How to allow users to create content without logging in (Rails, Devise)

Question

I'm creating a to-do list app and I want users to be able to create a list without logging in and only log in when they wish to save their list. Right now I'm using Devise, where I created a belongs_to association of the activity to the user. The save works if the user is logged in but not otherwise.

How can I allow users to add activities to the activities index without having them being logged in and have the activities be deleted on refresh unless they log in and save them?

Activities_Controller:

def create
    @activity = Activity.new(activity_params)
    authorize @activity
    if user_signed_in?
      @activity.user = current_user
      if @activity.save
        redirect_to activities_path
      else
        render :new
      end
    else
      @activity = Activity.new(activity_params)
      if @activity.save
        redirect_to activities_path
      else
        render :new
      end
    end
  end

Answer 1

before_action :authenticate_user!, except: [:new] try this

Answer 2

You could create a additional Policy that will not check for users.

# app/policies/not_mandatory_user_application_policy.rb
class NotMandatoryUserApplicationPolicy
  attr_reader :user, :record

  def initialize(user, record)
    # raise Pundit::NotAuthorizedError unless user

    @user = user
    @record = record.is_a?(Array) ? record.last : record
  end

  # ...
end

# app/policies/activity_policy.rb
class ActivityPolicy < NotMandatoryUserApplicationPolicy
  def new?
    true
  end

  # ...
end

This way you can distinguish between the policies from which you inherit whether a user must be present or not. With this way, the verification in the controllers remains the same.