ExtensionsLoader is a lightweight gem that simplifies the extension of Ruby classes and modules. Rather than monkeypatching or managing your extension modules yourself, you can use ExtensionsLoader to easily include extension modules into pre-defined Ruby modules and classes.

Add this line to your application's Gemfile:

gem 'extensions_loader'

And then execute:

$ bundle install

Or install it yourself with:

$ gem install extensions_loader

First, you need to load the ExtensionsLoader gem in your code.

require 'extensions_loader'

Then, you can define base classes and their extensions with the following mapping syntax:

ExtensionsLoader.load!(
  ActiveRecord::Base => Extensions::Database::MyQueryCounter,
  String => [
    Extensions::MyColoredStrings,
    Extensions::MyURLGenerator
  ]
)

The key of the mapping hash is the target, and the value is the extension(s). You can pass in a single extension as the value, or an Array of extensions. Both are valid.

This will include Extensions::Database::MyQueryCounter into ActiveRecord::Base, and Extensions::MyColoredStrings and Extensions::MyURLGenerator into String.

Using ExtensionsLoader to manage your Ruby extensions is much easier than the alternative, monkeypatching these classes individually.

Bug reports and pull requests are welcome on GitHub at https://github.com/andrewpage/extensions_loader.

The gem is available as open source under the terms of the MIT License.