> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.fly.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Running Tasks & Consoles

## Rails console

To access an interactive Rails console, run:

<CodeGroup>
  ```bash cmd theme={null}
  fly ssh console --pty -C "/rails/bin/rails console"
  ```

  ```output output theme={null}
  Loading production environment (Rails 7.0.4.2)
  irb(main):001:0>
  ```
</CodeGroup>

Then start using the console, but be careful! You're in a production environment.

<Info>
  The `--pty` flag tells the SSH server to run the command in a pseudo-terminal. You will generally need this only when running interactive commands, like the Rails console.
</Info>

<Info>
  If you get a `no such file or directory` error, your app may not be installed in the `/rails` directory. SSH in with `fly ssh console` and check your app's location, then adjust the path accordingly. Apps built with the [dockerfile generator](https://github.com/fly-apps/dockerfile-rails) use `/rails` as the working directory by default. You may also need to [set up your binstubs](#rails-tasks) with `bin/rails generate dockerfile --bin-cd`.
</Info>

## Interactive shell

To access an interactive shell as the `root` user, run:

<CodeGroup>
  ```bash cmd theme={null}
  fly ssh console --pty -C '/bin/bash'
  ```

  ```output output theme={null}
  #
  ```
</CodeGroup>

To access an interactive shell as the `rails` user, requires a tiny bit of setup:

```bash theme={null}
bin/rails generate dockerfile --sudo
```

Accept the changes to your Dockerfile, and then rerun `fly deploy`.

Once this is complete, you can create an interactive shell:

<CodeGroup>
  ```bash cmd theme={null}
  fly ssh console --pty -C 'sudo -iu rails'
  ```

  ```output output theme={null}
  $
  ```
</CodeGroup>

## Rails tasks

In order to run other Rails tasks, a small change is needed to your Rails
binstubs to set the current working directory.  The following command will
make the adjustment for you:

```bash theme={null}
bin/rails generate dockerfile --bin-cd
```

Accept the changes to your Dockerfile, and then rerun `fly deploy`.

Once this is complete, you can execute other commands on Fly, for example:

```bash theme={null}
fly ssh console -C "/rails/bin/rails db:migrate"
```

To list all the available tasks, run:

```bash theme={null}
fly ssh console -C "/rails/bin/rails help"
```

## Custom Rake tasks

You can create [Custom Rake Tasks](https://community.fly.io/) to
automate frequently used commands.  As an example, add the
following into `lib/tasks/fly.rake` to reduce the number of
keystrokes it takes to launch a console:

```ruby theme={null}
namespace :fly do
  task :ssh do
    sh 'fly ssh console --pty -C "sudo -iu rails"'
  end

  task :console do
    sh 'fly ssh console --pty -C "/rails/bin/rails console"'
  end

  task :dbconsole do
    sh 'fly ssh console --pty -C "/rails/bin/rails dbconsole"'
  end
end
```

You can run these tasks with `bin/rails fly:ssh`, `bin/rails fly:console`,
and `bin/rails fly:dbconsole` respectively.