Goodbye gem and Ruby installation issues.
Hello Ruby on Mac.

Without Ruby on Mac: Spend days trying to get your Rails, Jekyll, iOS, Flutter, React Native, Unity, Cocoapods, or other Ruby project working.
With Ruby on Mac: Run a single command and you'll be up and running in 15 minutes or less.

Join 1921 others who got unstuck right away

THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU. I don’t know what to say. The documentation is thorough and this took less than 10 minutes on my Mac. At first I was like, this can’t be that easy.

I was skeptical because I really was trying to brute force a solution prior. I was doing all kinds of things (setting permissions on a folder, install this, install that, etc). I was just thinking that the script probably wouldn’t be able to perform as touted because of how old my files are and all the trial and error I was trying. I’m just so happy that it worked as advertised.

Nathan Boyd

Paying for a tool to set up Ruby On Rails dev environments may seem ludicrous! Ruby on Mac has repeatedly saved me many hours of time & even made installing older versions of Ruby like 2.3.4 on a Mac M2 Pro a breeze. And Moncef offers great support and more🥇

David Teren

When I first purchased Ruby on Mac, it was smooth as silk, installed quickly and easily, no issues at all. I purchased it because I just bought my first apple computer (MacBook Pro) so learn flutter/dart to develop for android/iOS so I’m new to the MacOS. Ruby on Mac seemed like the best solution for getting ruby and having cocoa pods installed plus I felt that I wasn’t “going it alone” because you made it clear that I could address any issues or concerns to you directly, and that’s what made my choice for me. Thank you for building this tool.

David Hilliard

Have you been struggling to install Rails, Jekyll, cocoapods, fastlane, ffi, mysql2, or some other Ruby gem? Or even just Ruby? You had no idea it would be this complicated, right?

You've been searching Google for days, asking questions on Stack Overflow, Reddit, and GitHub. Some say use "sudo", others say don't. RVM this, rbenv that. You run commands blindly, hoping something will work.

But nothing you've tried so far has worked.

Does this permissions error look familiar?

ERROR: While executing gem ... (Gem::FilePermissionError)
You don't have write permissions for the /Library/Ruby/Gems/2.6.0

How about this one after using "sudo" to install the gem?

ERROR: Failed to build gem native extension.

Or maybe you followed outdated advice to use Rosetta, "arch -x86_64", or "LDFLAGS", and now you're getting errors like these about incompatible architecture:

bundler: failed to load command: jekyll
incompatible architecture (have x86_64 need arm64e)
ld: symbol(s) not found for architecture x86_64
ld: symbol(s) not found for architecture arm64

Or you're just trying to install a particular version of Ruby, and you're getting an error like "Error running '__rvm_make -j12'".

Every fix you've tried so far ends in more misery that makes you want to give up.

You're not alone. Every day, hundreds of people — from beginners to those with 40 years of coding experience — struggle to install and use Ruby gems on a Mac.

This is what it sounds like when devs cry:

Hi I've been trying to get rails and postgresql installed for 2 days now and its been a nightmare, does anyone know of a step by step up to date tutorial to install rails on mac please? I've tried go rails, other websites and videos but keep getting errors and I find myself pasting fixes from stackoverflow to fix one issue then I run into another.

What if you already have a Ruby environment, but it's so old that you can't get started on that dream project of yours?

I’ve got an itch to work on a web app and a Mac that is many versions behind on Ruby, Rails, etc. I keep running into all sorts of problems as I try to update. Is there an easy way to blast away all this old cruft and start over short of reformatting the hard drive?

You know it's possible to use Ruby on a Mac, you just don't think YOU can do it.

But what if you could? What if you could run a single command in your Terminal, and it would automatically set up a proper Ruby development environment?

You'd be able to start working on your project minutes from now.

It's true, following outdated tutorials, and copying and pasting a bunch of commands by hand can leave your Mac in a hot mess. But there's a better way!

Stop struggling with Ruby. Let Ruby on Mac set everything up for you.

Meet your lifesaver, Ruby on Mac

Ruby on Mac is the fastest, easiest, and most reliable way to set up a proper Ruby dev environment on a Mac. Unlike other methods you might have tried, it can detect and automatically fix most common issues that can cause Ruby or gem installation to fail.

