+-----------------------+------------------+-----------------+ | | eager load paths | auto load paths | +-----------------------+------------------+-----------------+ | Rails 3 (development) | auto loaded | auto loaded | | Rails 4 (development) | auto loaded | auto loaded | | Rails 3 (production) | eager loaded | auto loaded | | Rails 4 (production) | eager loaded | eager loaded | +-----------------------+------------------+-----------------+ Same in Rails 3.2 and Rails 4 Rails defaults: eager_load: 'app/' autoload: nothing Eager load paths get globbed via path/**/*.rb Autoload paths are roots from which Const.underscore should match dir structure