This Claude skill provides a comprehensive guide and implementation support for building modern, reactive web applications using Hotwire (Turbo and Stimulus) in Rails 7+. It enables developers to create high-performance, SPA-like frontends with minimal JavaScript by leveraging server-side HTML rendering, real-time broadcasts, and progressively enhanced components.

When should I use hotwire?

hotwire is useful in the following scenarios: • Implementing real-time, live partial page updates using Turbo Streams via WebSockets (ActionCable) or HTTP responses. • Decomposing complex pages into independently-updatable sections using Turbo Frames to achieve scoped navigation without full page reloads. • Developing interactive UI behaviors such as modals, dropdowns, and search-as-you-type functionality using Stimulus controllers and data attributes. • Optimizing web application performance by intercepting link clicks and form submissions with Turbo Drive to maintain a persistent process state. • Configuring and managing modern JavaScript dependencies in Rails 7+ using Import Maps to avoid the complexity of heavy build tools like Webpack or Vite.

name	hotwire
description	This skill should be used when the user asks about "Hotwire", "Turbo", "Turbo Drive", "Turbo Frames", "Turbo Streams", "Stimulus", "Stimulus controllers", "Stimulus values", "Stimulus targets", "Stimulus actions", "import maps", "live updates", "partial page updates", "SPA-like behavior", "real-time updates", "turbo_frame_tag", "turbo_stream", "broadcast", or needs guidance on building modern Rails 7+ frontends without heavy JavaScript frameworks.
version	1.1.0

Hotwire for Rails 7+

Comprehensive guide to building modern, reactive web applications with Hotwire (Turbo + Stimulus) in Rails 7+.

What is Hotwire?

Hotwire enables "fast, modern, progressively enhanced web applications without using much JavaScript." It sends HTML over the wire instead of JSON, keeping business logic on the server.

Three components:

Turbo Drive - Accelerates navigation by intercepting clicks and replacing <body>
Turbo Frames - Decompose pages into independently-updatable sections
Turbo Streams - Deliver live partial page updates via WebSocket, SSE, or HTTP
Stimulus - Modest JavaScript framework for behavior

Turbo Drive

Turbo Drive intercepts link clicks and form submissions, fetching via fetch and replacing <body> while merging <head>. The window, document, and <html> persist across navigations.

Disabling for Specific Elements

<%# Disable Turbo for external links or file downloads %>
<%= link_to "Download PDF", pdf_path, data: { turbo: false } %>

<%# Disable for forms that need full page reload %>
<%= form_with model: @export, data: { turbo: false } do |f| %>

Progress Bar

.turbo-progress-bar {
  background-color: #3b82f6;
  height: 3px;
}

Turbo Frames

Frames wrap page segments in <turbo-frame> elements for scoped navigation. Only matching frames extract from server responses.

Frame Attributes

Attribute	Purpose
`id`	Required. Unique identifier to match frames between requests
`src`	URL for eager-loading frame content on page load
`loading="lazy"`	Delay loading until frame becomes visible
`target`	Navigation scope: `_top` (full page), `_self`, or frame ID
`data-turbo-action`	Promote to browser history (`advance` or `replace`)

Basic Frame

<%# app/views/articles/show.html.erb %>
<h1><%= @article.title %></h1>

<%= turbo_frame_tag @article do %>
  <p><%= @article.body %></p>
  <%= link_to "Edit", edit_article_path(@article) %>
<% end %>

<%# app/views/articles/edit.html.erb %>
<%= turbo_frame_tag @article do %>
  <%= render "form", article: @article %>
<% end %>

Lazy Loading

<%# Load content when frame becomes visible %>
<%= turbo_frame_tag "comments",
      src: article_comments_path(@article),
      loading: :lazy do %>
  <p>Loading comments...</p>
<% end %>

Breaking Out of Frames

<%# Navigate entire page %>
<%= link_to "View Full", article_path(@article), data: { turbo_frame: "_top" } %>

<%# Target different frame %>
<%= link_to "Preview", preview_path(@article), data: { turbo_frame: "preview_panel" } %>

Frame State Attributes

During navigation, frames receive [aria-busy="true"]. After completion, [complete] is set on the frame.

Turbo Streams

Streams deliver DOM changes as <turbo-stream> elements specifying action and target.

Stream Actions (9 total)

Action	Description
`append`	Add content to end of target
`prepend`	Add content to start of target
`replace`	Replace entire target element
`update`	Replace target's inner content only
`remove`	Delete target element
`before`	Insert before target element
`after`	Insert after target element
`morph`	Intelligently morph changes (variant of replace/update)
`refresh`	Refresh page or frame

HTTP Stream Response

# app/controllers/comments_controller.rb
def create
  @comment = @article.comments.build(comment_params)

  if @comment.save
    respond_to do |format|
      format.turbo_stream  # Renders create.turbo_stream.erb
      format.html { redirect_to @article }
    end
  else
    render :new, status: :unprocessable_entity
  end
end

<%# app/views/comments/create.turbo_stream.erb %>
<%= turbo_stream.append "comments", @comment %>
<%= turbo_stream.update "comment_count", @article.comments.count %>
<%= turbo_stream.replace "new_comment", partial: "form", locals: { comment: Comment.new } %>