However, there might be issues it can't automatically fix the first time your run it in "normal" mode. The good news is that you can run it in "reset" mode, which will safely back up and clean everything up in 1 minute. Then when you run the script again in "normal" mode, it's guaranteed to reinstall everything from scratch successfully. You'll also get a comprehensive troubleshooting guide if you prefer to fix individual issues manually.

That alone will save you hours, maybe even days, that you would have spent backing up your computer, erasing your hard drive, and reinstalling macOS.

Even if you have a clean Mac, if you were to set everything up manually on your own, it would take at least an hour. You would have to follow several steps in the right order to get Ruby properly installed. And then you would need to install and configure several other dev tools.

Ruby on Mac automates the whole process for you in minutes, with a perfect result every time.

Ruby on Mac uses a specific recipe to guarantee a successful installation whether you have an Intel Mac or an Apple Silicon M1/M2 Mac. It also detects whether you're using Bash, zsh, or Fish, and configures your shell automatically.

No other solution does this.

Ruby on Mac comes in two flavors: Ultimate and Prime. All versions of Ruby on Mac give you a complete Ruby development setup so you can use Rails, Jekyll, Cocoapods, Flutter, React Native, and other projects that require Ruby. Read more about the features below, starting with Ruby on Mac Ultimate:

Limited time bonus: 30-min consultation for personalized help ($150 value): While Ruby on Mac can take care of most Ruby issues, it can't fix all problems that are specific to a project. The most common source of issues are outdated gems and Ruby versions. If you need help getting your project up and running, Ruby on Mac Ultimate includes a free 30-min consultation with me, worth $150.
The fastest and most reliable way to install Ruby on a Mac: Ruby on Mac Ultimate installs Ruby faster than any other version manager when using their default settings. It's twice as fast as rbenv and asdf! On my M1 Air, it installs Ruby 3.2.2 in 2:00 minutes, versus 2:29 with rvm, 2:40 with frum, 4:03 with rbenv, and 4:04 with asdf.
Reset Mode: If your existing dev environment is not working, Ruby on Mac can safely back it up, then clean it up in less than 60 seconds using reset mode. You can then reinstall everything from scratch by running Ruby on Mac in normal mode.
Web Development Tools: By default, Ruby on Mac installs all the tools you'll need to get started right away: Homebrew, Command Line Tools, Ruby 3.2.2 and 3.1.4, chruby, ruby-install, Bundler, Cocoapods, Jekyll, Rails, Git, GitHub CLI, Heroku CLI, Node, Nodenv, Postgres, Redis, and Yarn. You also have the option to skip some of these tools.
Install Ruby 2.6.10, even on Apple Silicon without Rosetta!: With Ruby on Mac Ultimate, installing 2.6.10 is as easy as running "rom install ruby 2.6.10".
Install Ruby versions older than 2.6 on Apple Silicon with Rosetta: With Ruby on Mac Ultimate, you can easily set up a separate Ruby dev environment under Rosetta, and then easily install old Ruby versions with one command using the rom CLI. For example, "rom install ruby 2.3.8".
Choose your preferred Ruby version manager: The first time you run Ruby on Mac Ultimate, it will ask you to choose between asdf, chruby, frum, rbenv, or rvm. It will store your preference in "~/rubyonmac/.default-manager". To use a different manager, either remove or edit ".default-manager", then run Ruby on Mac again.
Set the default gems you want installed in each Ruby version: If you want certain gems to be installed automatically each time you install a Ruby version, you can list them one per line in ~/.default-gems and Ruby on Mac will take care of the rest. Ruby on Mac can also read from ~/.rbenv/default-gems if you previously used that rbenv feature.
Manage and maintain your dev setup with the rom CLI: Ruby on Mac Ultimate comes with a CLI to make it easy to run the script regularly to keep your system up to date. You can also easily install additional Ruby versions, uninstall versions you no longer need, and many more helpful and time-saving commands coming soon.
Set up a new Mac in minutes with all your dev tools, fonts, Mac apps, macOS preferences, and GitHub repos: Ruby on Mac Ultimate will save you an entire work day that you would have spent setting up your new Mac with everything you need. It comes with a Brewfile with hundreds of dev tools, fonts, and Mac apps. Choose the ones you want, and Ruby on Mac will install them all at once. Read the next 3 sections for details about setting your Git and macOS preferences, and cloning your GitHub repos.
Git Config Setup: Ruby on Mac Ultimate comes with a .gitconfig and .gitignore_global with common settings to get you started. Customize your Git name, email, and editor with a YAML file.
Easily customize macOS preferences: Ruby on Mac Ultimate comes with a YAML file that makes it super easy to set 20+ macOS preferences.
Clone multiple GitHub repos at once: Ruby on Mac Ultimate comes with a YAML file where you can specify which repos to clone and in which folder.
License can be activated on 4 Macs at a time: You can run Ruby on Mac Ultimate on 4 Macs at the same time. This makes it easy to keep all your Macs up to date and secure without having to deactivate them each time you want to switch between computers.
Automatic updates of the Ruby on Mac software: Each time you run Ruby on Mac, it will check to see if there's a new version available. If so, it will prompt you to update, and if you say yes, it will automatically download and install the latest version for you.
Faster gem installation: Ruby on Mac configures Ruby to install gems up to 4 times faster compared to other solutions. This can add up to minutes saved each time you install or update gems.
Colorized output: By using different colors for prompts, information, success, and failure, it makes it easier to see what's happening while the script is running.
No more wasted time and frustration trying to install unsupported Ruby versions: Ruby on Mac Ultimate keeps track of all the supported versions, and will let you know right away if you're trying to install a version that won't work on your computer, and will suggest supported versions to use instead. This will save you hours that you would have spent trying to figure out why a particular version didn't work, and looking up and trying workarounds that are not recommended or that won't work.

