# Show a startup banner in \`bin/rails console\`

**URL:** <https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/t/show-a-startup-banner-in-bin-rails-console/91469>\
**Category:** rubyonrails-core\
**Tags:** feature\
**Created:** [August 5, 2026, 2:57pm UTC](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/t/show-a-startup-banner-in-bin-rails-console/91469 "2026-08-05T14:57:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![gimbaro](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/rubyonrails/user_avatar/discuss.rubyonrails.org/gimbaro/32/14342_2.png) [@gimbaro](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/u/gimbaro)\
**Post date:** [August 5, 2026, 2:57pm UTC](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/t/show-a-startup-banner-in-bin-rails-console/91469/1 "2026-08-05T14:57:58Z")

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[ruby/irb#1183](https://github.com/ruby/irb/pull/1183) added a startup banner to irb, featuring a small gem logo, version, a rotating tip, and the current directory, shown when IRB is launched.

`bin/rails console` never goes through `IRB.start`: `Rails::Console` sets up prompts/backtrace filtering and calls `IRB::Irb.new.run(IRB.conf)` directly. So that banner never shows up in a Rails console session.

I’d like to propose a Rails-flavored equivalent for `bin/rails console`:

- Reuse IRB’s existing gem-logo art
- Version line shows `Rails <version> - Ruby <version> (<env>)`
- The rotating tip is about the Rails console helpers (`app`, `helper`, `controller`, `reload!`) instead of IRB’s generic tips.
- The directory line shows `Rails.root` instead of raw `Dir.pwd`.

I have a working patch in `railties/lib/rails/commands/console/irb_console.rb` plus tests, I would be happy to open a PR if this seems like a good idea.

Here’s how it would appear

 ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/rubyonrails/original/2X/4/4834dea87f4fad15acc99bb17377b33811f4a615.png)

(I’m currently working on a version with a Rails logo instead of the irb default)

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**Author:** ![gimbaro](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/rubyonrails/user_avatar/discuss.rubyonrails.org/gimbaro/32/14342_2.png) [@gimbaro](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/u/gimbaro)\
**Post date:** [August 5, 2026, 4:19pm UTC](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/t/show-a-startup-banner-in-bin-rails-console/91469/2 "2026-08-05T16:19:30Z")

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Alternatively here’s the default rails logo converted:

Big Version:

 ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/rubyonrails/original/2X/6/60bc1e737d6a2c019f6ef92b679b360df3e01166.jpeg)

Small Version:

 ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/rubyonrails/original/2X/1/11771cfc9f1789074738b62eb0085d7350f312b3.jpeg)

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**Author:** ![Stan\_Lo](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/rubyonrails/user_avatar/discuss.rubyonrails.org/stan_lo/32/1600_2.png) [@Stan\_Lo](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/u/Stan_Lo)\
**Post date:** [August 5, 2026, 5:00pm UTC](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/t/show-a-startup-banner-in-bin-rails-console/91469/3 "2026-08-05T17:00:39Z")

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Hi @gimbaro, I added the IRB banner and I’m glad that you like the idea! I definitely think Rails console could use a nice banner too.

If you want my opinion: the small version looks good, but maybe small tweaking on the logo’s shape would make it even better.

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**Author:** ![gimbaro](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/rubyonrails/user_avatar/discuss.rubyonrails.org/gimbaro/32/14342_2.png) [@gimbaro](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/u/gimbaro)\
**Post date:** [August 5, 2026, 5:37pm UTC](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/t/show-a-startup-banner-in-bin-rails-console/91469/4 "2026-08-05T17:37:15Z")

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Hey @Stan_Lo . I don’t like the banner: I LOVE it ahah. Sadly I’m not very good with ASCII Art, so I’m trying to tweak it with some scripts, starting from the 32x32 favicon. I’ll keep on trying, your opinion is super useful, thanks a lot.

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**Author:** ![gimbaro](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/rubyonrails/user_avatar/discuss.rubyonrails.org/gimbaro/32/14342_2.png) [@gimbaro](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/u/gimbaro)\
**Post date:** [August 5, 2026, 6:35pm UTC](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/t/show-a-startup-banner-in-bin-rails-console/91469/5 "2026-08-05T18:35:31Z")

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![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/rubyonrails/original/2X/a/ab6ed1f0660ae4ca665a978ec5819d1a28a5a95c.png)

Better Version

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**Author:** ![Ufuk\_Kayserilioglu](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/rubyonrails/user_avatar/discuss.rubyonrails.org/ufuk_kayserilioglu/32/792_2.png) [@Ufuk\_Kayserilioglu](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/u/Ufuk_Kayserilioglu)\
**Post date:** [August 5, 2026, 7:27pm UTC](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/t/show-a-startup-banner-in-bin-rails-console/91469/6 "2026-08-05T19:27:53Z")

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I have these two options that I think might be even better:

```ruby
  ⠀⢀⠀⢡⣶⣿⠟⡛⠢
 ⠠⠀⣰⣿⣿⠁⠄⠀⠀
 ⠶⢠⣿⣿⣿⠰⠆⠀⠀
 ⠶⢸⣿⣿⣿⡄⠰⠆⠀

```

and

```ruby
 ⠀⠀⠀⠄⣨⣴⣿⣿⠿⠳⠤
 ⠀⠀⠂⣴⣿⣿⠏⢀⠀⠁⠀
 ⠀⠁⣸⣿⣿⣿⢀⡀⠀⠀⠀
 ⠛⢠⣿⣿⣿⣿⠈⠁⠀⠀⠀
 ⠶⢸⣿⣿⣿⣿⡆⠛⠀⠀⠀

```

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![gimbaro](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/rubyonrails/user_avatar/discuss.rubyonrails.org/gimbaro/32/14342_2.png) [@gimbaro](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/u/gimbaro)\
**Post date:** [August 6, 2026, 12:46pm UTC](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/t/show-a-startup-banner-in-bin-rails-console/91469/7 "2026-08-06T12:46:56Z")

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That’s an amazing improvement. I co-authored your change in my fork, thanks a lot 😃

I also created the PR here: [Show a startup banner in `bin/rails console` by Gimbardo · Pull Request #58393 · rails/rails · GitHub](https://github.com/rails/rails/pull/58393)