index.html

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title: Pry - an IRB alternative and runtime developer console
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<header>
  {% include devswag.html %}

  <div class="fork_me ribbon">
    <a href="http://github.com/pry/pry" rel="external"><img style="position: absolute; top: 0; right: 0; border: 0;" src="/images/clone.png" alt="Fork me on GitHub"></a>
  </div>

  {% include logo.html %}

  <p class="infobox">
    Pry is a <em>powerful</em> alternative to the standard IRB shell for
    Ruby.  It features <em>syntax highlighting</em>, a flexible <em>plugin
      architecture</em>, <em>runtime invocation</em> and  <em>source and
      documentation browsing</em>.
  </p>
</header>

{% include navigation.html %}

<article>
  <h1>Quickstart</h1>

  <p>
    Install Pry:
  </p>
  {% highlight bash %}{% include code/install.sh %}{% endhighlight %}

  <p>
    Try it out: (Displaying source for FileUtils.rm)
  </p>
  {% highlight ruby %}{% include code/tryout.rb %}{% endhighlight %}

  <p>
    For comprehensive coverage of Pry's features please
    <a href="https://github.com/pry/pry/wiki"><strong>check out the Wiki</strong></a> and watch the <a href="screencasts.html">screencasts</a>.
  </p>
</article>

<article>
  <h1>Introductory screencast</h1>
  <p>
    It is recommended you watch the following screencast put
    together by <a href="https://github.com/joshcheek">Josh
    Cheek</a>. It includes instructions on installing Pry as
    well as some coverage of core features.
  </p>

  <center>
    <iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/26391171?title=0&amp;byline=0&amp;portrait=0"
            width="633" height="475" frameborder="0"></iframe>
  </center>

  <p>
    <a href="screencasts.html">Watch other screencasts</a>
  </p>
</article>

<article>
  <h1>Features</h1>

  <p>
    Pry is written from scratch to provide a number of advanced features,
    some of these include:
  </p>

  <ul>
    <li>Source code browsing (including core C source with the pry-doc gem)</li>
    <li>Navigation around state (cd, ls and friends)</li>
    <li>Documentation browsing</li>
    <li>Live help system</li>
    <li>Open methods in editors (edit-method Class#method)</li>
    <li>Syntax highlighting</li>
    <li>Command shell integration (start editors, run git, and rake from within Pry)</li>
    <li>Gist integration</li>
    <li>Runtime invocation (use Pry as a developer console or debugger)</li>
    <li>Exotic object support (BasicObject instances, IClasses, ...)</li>
    <li>A powerful and flexible command system</li>
    <li>Ability to view and replay history</li>
    <li>Many convenience commands inspired by IPython, Smalltalk and other advanced REPLs</li>
  </ul>

  <p>
    Pry also aims to be more than an IRB replacement; it is an attempt to
    bring REPL driven programming to the Ruby language. It is currently not
    as powerful as tools like SLIME for lisp, but that is the general
    direction Pry is heading.
  </p>

  <p>
    Pry is also fairly flexible and allows significant user customization
    making it a good choice for implementing custom shells.
  </p>
</article>

<article>
  <h1>More examples</h1>

  <h2>Runtime invocation</h2>

  <p>
    Pry can be invoked in the middle of a running program. It opens a Pry
    session at the point it's called and makes all program state at that
    point available. When the session ends the program continues with any
    modifications you made to it.
  </p>

  <p>
    This functionality can be used for such things as: debugging,
    implementing developer consoles and applying hot patches.
  </p>

  {% highlight ruby %}{% include code/runtime.rb %}{% endhighlight %}

  <p>
    Pry session:
  </p>

  {% highlight ruby %}{% include code/session.rb %}{% endhighlight %}

  <h2>Command Shell Integration</h2>

  <p>
    A line of input that begins with a '.' will be forwarded to the command
    shell. This enables us to navigate the file system, spawn editors, and
    run git and rake directly from within Pry.
  </p>

  <p>
    Further, we can use the shell-mode command to incorporate the present
    working directory into the Pry prompt and bring file name completion.
    We can also interpolate Ruby code directly into the shell by using the
    normal #{} string interpolation syntax.
  </p>

  <p>
    In the code below we're going to switch to shell-mode and edit the .pryrc
    file in the home directory. We'll then cat its contents and reload the
    file.
  </p>
  {% highlight ruby %}{% include code/pyrc.rb %}{% endhighlight %}
</article>

<article>
  <h1>Please support Pry!</h1>

  <p class="donate">
    If you liked Pry and found it useful, <em>please consider
    making a donation</em> to support its continued development!
  </p>

  <p>
    Pry was a huge amount of work and every dollar received is encouraging!
  </p>
</article>

<article>
  <h1>Credits</h1>

  <p>
    The Pry core team are <a href="https://github.com/banister">John Mair</a>
    (project founder; aka banisterfiend; <a href="https://twitter.com/banisterfiend">twitter</a>; <a href="http://banisterfiend.wordpress.com">blog</a>),
    <a href="https://github.com/conradirwin">Conrad Irwin</a> and <a href="https://github.com/rf-">Ryan Fitzgerald</a>.

    The project is also aided by a healthy number
    of <a href="https://github.com/pry/pry/contributors">contributors</a>.
  </p>

  <p>
    To participate in Pry's development (and get your name on
    the list!) see the wiki article on <a href="https://github.com/pry/pry/wiki/Contributing">how to contribute</a>.
  </p>
</article>