Pry

Pry is a powerful alternative to Ruby’s default REPL that doubles as a runtime exploration and debugging toolkit. It offers command-driven navigation of objects and modules, syntax-highlighted input, command history, and the ability to switch contexts or “cd” into objects to inspect their methods and state. Features like show-source and show-doc reveal the implementation or documentation of methods without leaving the console, while edit-method lets you jump into an editor, modify code, and reload it on the fly. Dropping binding.pry into application code creates interactive breakpoints, making it easy to poke at variables, step through logic (with plugins like pry-byebug), and test hypotheses. An extensible command system and a rich plugin ecosystem add profiling, colorized output, paging, and Git integration. In day-to-day development, Pry shortens the feedback loop and turns debugging into an exploratory, conversational workflow.