Inertia Rails Controllers

Server-side patterns for Rails controllers serving Inertia responses.

Before adding a prop, ask:

• Needed on every page? → inertia_share in a base controller (InertiaController), not a per-action prop
• Expensive to compute? → InertiaRails.defer — page loads fast, data streams in after
• Only needed on partial reload? → InertiaRails.optional — skipped on initial load
• Reference data that rarely changes? → InertiaRails.once — cached across navigations

NEVER:

• Use redirect_to for external URLs (Stripe, OAuth, SSO) — it returns 302 but the Inertia client tries to parse the response as JSON, causing a broken redirect. Use inertia_location (returns 409 + X-Inertia-Location header).
• Use errors.full_messages for validation errors — it produces flat strings without field keys, so errors can't be mapped to the corresponding input fields on the frontend. Use errors.to_hash(true).
• Use inertia.defer, Inertia.defer, or inertia_rails.defer — the correct syntax is InertiaRails.defer { ... }. All prop helpers are module methods on the InertiaRails constant.
• Assume instance variables are auto-passed as props — they are NOT (unless alba-inertia gem is configured). Every action that passes props to the frontend MUST call render inertia: { key: data }.
• Use success/error as flash keys without updating config.flash_keys — Rails defaults to notice/alert. Custom keys must be added to both the initializer config and the FlashData TypeScript type.

Render Syntax

default_render: true TRAP: This setting only auto-infers the component name from controller/action — it does NOT auto-pass instance variables as props. Writing @posts = Post.all in an action with default_render: true renders the correct component but sends zero data to the frontend. Instance variables are only auto-serialized as props when alba-inertia gem is configured — check Gemfile before relying on this. Without it, you MUST use render inertia: { posts: data } to pass any data to the page.

Empty actions (def index; end) are correct ONLY for pages that need no data (e.g., a static dashboard page, a login form). If the action queries the database, it MUST call render inertia: with data.

Rule of thumb: If your action touches the database, it MUST call render inertia: with data. If the action body is empty, the page receives only shared props (from inertia_share).

# CORRECT — data passed as props
def index
  render inertia: { users: users_data, stats: InertiaRails.defer { ExpensiveQuery.run } }
end

# CORRECT — static page, no data needed
def index; end

# WRONG — @posts is NEVER sent to the frontend (without alba-inertia)
def index
  @posts = Post.all
end

Note: If the project uses the alba-inertia gem (check Gemfile), instance variables are auto-serialized as props and explicit render inertia: is not needed. See the alba-inertia skill for that convention.

Prop Types

InertiaRails.defer — NOT inertia.defer, NOT Inertia.defer. All prop helpers are module methods on InertiaRails.

def index
  render inertia: {
    filters: filter_params,
    messages: -> { messages_scope.as_json },
    stats: InertiaRails.defer { Dashboard.stats },
    chart: InertiaRails.defer(group: 'analytics') { Dashboard.chart },
    countries: InertiaRails.once { Country.pluck(:name, :code) },
    posts: InertiaRails.merge { @posts.as_json },
    csrf: InertiaRails.always { form_authenticity_token },
  }
end

Deferred Props — Full Stack Example

Server defers slow data, client shows fallback then swaps in content:

# Controller
def show
  render inertia: {
    basic_stats: Stats.quick_summary,
    analytics: InertiaRails.defer { Analytics.compute_slow },
  }
end

// Page component — child reads deferred prop from page props
import { Deferred, usePage } from '@inertiajs/react'

export default function Dashboard({ basic_stats }: Props) {
  return (
    <>
      <QuickStats data={basic_stats} />
      <Deferred data="analytics" fallback={<div>Loading analytics...</div>}>
        <AnalyticsPanel />
      </Deferred>
    </>
  )
}

function AnalyticsPanel() {
  const { analytics } = usePage<{ analytics: Analytics }>().props
  return <div>{analytics.revenue}</div>
}

Shared Data

Use inertia_share in controllers — it needs controller context (current_user, request). The initializer only handles config.* settings (version, flash_keys).

class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base
  # Static
  inertia_share app_name: 'MyApp'

  # Using lambdas (most common)
  inertia_share auth: -> { { user: current_user&.as_json(only: [:id, :name, :email, :role]) } }

  # Conditional
  inertia_share if: :user_signed_in? do
    { notifications: -> { current_user.unread_notifications_count } }
  end
end

Lambda and action-scoped variants are in references/configuration.md.

