Admin dashboards are essential for managing application data, providing non-technical users with an intuitive interface for CRUD operations.

🚀 In this guide, we will explore:
✔️ Why you need an admin dashboard
✔️ How Avo and Administrate work
✔️ Step-by-step setup of each
✔️ Comparison and choosing the right tool

1. Why Use an Admin Dashboard in Rails?

Instead of manually interacting with the database using rails console or ActiveRecord queries, an admin panel allows:

✅ Easier Data Management – Create, read, update, and delete records with a UI.
✅ User-Friendly Controls – Non-developers can manage data efficiently.
✅ Access Control – Restrict who can modify critical data.
✅ Performance Monitoring – View logs, analytics, and background jobs.

While ActiveAdmin has been a popular choice, Avo and Administrate provide modern, customizable solutions.

2. Setting Up an Admin Panel with Avo

Avo is a premium, modern admin panel that focuses on developer experience, performance, and extensibility.

Step 1: Install Avo

Add Avo to your Gemfile:

gem "avo"

Run:

bundle install  
rails generate avo:install  
rails db:migrate
Step 2: Define Your Resources

Create an admin panel for the User model:

rails generate avo:resource User

Modify the generated file (app/avo/resources/user_resource.rb):

class UserResource < Avo::BaseResource  
self.title = :email  
field :id, as: :id  
field :email, as: :text  
field :created_at, as: :date_time  
end
Step 3: Start the Avo Dashboard
rails server

Visit http://localhost:3000/admin to access your panel! 🚀

3. Setting Up an Admin Panel with Administrate

Administrate is an open-source alternative that auto-generates dashboards for your models.

Step 1: Install Administrate
bundle add administrate  
rails generate administrate:install
Step 2: Generate a Dashboard
rails generate administrate:dashboard User
Step 3: Customize the Dashboard

Modify app/dashboards/user_dashboard.rb:

class UserDashboard < Administrate::BaseDashboard  
ATTRIBUTE_TYPES = {  
id: Field::Number,  
email: Field::String,  
created_at: Field::DateTime  
}.freeze  
end
Step 4: Start the Server
rails server

Visit http://localhost:3000/admin 🎉

4. Avo vs. Administrate: Choosing the Right Tool

| Feature | Avo | Administrate |
|—————-|—–|————-|
| Cost | Paid | Free (Open Source) |
| UI Customization | High | Moderate |
| Code Generation | Yes | Yes |
| Performance | Faster | Slower with large data |
| Access Control | Built-in | Requires customization |

📌 Choose Avo if you need a sleek UI and out-of-the-box features.
📌 Choose Administrate if you prefer open-source, lightweight solutions.

Conclusion

Admin dashboards simplify data management in Rails applications.

💡 Recap:
✔️ Avo provides a modern, premium experience with great customization.
✔️ Administrate is open-source and offers a simple setup.
✔️ Both allow you to quickly build CRUD interfaces.

🚀 Next Steps: Try integrating Pundit or CanCanCan for role-based access control!