I have a Rails task: should I use script/runner or rake?

Question

For ad hoc Rails tasks we have a few implementation alternatives, chief among which would seem to be:

script/runner some_useful_thing

Answer 1

One thing I've done is just write normal ruby scripts and put them in the script/maintenance directory.

All you need to do to load rails and get access to all your models, etc, is put require '../../config/environment.rb' at the top of your file, then you're away.

Answer 2

For one off commands script/runner can be fine. For anything repeated, a rake task is easier in the long-run, and has a summary if you forget what it does.