Choices to make in a new Rails project

TechDecisions.md

Team Support

Source Code Control

git (private server)
Alternative: github

Time Tracking

Cashboard Alternative: client system

Management/Document Repo

2nd git repo
Alternative: Basecamp

Chat

Skype
Alternative: IRC, Campfire

Issue Tracking

Pivotal Tracker

Continuous Integration

Jenkins

Monitoring

Exception Tracking

Errbit
Alternative: Exception Notifier, Airbrake

Performance Monitoring

Scout
Alternative: New Relic

Uptime Checking

Pingdom (though there are plenty of other good alternatives)

Analytics

Google Analytics

Alternative: gaug.es

Basics

Framework

Rails 3.1

Alternative: Sinatra

Database

PostgreSQL 9.x
Alternative: PostgreSQL 8.4

NoSQL

Redis, MongoDB

View Authoring

Slim
Alternative: ERB, HAML

Form Builder

None.
Alternative: Formtastic

CSS Authoring

Sass
Alternative: CSS, LESS

JavaScript Library

Zepto

Alternative: jQuery

Controller Abstraction

None, what's built into Rails 3.1 is good enough

UI Framework

320 and Up
Alternative: Twitter Bootstrap

Testing

BDD

None. Alternative: Cucumber

Test Library

Test::Unit
Alternative: Rspec

JavaScript Testing

Jasmine

Alternative: Vows

Integration Testing

capybara and jasmine-headless-webkit Alternative: capybara-webkit, akephalos, phantom.js with ghostbuster

Test Support

Mocha, Fabrication, VCR

Deployment

Main Deployment tool

None

Alternative: Capistrano if not on Heroku

Library Distribution

Bundler

Asset Packaging

Rails 3 Asset Pipeline
Alternative: Jammit

Support Libraries

Authentication/Authorization

NIH w/ Warden

Alternative: Devise, CanCan, maybe OmniAuth

Attachments

Carrierwave
Alternative: Paperclip

Credit Card Processing

Hand-rolled code

Infrastructure

Hosting Company

Heroku
Alternative: RimuHosting, Rackspace

Web Server

Heroku
Alternative: nginx + Thin

Email Server

Sendgrid

Server Management

None

Backup Strategy

TBD

Credit Card Gateway

Braintree with transparent redirect

Alternative: Stripe, Authorize.net direct post