---
title: "Auto Require Ruby Gems"
description: "Automatically install missing Ruby gems when requiring them. Practical notes and code examples on Auto Require Ruby Gems by."
url: "https://h3manth.com/scribe/auto-require-ruby-gems/"
canonical_url: "https://h3manth.com/scribe/auto-require-ruby-gems/"
markdown_url: "https://h3manth.com/scribe/blog/auto-require-ruby-gems.md"
publishDate: "2013-07-27T00:00:00.000Z"
author: "Hemanth HM"
category: "ruby"
tags: ["ruby"]
word_count: 83
reading_time_minutes: 1
x_markdown_tokens: 241
content_signal: "ai-train=yes, search=yes, ai-input=yes"
---

# Auto Require Ruby Gems

> Automatically install missing Ruby gems when requiring them. Practical notes and code examples on Auto Require Ruby Gems by.

A simple trick to auto-install missing gems when requiring:

```ruby
alias old_require require

def load_gem(gem)
  old_require gem
rescue LoadError => e
  print "'#{gem}' can't be found, trying to install it..."
  system("gem install #{gem} --no-ri --no-rdoc")
  Gem.clear_paths() && require(gem) && puts("loading '#{gem}' ok!")
end

## Usage
ruby
> require 'xkcd'
'xkcd' can't be found, trying to install it..
Fetching: xkcd-1.0.1.gem (100%)
Successfully installed xkcd-1.0.1
2 gems installed
=> nil
```

> **Note**: Use [Bundler](http://bundler.io) for proper dependency management. This is just a fun hack!