Trestle

Trestle is an open-source admin framework for Ruby on Rails that generates a responsive admin panel from declarative Ruby configuration files.

What is Trestle?

Trestle is a Ruby gem that provides a modern, responsive admin interface for Ruby on Rails applications. It takes an existing Rails model — such as an Article — and generates CRUD admin screens at the /admin route, controlled by a Ruby DSL in files like app/admin/articles_admin.rb. The framework is maintained by the TrestleAdmin organization on GitHub, is distributed as the trestle gem, and is licensed under LGPLv3. A live demo runs at demo.trestle.io, with its source code available in the RailsFlixDemo repository.

Key Features

• Ruby DSL configuration — Define navigation menus, scopes, table columns, and forms entirely in Ruby files such as app/admin/posts_admin.rb; standard screens require no separate view templates.
• Responsive admin UI — The generated interface is responsive, as shown in the project screenshots, and works on desktop and mobile.
• Flexible form builder — Compose forms with tabs, sidebars, custom field types, and a 12-column grid layout using row and col helpers for precise placement.
• Custom scopes — Declare index filters like published and drafts with lambda-based queries such as Post.unpublished.
• Table customization — Configure columns with links, custom rendering lambdas, alignment, headers, and action buttons.
• Plugin ecosystem — Community and official plugins add authentication (trestle-auth, trestle-omniauth, trestle-auth-otp), search (trestle-search), TinyMCE and SimpleMDE editors (trestle-tinymce, trestle-simplemde), Sidekiq monitoring (trestle-sidekiq), Active Storage uploads (trestle-active_storage), and Mobility integration (trestle-mobility).
• Generator-based setup — The trestle:install generator creates the initial configuration and customization hooks, and trestle:resource scaffolds a new admin for an existing model.

Who is it for?

• Ruby on Rails developers who need to build a custom back-office without hand-writing CRUD controllers, views, and routes for every model.
• Internal tool teams that want a fast, consistent admin interface for content management, with plugin-based authentication and search added in minutes.
• Open-source maintainers shipping Rails applications that include a management panel, since Trestle is free under LGPLv3 and installed as a gem.

What can you do with Trestle?

• Content management: Build admin screens for blog posts, products, or users, with scopes, tables, and forms customized through the DSL.
• User authentication: Add trestle-auth (or trestle-omniauth / trestle-auth-otp for OmniAuth or two-factor login) to protect the admin area.
• Rich text editing: Integrate TinyMCE or SimpleMDE editors into forms via the corresponding plugin.
• Background job monitoring: Connect trestle-sidekiq to view Sidekiq queues and jobs from inside the admin panel.

How does Trestle work?

Add gem 'trestle' to your Gemfile, run bundle install, then run rails generate trestle:install to create the initial config. Generate a resource for an existing model with rails generate trestle:resource Article, restart the server, and visit http://localhost:3000/admin. The generated app/admin/articles_admin.rb file is where you define menus, scopes, tables, and forms using the Ruby DSL.

Plugins

The following plugins extend Trestle with additional functionality:

• trestle-auth — user authentication
• trestle-search — search functionality
• trestle-tinymce — TinyMCE WYSIWYG editor integration
• trestle-simplemde — SimpleMDE Markdown editor integration
• trestle-sidekiq — Sidekiq background job monitoring
• trestle-active_storage — Active Storage file attachment support
• trestle-mobility — Mobility for localized content
• trestle-omniauth — OmniAuth authentication
• trestle-auth-otp — two-factor/OTP authentication

FAQ

Is Trestle free?

Yes. Trestle is open-source under the LGPLv3 license, so the core gem is free to use in commercial and personal projects.

What can I customize with the Trestle DSL?

You can define navigation menu groups and items with icons, index view scopes, table columns with custom rendering and alignment, form tabs and sidebars, plus a 12-column grid layout for field placement — all from Ruby code.

Does Trestle include authentication?

No, authentication is not part of the core gem. The trestle-auth plugin adds standard user authentication, while trestle-omniauth and trestle-auth-otp provide OmniAuth and two-factor/OTP login respectively.

Does Trestle have a demo?

Yes. A live demo runs at demo.trestle.io, and its source code is available in the RailsFlixDemo repository on GitHub.