I need to find a good Ruby on Rails library that works with Facebook API for my new project. When I search GitHub, I get tons of results but I can’t figure out which ones are actually worth using. They all look similar and I don’t know how to pick the right one. What do you guys look for when choosing between different repos? Do you have any tips for finding quality projects on GitHub or do you usually hear about good libraries from other places first?
I learned to check docs quality the hard way - got burned by libraries that looked great but had awful documentation. Make sure the README actually shows you how to get started, not just what it does. For Rails gems, I check download stats on rubygems.org since that’s more telling than GitHub stars. Also peek at the repo structure to see if they’re serious about testing. With Facebook API gems specifically, verify they support the current API version. Facebook kills old versions fast.
Community feedback tells you everything. I check the issues section first - what problems are people hitting? Are maintainers actually responding? Tons of open issues with radio silence? Hard pass. I also dig around to see if real companies use it in production. Check the network tab or just Google it. For Facebook API gems, cross-reference the last update with Facebook’s API changelog. They’re constantly deprecating stuff. Sometimes a gem with fewer stars but active maintenance beats a popular abandoned one every time.
the contributors tab is seriously underrated - if it’s just one person maintaining everything, that’s a red flag. look for multiple active contributors and check where they work. also, always run bundle audit before using any gem. some old facebook api gems have known vulnerabilities that never got fixed.
totally get it! i’d say start by checking the last commit date, that tells you if it’s still active. also, don’t overlook issues and pull requests, see how the maintainers respond. good luck!