With Ruby on Mac Prime, you lose most of the features in Ultimate, and you keep only the core features below. The pricing section below has a more detailed list of the differences, but the main ones are that Prime can only be used on 1 Mac at a time, it does not include lifetime updates, it only supports Ruby versions 3.1+ out of the box, installing Ruby takes 3 times longer than Ultimate, and it doesn't include support for issues with existing projects.

Reset Mode: If your existing dev environment is not working, Ruby on Mac Prime can safely back it up, then clean it up in less than 60 seconds using reset mode. You can then reinstall everything from scratch by running Ruby on Mac in normal mode.
Web Development Tools: Ruby on Mac Prime installs all the tools you'll need to get started right away: Homebrew, Command Line Tools, Ruby 3.2.2 and 3.1.4, chruby, ruby-install, Bundler, Cocoapods, Jekyll, Rails, Git, GitHub CLI, Heroku CLI, Node, Nodenv, Postgres, Redis, and Yarn.
Keeps your system up to date and secure: Ruby on Mac Prime comes with a terminal shortcut that makes it easy to run the script safely over and over by typing "rom". Each time the script runs, it only installs what you don't already have, and if it finds a new version of an existing tool, it will update it.
Faster gem installation: Ruby on Mac Prime configures Ruby to install gems up to 4 times faster compared to other solutions. This can add up to minutes saved each time you install or update gems.
Colorized output: By using different colors for prompts, information, success, and failure, it makes it easier to see what's happening while the script is running.
Easy Customization: Ruby on Mac Prime comes with basic templates that let you customize which additional dev tools you want to install, and additional scripts you want to run.
Free updates for one year: Ruby on Mac Prime includes free updates for one year. After that, you can optionally buy another year of Prime updates, or upgrade to Ultimate for unlimited updates. You only pay the difference betweeen what you paid for Prime and the price of Ultimate at the time of the upgrade.
License can be activated on 1 Mac at a time: With Ruby on Mac Prime, you're limited to 1 activation at a time. You can use it on more than 1 Mac, but you'll need to deactivate other Macs first before you can run it on another one.

People love Ruby on Mac 💜

Yes, it did work. A co-worker had discovered it. We are both iOS App Developers and recently inherited a very large app to maintain. It used 19 different frameworks all managed by CocoaPods which in turn is based upon Ruby. Though we have the latest Macs and MacOS, the Ruby included by Apple is older than current and that used by the framework developers.

