Now, when you run grunt serve, you should end up with both localhost:9000 and localhost:3000. (Again, if your Gruntfile.js setup is different from mine, I can’t guarantee that you’ll get the same result. If you know try my suggestion with a different setup, leave me a comment and let me know how it goes.)
Here’s my complete Gruntfile.js for reference.
// Generated on 2014-07-18 using generator-angular 0.9.5
'use strict';
// # Globbing
// for performance reasons we're only matching one level down:
// 'test/spec/{,*/}*.js'
// use this if you want to recursively match all subfolders:
// 'test/spec/**/*.js'
module.exports = function (grunt) {
// Load grunt tasks automatically
require('load-grunt-tasks')(grunt);
// Time how long tasks take. Can help when optimizing build times
require('time-grunt')(grunt);
// Configurable paths for the application
var appConfig = {
app: require('./bower.json').appPath || 'app',
dist: 'dist'
};
// Define the configuration for all the tasks
grunt.initConfig({
shell: {
startRailsServer: {
command: 'rails server',
options: {
async: true
}
}
},
// Project settings
yeoman: appConfig,
// Watches files for changes and runs tasks based on the changed files
watch: {
bower: {
files: ['bower.json'],
tasks: ['wiredep']
},
js: {
files: ['<%= yeoman.app %>/scripts/{,*/}*.js'],
tasks: ['newer:jshint:all'],
options: {
livereload: '<%= connect.options.livereload %>'
}
},
jsTest: {
files: ['test/spec/{,*/}*.js'],
tasks: ['newer:jshint:test', 'karma']
},
compass: {
files: ['<%= yeoman.app %>/styles/{,*/}*.{scss,sass}'],
tasks: ['compass:server', 'autoprefixer']
},
gruntfile: {
files: ['Gruntfile.js']
},
livereload: {
options: {
livereload: '<%= connect.options.livereload %>'
},
files: [
'<%= yeoman.app %>/{,*/}*.html',
'.tmp/styles/{,*/}*.css',
'<%= yeoman.app %>/images/{,*/}*.{png,jpg,jpeg,gif,webp,svg}'
]
}
},
// The actual grunt server settings
connect: {
options: {
port: 9000,
// Change this to '0.0.0.0' to access the server from outside.
hostname: 'localhost',
livereload: 35729
},
proxies: [
{
context: '/api',
host: 'localhost',
port: 3000
}
],
livereload: {
options: {
open: true,
middleware: function (connect, options) {
if (!Array.isArray(options.base)) {
options.base = [options.base];
}
// Setup the proxy
var middlewares = [
require('grunt-connect-proxy/lib/utils').proxyRequest,
connect.static('.tmp'),
connect().use(
'/bower_components',
connect.static('./bower_components')
),
connect.static(appConfig.app)
];
// Make directory browse-able.
var directory = options.directory || options.base[options.base.length - 1];
middlewares.push(connect.directory(directory));
return middlewares;
}
}
},
test: {
options: {
port: 9001,
middleware: function (connect) {
return [
connect.static('.tmp'),
connect.static('test'),
connect().use(
'/bower_components',
connect.static('./bower_components')
),
connect.static(appConfig.app)
];
}
}
},
dist: {
options: {
open: true,
base: '<%= yeoman.dist %>'
}
}
},
// Make sure code styles are up to par and there are no obvious mistakes
jshint: {
options: {
jshintrc: '.jshintrc',
reporter: require('jshint-stylish')
},
all: {
src: [
'Gruntfile.js',
'<%= yeoman.app %>/scripts/{,*/}*.js'
]
},
test: {
options: {
jshintrc: 'test/.jshintrc'
},
src: ['test/spec/{,*/}*.js']
}
},
// Empties folders to start fresh
clean: {
dist: {
files: [{
dot: true,
src: [
'.tmp',
'<%= yeoman.dist %>/{,*/}*',
'!<%= yeoman.dist %>/.git*'
]
}]
},
server: '.tmp'
},
// Add vendor prefixed styles
autoprefixer: {
options: {
browsers: ['last 1 version']
},
dist: {
files: [{
expand: true,
cwd: '.tmp/styles/',
src: '{,*/}*.css',
dest: '.tmp/styles/'
}]
}
},
// Automatically inject Bower components into the app
wiredep: {
options: {
cwd: '<%= yeoman.app %>'
},
app: {
src: ['<%= yeoman.app %>/index.html'],
ignorePath: /\.\.\//
},
sass: {
src: ['<%= yeoman.app %>/styles/{,*/}*.{scss,sass}'],
ignorePath: /(\.\.\/){1,2}bower_components\//
}
},
// Compiles Sass to CSS and generates necessary files if requested
compass: {
options: {
sassDir: '<%= yeoman.app %>/styles',
cssDir: '.tmp/styles',
generatedImagesDir: '.tmp/images/generated',
imagesDir: '<%= yeoman.app %>/images',
javascriptsDir: '<%= yeoman.app %>/scripts',
importPath: './bower_components',
httpImagesPath: '/images',
httpGeneratedImagesPath: '/images/generated',
httpFontsPath: '/styles/fonts',
relativeAssets: false,
assetCacheBuster: false,
raw: 'Sass::Script::Number.precision = 10\n'
},
dist: {
options: {
generatedImagesDir: '<%= yeoman.dist %>/images/generated'
}
},
server: {
options: {
debugInfo: true
}
}
},
// Renames files for browser caching purposes
filerev: {
dist: {
src: [
'<%= yeoman.dist %>/scripts/{,*/}*.js',
'<%= yeoman.dist %>/styles/{,*/}*.css',
'<%= yeoman.dist %>/images/{,*/}*.{png,jpg,jpeg,gif,webp,svg}',
'<%= yeoman.dist %>/styles/fonts/*'
]
}
},
// Reads HTML for usemin blocks to enable smart builds that automatically
// concat, minify and revision files. Creates configurations in memory so
// additional tasks can operate on them
useminPrepare: {
html: '<%= yeoman.app %>/index.html',
options: {
dest: '<%= yeoman.dist %>',
flow: {
html: {
steps: {
js: ['concat', 'uglifyjs'],
css: ['cssmin']
},
post: {}
}
}
}
},
// Performs rewrites based on filerev and the useminPrepare configuration
usemin: {
html: ['<%= yeoman.dist %>/{,*/}*.html'],
css: ['<%= yeoman.dist %>/styles/{,*/}*.css'],
options: {
assetsDirs: ['<%= yeoman.dist %>','<%= yeoman.dist %>/images']
}
},
// The following *-min tasks will produce minified files in the dist folder
// By default, your `index.html`'s <!-- Usemin block --> will take care of
// minification. These next options are pre-configured if you do not wish
// to use the Usemin blocks.
