An introduction to the features of the Hobo extensions to Ruby on Rails, focusing on rapid development. Hobo is a collection of open-source gems/plugins for Ruby on Rails that help you build anything from throwaway prototypes and internal utilities to meticulously crafted full-blown web apps. The goal: write less code. So much less in fact that it starts to feel like you’re not implementing your app at all, you’re just declaring what you want. It turns out that the hard part is not going fast, but staying flexible. This is where we think Hobo really shines. If you’ve played with “app builders†before, you’ll know about The Wall. The Wall is the point you reach where you have to give up and do it the old way because that one feature you really need just isn’t going to happen. Hobo doesn’t have one.