Thankfully, I was able to “reset” my Ruby Stack using your tooling and saved probably a WEEK or more of “headbanging” getting all the dependencies sorted out. The iOS app went from having literally dozens of errors to a clean compile once that was done. Worth every cent.

Don Babcock

Scott Lewis

Web Developer & Blogger, AtomicLotus.net

Carolyn Dew

Senior Designer/Researcher, Nava

It totally worked. Thanks Moncef! I bought it because the last time I tried to get Ruby/Rails set up on new MacBook Pro it turned into a headache and I needed a developer to help me get it all done. I didn't want to bug a developer and with your tool I was able to get up-and-running all by myself. Totally worth the money.

Daniel Burka

Judson L Moore

Author of Exponential Happiness

Merlin Mann

Writer, Speaker, and Broadcaster

Includes quotes from ep. 583 of Back to Work podcast.

WOW! This is an excellent product. It resolved all my issues. I've been banging my head against the wall trying to figure this out for hours, and your product resolved everything in minutes. Thanks so much!

Aaron Mateer

Anton Podviaznikov

Creator of montaigne.io

Thanks a lot, running "rom setup unity" and letting unity build to a clean folder made my game build again :) I was really frustrated over this stuff, but now I am super happy that I found rom!!!

Alvar Pernroth

Yes it worked very well. I bought it because without it all version managers failed to install ruby. Great tool!

Ralf

Alex Hillman

Founder, Indy Hall; Author of Tiny MBA

Monica Randriamialy

Founder, Nova Pixels

Just a quick note to say thanks! Struggled for a day trying to get the Flutter development stack to work, which has dependency on cocoapods -> ruby which i have absolutely no interest in, but was causing builds to an iOS app to fail.

Your script worked as advertised and 15 minutes later i was deploying to iOS devices.

Robin Puthli

Rebecca Krisel

Lecturer, Columbia University, SIPA

I was having some issues with react native environment setup. I use a M1 macbook and it was too hard to build a react native environment. I tried different versions of react native and ruby with no success. This was before rubyonmac :) The rubyonmac solved 99% of the issues with ruby and cocoapods dependencies. The only thing I had to do was to execute a "bundle install" and "pod install" inside the ios directory of my react native project and I was ready to go.

Marcelo Araújo

When I first purchased Ruby on Mac, it was smooth as silk, installed quickly and easily, no issues at all. I purchased it because I just bought my first apple computer (MacBook Pro) so learn flutter/dart to develop for android/iOS so I’m new to the MacOS. Ruby on Mac seemed like the best solution for getting ruby and having cocoa pods installed plus I felt that I wasn’t “going it alone” because you made it clear that I could address any issues or concerns to you directly, and that’s what made my choice for me. Thank you for building this tool.

David Hilliard

Yes, it's a great product. I rarely ever leave reviews or provide feedback on products but I really was delighted with the script. I was attempting to build a site with Jekyll and was getting caught in a rat's nest of errors. I wasn't sure what needed to be done to resolve them and stack overflow posts were more confusing than helpful. Thanks!

Liam Quinn

I’ve been banging my head on the wall for hours trying to solve a problem with Ruby on my new M1 mac. I think it was all from an Intel Mac misconfiguration which never bit me before.

I tried your script in normal mode, it failed and told me to run in reset mode. I did and then ran your script again in normal mode. It worked beautifully.

Thanks for making such a great product. Great instructions too.

Richard Stacpoole

This is just a mail to thank you. As a beginner in the development field, I have been struggling for days to install proper ruby and proper rails on my Mac. Thanks to your script, it was all properly set in 10 minutes, this is fantastic!

Inès Fevrier

Yes, it worked! I had a cocoapods project I couldn’t get building on my M1 mac no matter what I did, and this finally solved the issue.

Ben Spees

Read all 150+ testimonials

Trusted by 1900+ people at these companies and universities from all over the world

Join 1921 others who got unstuck right away.

The fastest, easiest, and most reliable way to work with Ruby on a Mac.

Buy it once, save 100+ hours and $5000+ over your lifetime.

30-day money-back guarantee.

