# avdi/naught

A toolkit for building Null Object classes in Ruby

Repository: https://github.com/avdi/naught
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/naught
Language: Ruby
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Last push: 2026-07-13T12:04:25+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 74/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 92, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4847, "days_push": 51, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1057, forks 48 (observed 2026-08-28T04:03:24.906309+00:00)

## What it is
Naught is a Ruby toolkit for building Null Object classes, supporting variations like nil-returning objects and infinitely chainable 'black hole' objects. It automates the boilerplate of implementing the Null Object design pattern.

## Use cases
- generate null object classes in ruby
- replace nil checks with null object pattern
- create a null logger that ignores all calls
- build a black hole object with infinite method chaining
- avoid noMethodError on optional dependencies

## When to choose
- you frequently pass optional collaborators and want to eliminate nil checks
- you want configurable null object variants without hand-writing no-op classes

## When to avoid
- your null object needs are trivial and a hand-written class suffices
- you are not working in Ruby

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: stable
- function: developer-tools
- domain: developer-tools, programming-languages
- platform: ruby
- tags: null-object-pattern, ruby-gem, design-patterns, oop

## Member repositories
- avdi/naught (main) score 74

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:03:24.906309+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T06:57:55.850618+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/avdi/naught (fetched 2026-08-28T04:03:24.906309+00:00, sha 33cb50aaaa77)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.