Evaluation order: Multiple inertia_share calls merge top-down. If a child controller shares the same key as a parent, the child's value wins. Block and lambda shares are lazily evaluated per-request — they don't run for non-Inertia requests.

Flash Messages

Flash is automatic. Configure exposed keys if needed:

# config/initializers/inertia_rails.rb
InertiaRails.configure do |config|
  config.flash_keys = %i[notice alert toast] # default: %i[notice alert]
end

Use standard Rails flash in controllers:

redirect_to users_path, notice: "User created!"
# or
flash.alert = "Something went wrong"
redirect_to users_path

Redirects & Validation Errors

After create/update/delete, always redirect (Post-Redirect-Get). Standard Rails redirect_to works. The Inertia-specific part is validation error handling:

def create
  @user = User.new(user_params)
  if @user.save
    redirect_to users_path, notice: "Created!"
  else
    redirect_back_or_to new_user_path, inertia: { errors: @user.errors.to_hash(true) }
  end
end

to_hash vs to_hash(true): to_hash gives { name: ["can't be blank"] }, to_hash(true) gives { name: ["Name can't be blank"] }. Keys must match input name attributes — mismatched keys mean errors won't display next to the right field.

NEVER use errors.full_messages — it produces flat strings without field keys, so errors can't be mapped to the corresponding input fields on the frontend.

Authorization as Props

Pass permissions as per-resource can hash — frontend controls visibility, server enforces access. See inertia-rails-controllers + inertia-rails-pages skills.

MANDATORY — READ ENTIRE FILE when implementing authorization props: references/authorization.md (~40 lines) — full-stack can pattern with Action Policy/Pundit/CanCanCan examples.

Do NOT load if not passing permission data to the frontend.

External Redirects (inertia_location)

CRITICAL: redirect_to for external URLs breaks Inertia — the client receives a 302 but tries to handle it as an Inertia response (JSON), not a full page redirect. inertia_location returns 409 with X-Inertia-Location header, which tells the client to do window.location = url.

# Stripe checkout — MUST use inertia_location, not redirect_to
def create
  checkout_session = Current.user.payment_processor.checkout(
    mode: "payment",
    line_items: "price_xxx",
    success_url: enrollments_url,
    cancel_url: course_url(@course),
  )
  inertia_location checkout_session.url
end

Use inertia_location for any URL outside the Inertia app: payment providers, OAuth, external services.

History Encryption

Encrypts page data in browser history state — config.encrypt_history = Rails.env.production?. Use redirect_to path, inertia: { clear_history: true } on logout/role change. Full setup with server-side and client-side examples is in references/configuration.md.

Configuration

See references/configuration.md for all InertiaRails.configure options (version, encrypt_history, flash_keys, etc.).

Troubleshooting

Related Skills

• Form error display → inertia-rails-forms
• Flash toast UI → inertia-rails-pages (access) + shadcn-inertia (Sonner)
• Deferred on client → inertia-rails-pages (<Deferred> component)
• Type-safe props → inertia-rails-typescript or alba-inertia (serializers)
• Testing → inertia-rails-testing

References

MANDATORY — READ ENTIRE FILE when using advanced prop types (merge, scroll, deep_merge) or combining multiple prop options: references/prop-types.md (~180 lines) — detailed behavior, edge cases, and combination rules for all prop types.

Do NOT load prop-types.md for basic defer, optional, once, or always usage — the table above is sufficient.

Load references/configuration.md (~180 lines) only when setting up InertiaRails.configure for the first time or debugging configuration issues. Do NOT load for routine controller work.