When you buy Ruby on Mac today, you'll be supporting an independent developer and his family. 💜

Prime

$49

one-time payment

plus local taxes

Get unstuck with Prime

Free updates for one year, then optionally buy another year of Prime updates, or upgrade to Ultimate for unlimited updates.
Use Ruby on Mac Prime on 1 Mac at a time.
Run a single command, and get a complete Ruby dev setup in 15 minutes with the following tools:
Homebrew, Command Line Tools, chruby, ruby-install, Ruby 3.2.2 and 3.1.4, Bundler, Cocoapods, Jekyll, Rails, Git, GitHub CLI, Heroku CLI, Node, Nodenv, Postgres, Redis, Yarn
Easily install additional supported Ruby versions (3.1 and greater) with ruby-install
If your dev setup is a mess, "reset" mode can safely back up and clean everything up in 1 minute.
"rom" alias to easily run the script regularly to keep your dev setup up to date and secure
Install gems 4x faster
Keeps Rubygems up to date
Comprehensive documentation and troubleshooting guide
Basic customization with your own scripts and dev tools
Save $5,000+ and 50+ hours by not writing and maintaining 2259 lines of code yourself
Support within 48 hours (email only)
Choose your preferred version manager (asdf, frum, chruby, rbenv, rvm)
Install Ruby versions older than 3.1
Free 30-minute Zoom session to help you fix issues with your existing projects
Automated updates to the latest version of Ruby on Mac
Works with fish shell
Support for work computers with security software such as SentinelOne
Support for Unity and iOS Resolver issues related to Cocoapods

Get unstuck with Prime

Ultimate

~~$299~~ $149

one-time payment

plus local taxes

Get unstuck with Ultimate

Everything in Prime
Unlimited lifetime updates
Bonus for a limited time: free 30-minute consultation for help with your Ruby projects ($150 value). You have a whole year to redeem it!
Use Ruby on Mac Ultimate on up to 4 Macs at a time (single user only; the Ultimate Team license below allows up to 25 users.)
Install Ruby versions as old as 2.1 on Apple Silicon and Intel Macs
Install Ruby up to 2x faster than any other tool, and almost 3x faster than Prime
Detects and automatically fixes more common issues than Prime
Set your preferred Ruby version manager — asdf, chruby, frum, rbenv or rvm
Set the default gems you want installed for each Ruby version
Painlessly install MySQL and the mysql2 gem (no more "dyld missing symbol called" errors!)
Built in support for YJIT and Jemalloc
Support for work computers with device management and security software
Support for Unity and iOS Resolver issues related to Cocoapods
rom CLI to maintain your dev setup and perform common actions. Features are being added regularly.
Set up a new Mac in minutes with all your dev tools, Mac apps, fonts, macOS preferences, Git preferences, and GitHub repos.
Works with Fish shell and sets it up automatically
Simply run "rom update" to get the latest version of Ruby on Mac
Save $10,000+ and 100+ hours by not writing and maintaining 10,000+ lines of code yourself
Priority Support

Get unstuck with Ultimate

Team Pricing

Do your new engineers or students set up their Mac manually? Wow them with the best onboarding experience they've had. Get an Ultimate Team license for up to 25 people.

Buy Ultimate Team for $599

FAQ

What makes Ruby on Mac special?

There are many ways to set up a working Ruby development environment on a Mac. I am in no way claiming that Ruby on Mac is the only way. Nor am I claiming that other approaches are wrong.

What I am claiming is that Ruby on Mac is the fastest and easiest way because it’s simple, it’s reliable, and it works perfectly every time.

‘Simple’ means all you have to do is run a single command, and Ruby on Mac will do all the hard work for you. ‘Reliable’ means it will work with any supported Intel and Apple Silicon Mac, and it will work every single time. I know it works because the script has been run successfully on thousands of Macs, from brand new Macs to ones with the messiest development environments.

It’s the same script I use to set up and maintain my personal Macs, and I test it several times per week on 4 Macs: my main M1 MacBook Air and Intel iMac that I use every day, and my spare Intel MacBook Air and M1 Mac Mini for testing various scenarios.

That’s not to say that there have never been any issues. Sometimes, there are bugs in the tools that Ruby on Mac depends on, and sometimes Apple and/or Homebrew make changes that break Ruby, as happened in September 2022, then again when Ventura was first released, and in June 2023. Each time this happened, I had a fix for Ruby on Mac customers within 24 hours, while others had to wait several days, weeks, or even years for the official fixes, or spend time trying to figure out the issue and how to fix it.

