Dev.to•Jan 15, 2026, 9:47 PM
"Developer Creates 'Perfect' Model-Service-Interactor Pattern, Still Can't Model a Social Life"

"Developer Creates 'Perfect' Model-Service-Interactor Pattern, Still Can't Model a Social Life"

In the context of Ruby on Rails development, using model classes for features has become a preferred approach among developers, as it provides several advantages, including centralized, reusable logic, better testability, and encapsulation of rules, with seven key benefits outlined in the article, including keeping controllers and views clean, and supporting persistence easily later. According to the article, model classes are better suited for representing domain concepts, such as feature flags, onboarding rules, and eligibility rules, as they provide a clear, consistent API, and can grow better over time, whereas service objects are more suitable for executable actions, and interactors are ideal for orchestrating multi-step workflows or transactions. The article highlights the differences between model classes, service objects, and interactors, noting that models represent domain state and rules, services perform discrete actions, and interactors coordinate multiple models and services into a single, transactional workflow, with examples provided to illustrate each concept, including the use of model classes, such as FeatureFlag and Onboarding, service objects, like PaymentProcessor, and interactors, like CreateOrder. By understanding the strengths and weaknesses of each pattern, developers can make informed decisions about when to use model classes, service objects, or interactors, and create more maintainable, scalable, and efficient code, with the article providing guidance on how to apply these patterns in real-world scenarios, including a summary template that outlines the best use cases for each pattern, such as using models for domain concepts, rules, and calculations, services for single actions, and interactors for multi-step workflows. With the increasing complexity of modern web applications, the use of model classes, service objects, and interactors can help developers create more robust, flexible, and maintainable code, and the article provides a comprehensive overview of these patterns, including their benefits, trade-offs, and best practices, with quotes and examples from the article, such as "Fat Model, Skinny Controller," and "FeatureFlag.enabled?(:new_ui)," to illustrate key concepts and principles.

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