Building an AI agent inside a 7-year-old Rails monolith (catalinionescu.dev)

In a recent exploration at the SF Ruby conference, a developer shared their journey of integrating an AI agent into an existing Ruby on Rails monolith, uncovering the potential to leverage AI where they thought none existed. The breakthrough came from using the RubyLLM gem, which allows developers to build retrieval-augmented generation (RAG)-like systems with controlled data access. By encoding stringent access logic into function calls, the developer was able to securely enable an AI model to interact with sensitive data while ensuring compliance with strict data access checks. This integration is significant for the AI and machine learning community as it demonstrates how legacy systems can adopt AI capabilities without compromising security or functionality. The RubyLLM gem abstracts interactions with various LLM providers through a simplified API, making it accessible for developers in tightly controlled environments. Key features include structured response handling, long-running conversation support, and a robust mechanism for tool integration, which collectively allow developers to create responsive AI-driven applications efficiently. The project took just a few days to complete, showcasing the powerful potential of combining AI with established frameworks to enhance product offerings.