I also improve the scripts regularly, and sometimes I introduce bugs. Or maybe a customer has a unique scenario that I haven’t seen before. In those cases, I fix the bugs within minutes of discovering them.

Another thing that makes Ruby on Mac unique is that with most of the popular open-source version managers, you can’t install the latest version of Ruby as soon as it’s released. You have to wait for the maintainers to manually add the latest version, which sometimes takes several days. And then you have to remember to manually update the tool to pick up the latest versions.

Ruby on Mac automatically installs everything you need (and nothing you don’t), it configures Ruby in the best possible way, and you can install the latest version as soon as it’s released, without having to update any tools manually.

Ruby on Mac Ultimate also installs Ruby faster than any other version manager, and twice as fast as rbenv and asdf.

The best part is that Ruby on Mac Ultimate supports all the popular version managers: asdf, chruby, frum, rbenv, and rvm. If you have a strong preference for a particular tool, you can still use it, and you won’t have to deal with the installation issues that you would experience if you were to use it outside of Ruby on Mac.

Ruby on Mac is unique because it gives you the peace of mind that you will always have a working Ruby dev setup. This will save you months of your time, and thousands of dollars compared to troubleshooting issues yourself, maintaining your own script, or doing everything manually every time.

Is there a money-back guarantee?

The short answer is yes, but there are some important disclaimers! Make sure to carefully read this entire section, as well as the next three sections:

What is not covered by the guarantee?
Will the script fix issues with my legacy Ruby projects?
How do I submit a refund request?

If Ruby on Mac doesn’t install all supported tools successfully even after cleaning everything up with “reset” mode, I will personally set up your Mac for you, or you can send me an email within 30 days and I’ll give you a full refund.

The first time you run any version of Ruby on Mac on a clean installation of a supported macOS (as provided by Apple), it is guaranteed to set up a working Ruby environment. One way to confirm this is that you should be able to create and run a brand new Jekyll or Rails project (using the instructions in these links).

If you already had development tools installed, Ruby on Mac is not guaranteed to work the first time you run it (although it might). If it doesn’t, you can use the “reset” mode to safely back up and clean up your dev setup in 1 minute. And when you run the script again in “normal” mode, it is guaranteed to install everything successfully.

Once Ruby on Mac installs everything successfully, it will prompt you to open the Post-Installation Guides. It’s very important to read all of it thorougly to avoid confusion and headaches.

What is not covered by the guarantee?

In addition to unsupported macOS versions, I can’t guarantee Ruby on Mac will work on a Mac that was provided by your employer with software or files preinstalled on it that didn’t come from Apple.

Ruby on Mac is also not guaranteed to fix issues that are specific to your existing projects. If Ruby on Mac installed everything successfully, but you still can’t run your existing project, that most likely means the issue is specific to your project. In that case, I can’t give you a refund, but I can certainly help you. Please read the next FAQ (below this one) for more details.

Will the script fix issues with my legacy Ruby projects?

The short answer is “it depends, but probably not.” At least not out of the box. What Ruby on Mac guarantees is that you’ll be able to install Ruby versions as old as 2.1.10 on your Mac (see caveats in Which versions of Ruby will I be able to install?). Beyond that, I can’t guarantee anything since there could be various things that are preventing your old project from running, such as bugs in your code and outdated gems/dependencies.

For help with existing projects, here are your choices:

Use the free 30-minute consultation that comes with your purchase of Ruby on Mac Ultimate. It’s currently included for free for a limited time, and you have 1 year to redeem it.
Figure things out on your own with the help of the Ruby on Mac documentation (see the section called “Issues with existing projects” in the rom-prime-docs.html or rom-ultimate-docs.html file) and/or with the tips in the FAQ below this one.
Hire me or someone else to update your project for you.

Do you have any tips for getting legacy projects up and running?

I sure do. Below are some common scenarios and suggestions.

Depending on which version of Ruby your old project is using, it might not work out of the box. For example, after setting everything up properly with Ruby on Mac, if your project is configured to use Ruby 2.6.10, you might get an error similar to the ones below when running bundle install:

Your user account isn't allowed to install to the system RubyGems.

