A Bit of History
Three years ago, I contacted a few internet friends to tell them I had made something and asked if they wanted to test it. It was the version 0.0.1, which isn't even up on rubygems.org. That's how uncertain I was of my Vue.JS and Rails SPA gem.
Then, December came, Hotwire dropped, and I quickly figured out I had to do a rewrite. March 2021 was the version 1.0 launch, and the first year was a bit sketchy. I didn't know if I was heading in the right direction, I did a few other projects and didn't focus too much on Avo, but folks started to pick it up by themselves and request features.
In March 2022, Avo 2 came out with most of the features I envisioned it to have, and that's when I count my full-time dedication to Avo.
Past year
March 2022 to the present was a wild time where we made a regular release schedule and stuck to it, pushing 38 major releases and countless new features on each one.
Besides the new features, we pushed support for tons of edge cases. I like to think about Avo as an ever-evolving piece of software that fixes issues for developers worldwide from different team sizes.
We worked with solo devs creating something for themselves and with teams of dev that ship multiple Avo apps within their organizations. Some build internal tools for their teams, and some build consumer-facing applications. Our testimonials page says it all.
The open beta
We've been working on Avo 3 for over eight months. We only planned to spend three months on it and cut back on shipping for Avo 2. We broke both our promises. We continued to support those who use Avo 2, bring new features, and cover even more edge cases.
But the day has come. Today we're releasing the open beta for Avo 3.
This open beta aims to bring more apps to the new version and get more feedback on the new things we shipped.
It's still beta, so it's not finished, so there might still be a few rough edges. Nothing we can't iron out in the next couple of weeks.
The changes
We didn't plan to change so many things from Avo 2, but we did it to improve the API and make it more consistent. It's a win-win for everyone.
The upgrade guide covers all changes you should make to your app. Depending on how large the app is, you could get those done in 20 minutes for a small one.
The new features
We also brought new features like Dynamic Filters, Resource scopes, Record previews on Index, Resource controls everywhere, Testing helpers, and more. We have a few more things in our pipeline which we didn't release yet, like Dynamic fields, Nested record creation, new ways to use custom view components in views and fields, resource tools mixed with fields, plugins API, and others.
How to get it
During the open beta period, we'll distribute the gems using our own gem server, so don't worry if you can't see it on RubyGems yet.
Head on to https://v3.avohq.io and https://docs.avohq.io/3.0/avo-3.html.
Rich open-source core and commercial tiers
The Community version is still free and has 70% of all Avo's features. We plan to add an open-source license to the repo when we launch the stable version.
There are two paid tiers now; Pro, which has all the Pro features that Avo 2 had (minus the show_controls) and a few more, and Advanced, which has more advanced features like Dynamic Filters, Dynamic Fields, and other goodies that save even more development time.
With this new structure, we made more Pro features free, like custom fields, resource tools, and custom tools, and enable more people to build more advanced experiences with the Community tier. In this way, we are ensuring that companies that afford it get to support our work and the free Community tier.
The Pro will cost $350/year and advanced $450/year, which is still very cheap considering the current development salaries and hourly rates.
The Pro and Advanced tiers are discounted while the open beta lasts and will grandfather those prices for the licenses sold after it ends.
By popular request, we are introducing a lifetime option for Avo 3. You can purchase a license for one app and get updates forever, which is ideal for client work.
We're still working on the license upgrade system so if you just renewed your Avo 2 license and would like to upgrade, send us a message about that.
The future
The near future is pretty straightforward. Cover loose ends, fix bugs, release the unreleased features, and return to the stable release schedule we are all used to.
The far future looks bright too. We will publish the plugins API soon, where you can contribute and distribute custom fields, custom views, themes, and more extensions.
We can't wait to see what you will build with it.