Amber Technology Intelligence

What is Amber?

Amber is a web application framework written in Crystal, a compiled language with Ruby-like syntax. It provides Rails-like conventions and developer experience while delivering the performance benefits of a compiled, statically-typed language. Amber compiles to native machine code for exceptional speed.

The framework embraces convention over configuration, offering generators for models, controllers, and views similar to Ruby on Rails. It includes an ORM called Granite, WebSocket support, asset pipeline, and environment-based configuration.

Amber is designed for developers who love Ruby's elegance but need better performance than Ruby can offer. Its type safety catches errors at compile time rather than runtime, making applications more reliable while maintaining the expressive, readable code style Ruby developers expect.

Amber Features

Performance: Compiled to native code. Low memory footprint. Fast HTTP handling. Efficient concurrency.

Granite ORM: Active Record pattern. Migrations. Validations. Relationships. Query builder.

Routing: RESTful routes. Resource routing. Route constraints. Pipeline middleware.

WebSockets: Built-in WebSocket support. Real-time applications. Channel abstraction. Broadcasting.

Generators: Scaffold generation. Model generators. Controller templates. Migration creation.

Templates: ECR (Embedded Crystal). Slang templates. View helpers. Layouts and partials.

Amber Use Cases

High-Performance APIs: REST APIs. GraphQL servers. Microservices. Data-intensive endpoints.

Real-Time Apps: Chat applications. Live dashboards. Collaboration tools. Notification systems.

Web Applications: Full-stack web apps. Content platforms. Business applications. SaaS products.

Ruby Migration: Rails app rewrites. Performance improvements. Type safety adoption. Code modernization.

Resource-Constrained: Container deployments. Low-memory environments. Edge computing. Embedded systems.

Concurrent Processing: Parallel workloads. Background jobs. Queue processing. Event handling.

Amber Code Examples

Controller Example

# src/controllers/posts_controller.cr
class PostsController < ApplicationController
  def index
    posts = Post.all
    render "index.ecr"
  end

  def show
    if post = Post.find(params["id"])
      render "show.ecr"
    else
      flash["error"] = "Post not found"
      redirect_to "/posts"
    end
  end

  def create
    post = Post.new(post_params)
    if post.save
      redirect_to "/posts/#{post.id}"
    else
      flash["error"] = "Failed to create post"
      render "new.ecr"
    end
  end

  private def post_params
    params.validation do
      required(:title, "Title required")
      required(:body, "Body required")
    end
  end
end

Model Example

# src/models/post.cr
class Post < Granite::Base
  adapter pg
  table_name posts

  column id : Int64, primary: true
  column title : String
  column body : String
  timestamps

  has_many :comments
  belongs_to :user

  validate :title, "Title too short", ->(post : Post) {
    (post.title.try(&.size) || 0) >= 5
  }
end

Amber Benefits

Performance: Compiled speed. Native binaries. Low latency. Efficient memory usage.

Type Safety: Compile-time checks. Fewer runtime errors. Better refactoring. Reliable code.

Ruby-Like: Familiar syntax. Rails conventions. Easy transition. Developer happiness.

Concurrency: Crystal fibers. Efficient I/O. Parallel processing. Scalable architecture.

Full-Stack: Complete framework. Built-in ORM. WebSocket support. Asset pipeline.

Modern: Active development. Growing ecosystem. Modern tooling. Crystal community.