Your Ruby version is 3.1.4, but your Gemfile specified 2.6.10

The first error means that the current active version of Ruby is indeed 2.6.10, but it’s the one that came preinstalled on your Mac, which you never want to use. The second error means that your project is set up to use Ruby 2.6.10, but the current active version is 3.1.4.

In both cases, the solution is to either update your project to a newer version of Ruby (such as one of the versions Ruby on Mac installed for you), or buy Ruby on Mac Ultimate, which lets you install a proper version of 2.6.10. You will not be able to install Ruby versions older than 3.1.x with Ruby on Mac Prime.

Unless you prefer to get your project up and running with 2.6.10 first before updating to a newer version, I recommend trying to update your project directly to a newer version, and I have a free guide that explains how and why to upgrade the Ruby version in your project. If you have a proper Ruby dev setup, try this first before buying Ruby on Mac.

For a limited time, the Ultimate version of Ruby on Mac includes a free 30-minute consultation (worth $150) if you need help updating your old projects.

Similarly, if you have an older project with outdated or unsupported gems, running bundle install or bundle exec pod install or bin/rails s might result in errors, even if you’re using a newer Ruby version. In most cases, updating those gems to the latest version is the solution. However, if you’re on an M1/M2 Mac, this will only work if the latest version of those gems is compatible with Apple Silicon.

Here are some gems that are not fully compatible with Apple Silicon (M1/M2). I recommend replacing them with more modern alternatives, or asking the maintainers if they’re willing to update them.

therubyracer (read How to Install (Or Get Rid Of) therubyracer on M1 or M2 Macs)
grpc (this fix has been proposed)

If you haven’t yet run Ruby on Mac, and you’re not able to install the latest version of a supported gem (meaning the gem says it works on Apple Silicon Macs), then Ruby on Mac is guaranteed to solve that problem. After running Ruby on Mac, if you can’t install the gems in your old project, or if you’re not able to run your project, that most likely means those errors are specific to your project, and not Ruby on Mac. I recommend updating any gems mentioned in the errors.

If you need help updating older projects, try these free guides I’ve written:

If you prefer personalized help, the Ultimate version of Ruby on Mac includes (for a limited time) a 30-minute consultation with me (worth $150 on its own), among many other exclusive time-saving features. I also offer a “do it for you” service where I will update your legacy project for you. The price depends on the project, so contact me with details about your project and what your goal is.

How do I submit a refund request?

Please send an email to moncef@rubyonmac.dev and include the required info described below:

Since Ruby on Mac is a high-quality product that is guaranteed to set up a proper Ruby development environment, refund requests must include all the logs in the ~/rubyonmac/logs folder, as well as the specific issue you are running into. The logs will let me see what happened while Ruby on Mac was running, and if the errors are caused by Ruby on Mac or something wrong with your setup.

No refunds will be given if the logs are not provided and if you haven’t tried to fix things with reset mode.

I also cannot give a refund if you can’t run your legacy project. Ruby on Mac is only guaranteed to fix your dev setup such that you can install Ruby versions as old as 2.1.10. That alone is worth the price since no other tool can do this as easily as Ruby on Mac.

If your legacy project has a bug in it, or is using incompatible or outdated dependencies, that’s on you to fix it. Or you can hire me to update your project for you.

Do you support Purchasing Power Parity (PPP)?

Yes! If you visit from a country with low purchasing power, you should see a banner at the top with a coupon code you can use. If you don’t see a banner, try turning off your VPN. If you still don’t see the coupon, email me and I’ll give it to you.

Note that the PPP coupon is only for individuals who can’t afford the full price. If you can afford it, or you’re buying Ruby on Mac as an employee or owner of a business, please pay the full price. ❤️

To use the coupon, follow these steps:

Go to the pricing page
Click on “Get unstuck with Ultimate” or “Get unstuck with Prime”
When the checkout screen appears, click on “Add discount” (on the left side under Subtotal)
Enter the coupon code that you see at the top of the site
Click Apply

I’m not a developer and/or I’m new to Mac, will I be able to use Ruby on Mac?

