Why does the Rails command force a help message for the `new` command?

Question

Strangely, I cannot execute typical Rails commands in certain situations, such as rails s and rails c.

I have found that this occurs on a certain feature branch, and has also occasionally occurred in the past as well, but currently works on my develop branch.

I reversed any .rb files that could be loaded and have any effect, but that didn't help, and the other other changes are .sh files and readme updates.

Text I do not want to see:

> rails
Usage:
  rails new APP_PATH [options]

Options:
  -r, [--ruby=PATH]                                      # Path to the Ruby binary of your choice
                                                         # Default: /Users/jsmall/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.1.5/bin/ruby
  -b, [--builder=BUILDER]                                # Path to a application builder (can be a filesystem path or URL)
  -m, [--template=TEMPLATE]                              # Path to an application template (can be a filesystem path or URL)
      [--skip-gemfile], [--no-skip-gemfile]              # Don't create a Gemfile
      [--skip-bundle], [--no-skip-bundle]                # Don't run bundle install
  -G, [--skip-git], [--no-skip-git]                      # Skip Git ignores and keeps
  -O, [--skip-active-record], [--no-skip-active-record]  # Skip Active Record files
  -S, [--skip-sprockets], [--no-skip-sprockets]          # Skip Sprockets files
  -d, [--database=DATABASE]                              # Preconfigure for selected database (options: mysql/oracle/postgresql/sqlite3/frontbase/ibm_db/sqlserver/jdbcmysql/jdbcsqlite3/jdbcpostgresql/jdbc)
                                                         # Default: sqlite3
  -j, [--javascript=JAVASCRIPT]                          # Preconfigure for selected JavaScript library
                                                         # Default: jquery
  -J, [--skip-javascript], [--no-skip-javascript]        # Skip JavaScript files
      [--dev], [--no-dev]                                # Setup the application with Gemfile pointing to your Rails checkout
      [--edge], [--no-edge]                              # Setup the application with Gemfile pointing to Rails repository
  -T, [--skip-test-unit], [--no-skip-test-unit]          # Skip Test::Unit files
      [--old-style-hash], [--no-old-style-hash]          # Force using old style hash (:foo => 'bar') on Ruby >= 1.9

Runtime options:
  -f, [--force]                    # Overwrite files that already exist
  -p, [--pretend], [--no-pretend]  # Run but do not make any changes
  -q, [--quiet], [--no-quiet]      # Suppress status output
  -s, [--skip], [--no-skip]        # Skip files that already exist

Rails options:
  -h, [--help], [--no-help]        # Show this help message and quit
  -v, [--version], [--no-version]  # Show Rails version number and quit

Description:
    The 'rails new' command creates a new Rails application with a default
    directory structure and configuration at the path you specify.

    You can specify extra command-line arguments to be used every time
    'rails new' runs in the .railsrc configuration file in your home directory.

    Note that the arguments specified in the .railsrc file don't affect the
    defaults values shown above in this help message.

Example:
    rails new ~/Code/Ruby/weblog

    This generates a skeletal Rails installation in ~/Code/Ruby/weblog.
    See the README in the newly created application to get going.

Text I want to see:

> rails
Usage: rails COMMAND [ARGS]

The most common rails commands are:
 generate    Generate new code (short-cut alias: "g")
 console     Start the Rails console (short-cut alias: "c")
 server      Start the Rails server (short-cut alias: "s")
 dbconsole   Start a console for the database specified in config/database.yml
             (short-cut alias: "db")
 new         Create a new Rails application. "rails new my_app" creates a
             new application called MyApp in "./my_app"

In addition to those, there are:
 application  Generate the Rails application code
 destroy      Undo code generated with "generate" (short-cut alias: "d")
 benchmarker  See how fast a piece of code runs
 profiler     Get profile information from a piece of code
 plugin       Install a plugin
 runner       Run a piece of code in the application environment (short-cut alias: "r")

All commands can be run with -h (or --help) for more information.

Answer 1

I found that I did not have a bin folder in the root of my application. Quickly fixed by:

bundle exec rake rails:update:bin

Props to Pradeep over at:
Rails server does not start by command "Rails s"

Answer 2

By randomly reading this answer (StackOverflow - Why does my rails command always create a new application?), it gave me the idea to check my script folder in the project. I had moved it earlier, and this was the reason Rails kept trying to get me to create a new project through that specific help screen.

Moving the rails command back into the script folder helped rails detect my project, and the script allowed me to use the other commands again.

I shall ask a new question here about why I did that, and how to get around it.

Answer 3

This fixed it for me:

bundle exec rake app:update:bin

Answer 4

Rails 7.1+

Starting from Rails 7.1 the rails -h command prints its own help message.

This is an example output outside of a Rails project:

# ...
You must specify a command:

  new          Create a new Rails application. "rails new my_app" creates a
               new application called MyApp in "./my_app"
  plugin new   Create a new Rails railtie or engine

All commands can be run with -h (or --help) for more information.

Inside a Rails application directory, some common commands are:

  console      Start the Rails console
  server       Start the Rails server
  test         Run tests except system tests
# ...

Inside a Rails project, it looks slightly different:

# ...
You must specify a command. The most common commands are:

  generate     Generate new code (short-cut alias: "g")
  console      Start the Rails console (short-cut alias: "c")
  server       Start the Rails server (short-cut alias: "s")
  test         Run tests except system tests (short-cut alias: "t")
  test:system  Run system tests
  dbconsole    Start a console for the database specified in config/database.yml
               (short-cut alias: "db")

  plugin new   Create a new Rails railtie or engine
# ...

Sources:

• Show common commands when calling rails -h outside a Rails dir.
• Show usage example for rails --help.