Inline Stream Response

def destroy
  @comment.destroy

  respond_to do |format|
    format.turbo_stream do
      render turbo_stream: [
        turbo_stream.remove(@comment),
        turbo_stream.update("comment_count", @article.comments.count)
      ]
    end
    format.html { redirect_to @article }
  end
end

Broadcasting via WebSocket

# app/models/comment.rb
class Comment < ApplicationRecord
  belongs_to :article

  after_create_commit -> {
    broadcast_append_to article, target: "comments"
  }

  after_destroy_commit -> {
    broadcast_remove_to article
  }
end

<%# Subscribe to broadcasts %>
<%= turbo_stream_from @article %>

<div id="comments">
  <%= render @article.comments %>
</div>

WebSocket/SSE Source

<%# Persistent connection for real-time updates %>
<turbo-stream-source src="ws://example.com/updates"></turbo-stream-source>

Stimulus

Stimulus is "a JavaScript framework with modest ambitions." It enhances server-rendered HTML using data attributes.

Controller Structure

// app/javascript/controllers/hello_controller.js
import { Controller } from "@hotwired/stimulus"

export default class extends Controller {
  static targets = ["name", "output"]
  static values = { greeting: { type: String, default: "Hello" } }
  static classes = ["active"]

  connect() {
    // Called when controller connects to DOM
  }

  disconnect() {
    // Called when controller disconnects - clean up here
  }

  greet() {
    this.outputTarget.textContent = `${this.greetingValue}, ${this.nameTarget.value}!`
  }
}

Naming Conventions

Context	Convention	Example
Controller file	snake_case or kebab-case	`hello_controller.js`, `date-picker_controller.js`
Controller identifier	kebab-case in HTML	`data-controller="date-picker"`
Targets	camelCase	`static targets = ["firstName"]`
Values	camelCase	`static values = { itemCount: Number }`
Methods	camelCase	`submitForm()`

Targets

Define elements to reference within controller:

static targets = ["query", "results", "errorMessage"]

Generated properties:

Property	Purpose
`this.queryTarget`	First matching element (throws if missing)
`this.queryTargets`	Array of all matching elements
`this.hasQueryTarget`	Boolean existence check

Target callbacks:

queryTargetConnected(element) {
  // Called when target is added to DOM
}

queryTargetDisconnected(element) {
  // Called when target is removed from DOM
}

<div data-controller="search">
  <input data-search-target="query">
  <div data-search-target="results"></div>
</div>

Values

Read/write typed data attributes:

static values = {
  index: Number,           // data-controller-index-value
  url: String,             // data-controller-url-value
  active: Boolean,         // data-controller-active-value
  items: Array,            // data-controller-items-value (JSON)
  config: Object           // data-controller-config-value (JSON)
}

Five supported types: Array, Boolean, Number, Object, String

Default values:

static values = {
  count: { type: Number, default: 0 },
  url: { type: String, default: "/api" }
}

Change callbacks:

countValueChanged(value, previousValue) {
  // Called on initialize and when value changes
  this.element.textContent = value
}

Actions

Connect DOM events to controller methods:

Format: event->controller#method

<button data-action="click->gallery#next">Next</button>

Event shorthand (common defaults):

<button>, <a> → click
<form> → submit
<input>, <textarea> → input
<select> → change
<details> → toggle

<%# Equivalent to click->gallery#next %>
<button data-action="gallery#next">Next</button>

Global events:

<div data-action="resize@window->gallery#layout">
<div data-action="keydown@document->modal#close">

Keyboard filters:

<input data-action="keydown.enter->search#submit">
<input data-action="keydown.esc->modal#close">
<input data-action="keydown.ctrl+s->form#save">

Action options:

Option	Effect
`:stop`	Calls `stopPropagation()`
`:prevent`	Calls `preventDefault()`
`:self`	Only fires if target matches element
`:capture`	Use capture phase
`:once`	Remove after first invocation
`:passive`	Passive event listener

<form data-action="submit->form#save:prevent">
<a data-action="click->link#track:stop">

Action parameters:

<button data-action="item#delete"
        data-item-id-param="123"
        data-item-type-param="article">

delete(event) {
  const { id, type } = event.params
  // id = 123 (Number), type = "article" (String)
}

Classes

Define CSS class names as controller properties:

static classes = ["active", "loading"]

<div data-controller="toggle"
     data-toggle-active-class="bg-blue-500"
     data-toggle-loading-class="opacity-50">

this.activeClass     // "bg-blue-500"
this.hasActiveClass  // true
this.loadingClasses  // ["opacity-50"]

Import Maps (Rails 7+)

# config/importmap.rb
pin "application"
pin "@hotwired/turbo-rails", to: "turbo.min.js"
pin "@hotwired/stimulus", to: "stimulus.min.js"
pin_all_from "app/javascript/controllers", under: "controllers"

bin/importmap pin lodash
bin/importmap pin chartkick --from jsdelivr

Additional Resources

Reference Files

references/stimulus-patterns.md - Common Stimulus controller patterns
references/turbo-streams-advanced.md - Complex broadcasting scenarios

hotwire

When & Why to Use This Skill

Use Cases