Absolutely! Ruby on Mac is designed to be beginner-friendly. Follow the detailed step-by-step instructions, and you’ll be up and running in minutes. If you get stuck and the documentation isn’t helpful, I’ll be happy to walk you through it personally over Zoom.

Which versions of macOS are supported?

Ruby on Mac runs on Sonoma, Ventura, and Monterey. It will probably also work on Big Sur, but it’s not guaranteed since Homebrew and Apple typically only support that last 3 macOS versions.

Older macOS versions might work, but I do not provide support for versions older than Monterey, and for beta or release candidate versions. No refunds will be given for script failures on unsupported OSes.

Which processors are supported?

Ruby on Mac runs on Intel, and all Apple Silicon chips (M1/M2).

Which versions of Ruby will I be able to install?

Ruby on Mac automatically installs the latest version of Ruby by default (currently 3.2.2), as well as 3.1.4. You’ll also be able to run a single command to install other Ruby versions. However, to install Ruby versions older than 3.1, you’ll need to buy Ruby on Mac Ultimate.

Ruby versions older than 2.3.0 require using version 14.x of Xcode or the command line tools. If you upgraded your Xcode and/or command line tools to version 15, and if you’re trying to run a project that’s using a Ruby version older than 2.3.0, I highly recommend updating your app to at least 2.3.8. Step-by-step instructions are at the end of this article: how and why to upgrade the Ruby version in your project.

If you need more help getting your legacy project up and running, the Ultimate version of Ruby on Mac includes a free 30-minute consultation (limited time offer). You also have the option to hire me to do it for you.

Note that the oldest 2.7.x version you can install on an Apple Silicon Mac is 2.7.2. If your project currently specifies 2.7.0 or 2.7.1, you should update your project to use 2.7.8.

To switch between versions, you’ll use the “chruby” tool by default. If you prefer using a different tool for switching between Ruby versions (such as asdf, frum, rbenv, or rvm), the Ultimate version of Ruby on Mac lets you set your preferred version manager.

All of this explained in the detailed documentation that comes with Ruby on Mac.

Can I purchase a license for my entire team?

Yes! The team license is available with the Ultimate version of Ruby on Mac. You can purchase a license that you can share with up to 25 people for a one-time fee of $599 USD.

Buy an Ultimate Team license for $599 USD

Can I upgrade from Prime to Ultimate?

Absolutely! In the Ruby on Mac documentation, you’ll find the coupon code to upgrade to Ultimate. The upgrade cost will be the difference between what you paid originally and the full cost of Ultimate at the time of the upgrade.

Note that the price of Ultimate has increased several times in the past, and might again in the future, so it will cost more if you wait too long to upgrade.

Is there a student discount?

Yes! If you’re actively enrolled in an educational program, you can receive 20% off the full cost of Ruby on Mac. This discount can’t be combined with any other discounts.

This discount is intended for full-time or part-time students, including coding bootcamps like General Assembly.

To get your unique coupon code, email me at moncef@rubyonmac.dev with proof of enrollment.

You have another question?

Check out the full FAQ.

Who created Ruby on Mac?

Moncef Belyamani and his record collection

Hi there! I'm Moncef Belyamani, a Ruby, Rails, and Automation consultant with 24 years of web development experience.

Eleven years ago, I wanted to start my first programming blog. I thought it would help me stand out as a developer. I wanted to use Octopress, a gem based on Jekyll.

Just like you, I ran into lots of problems. I spent hours searching for a solution. But then I figured out the exact step-by-step recipe for setting up Ruby on a Mac.

That was my first blog post, and it quickly became popular. People kept telling me it was by far the best resource they found. Over the past eleven years, I've helped hundreds of thousands of people set up Ruby on their Mac. In February 2022, I created Ruby on Mac, which automates the whole process, and fixes all the common errors people run into.

Knowing how painful it can be to set up and maintain Ruby properly on a Mac, I've made it as easy as possible.

Previously, I spent eight years in Civic Tech, working on open source projects that improved the lives of millions of people. I shaped Engineering best practices, and helped teams and companies save $100K per year by automating manual tasks, speeding up daily workflows and test suites, increasing developer happiness, and improving code quality and maintainability.

Get back on track with Ruby on Mac.

Get peace of mind that you'll always have a working Ruby dev setup.