A Rails modeling implementation of https://brandur.org/soft-deletion

stowaway.rb

create_table :stowaway_records do |t|
  t.string :record_type,      null: false
  t.jsonb :record_attributes, null: false, default: {}
  t.timestamps
  t.index :record_type
end

class Stowaway::Record < ActiveRecord::Base
  def self.preserve(record)
    create! record_type: record.class, record_attributes: record.attributes
  end

  def record
    record_type.constantize.then do
      _1.new record_attributes.slice(*_1.attribute_names)
    end
  end

  def recreate!
    transaction do
      record.save!
      destroy!
    end
  end
end

class ApplicationRecord < ActiveRecord::Base
  has_stowaway # Would do this:
  def self.stowaway = Stowaway::Record.where(record_type: self)
  before_destroy { Stowaway::Record.preserve(self) }
end