---
title: "Generate Entity-Relationsip-Diagrams (ERD) from a Rails app"
author: "Yaroslav Shmarov"
date: "2021-10-13"
canonical_url: "https://blog.superails.com/gem-rails-erd"
markdown_url: "https://blog.superails.com/gem-rails-erd.md"
description: "Use gem rails-erd to generate Entity-Relationship-Diagrams (ERD) from your Rails app Add the gem to Gemfile Install graphviz dependency in the console Now when…"
tags: ["ruby","rails","ruby-on-rails","erd"]
license: "GNU AGPL v3. Credit Yaroslav Shmarov and link the canonical URL."
---

# Generate Entity-Relationsip-Diagrams (ERD) from a Rails app

Use [gem rails-erd](https://github.com/voormedia/rails-erd) to generate Entity-Relationship-Diagrams (ERD) from your Rails app

### Usage

1. Add the gem to Gemfile
```ruby
gem 'rails-erd', group: :development
```

2. Install graphviz dependency in the console
```sh
sudo apt-get install graphviz
```

3. Now when you run
```sh
bundle exec erd
```

It will generate `erd.pdf` in the root folder of your Rails app.

Here are some examples of what it can look like:

![rails-erd-pdf](https://blog.superails.com/assets/images/erd-view.png)

### Advanced usage

You can also create an `.erdconfig` file in the root folder [and add some configs](https://github.com/voormedia/rails-erd#configuration)