// cssmin: {
// dist: {
// files: {
// '<%= yeoman.dist %>/styles/main.css': [
// '.tmp/styles/{,*/}*.css'
// ]
// }
// }
// },
// uglify: {
// dist: {
// files: {
// '<%= yeoman.dist %>/scripts/scripts.js': [
// '<%= yeoman.dist %>/scripts/scripts.js'
// ]
// }
// }
// },
// concat: {
// dist: {}
// },
imagemin: {
dist: {
files: [{
expand: true,
cwd: '<%= yeoman.app %>/images',
src: '{,*/}*.{png,jpg,jpeg,gif}',
dest: '<%= yeoman.dist %>/images'
}]
}
},
svgmin: {
dist: {
files: [{
expand: true,
cwd: '<%= yeoman.app %>/images',
src: '{,*/}*.svg',
dest: '<%= yeoman.dist %>/images'
}]
}
},
htmlmin: {
dist: {
options: {
collapseWhitespace: true,
conservativeCollapse: true,
collapseBooleanAttributes: true,
removeCommentsFromCDATA: true,
removeOptionalTags: true
},
files: [{
expand: true,
cwd: '<%= yeoman.dist %>',
src: ['*.html', 'views/{,*/}*.html'],
dest: '<%= yeoman.dist %>'
}]
}
},
// ngmin tries to make the code safe for minification automatically by
// using the Angular long form for dependency injection. It doesn't work on
// things like resolve or inject so those have to be done manually.
ngmin: {
dist: {
files: [{
expand: true,
cwd: '.tmp/concat/scripts',
src: '*.js',
dest: '.tmp/concat/scripts'
}]
}
},
// Replace Google CDN references
cdnify: {
dist: {
html: ['<%= yeoman.dist %>/*.html']
}
},
// Copies remaining files to places other tasks can use
copy: {
dist: {
files: [{
expand: true,
dot: true,
cwd: '<%= yeoman.app %>',
dest: '<%= yeoman.dist %>',
src: [
'*.{ico,png,txt}',
'.htaccess',
'*.html',
'views/{,*/}*.html',
'images/{,*/}*.{webp}',
'fonts/*'
]
}, {
expand: true,
cwd: '.tmp/images',
dest: '<%= yeoman.dist %>/images',
src: ['generated/*']
}, {
expand: true,
cwd: '.',
src: 'bower_components/bootstrap-sass-official/assets/fonts/bootstrap/*',
dest: '<%= yeoman.dist %>'
}]
},
styles: {
expand: true,
cwd: '<%= yeoman.app %>/styles',
dest: '.tmp/styles/',
src: '{,*/}*.css'
}
},
// Run some tasks in parallel to speed up the build process
concurrent: {
server: [
'compass:server'
],
test: [
'compass'
],
dist: [
'compass:dist',
'imagemin',
'svgmin'
]
},
// Test settings
karma: {
unit: {
configFile: 'test/karma.conf.js',
singleRun: true
}
}
});
grunt.registerTask('serve', 'Compile then start a connect web server', function (target) {
if (target === 'dist') {
return grunt.task.run(['build', 'connect:dist:keepalive']);
}
grunt.task.run([
'clean:server',
'wiredep',
'concurrent:server',
'shell:startRailsServer',
'autoprefixer',
'configureProxies',
'connect:livereload',
'watch'
]);
});
grunt.registerTask('server', 'DEPRECATED TASK. Use the "serve" task instead', function (target) {
grunt.log.warn('The `server` task has been deprecated. Use `grunt serve` to start a server.');
grunt.task.run(['serve:' + target]);
});
grunt.registerTask('test', [
'clean:server',
'concurrent:test',
'autoprefixer',
'configureProxies',
'connect:test',
'karma'
]);
grunt.registerTask('build', [
'clean:dist',
'wiredep',
'useminPrepare',
'concurrent:dist',
'autoprefixer',
'concat',
'ngmin',
'copy:dist',
'cdnify',
'cssmin',
'uglify',
'filerev',
'usemin',
'htmlmin'
]);
grunt.registerTask('default', [
'newer:jshint',
'test',
'build'
]);
grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-connect-proxy');
grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-shell-spawn');
};