Boxey provides the [] element reference operator to ActiveRecord classes. # Installation Add this line to your Gemfile: `gem 'boxey'` # Configuration With the boxey gem installed, all ActiveRecord classes gain the [] method, which fetches by the class's primary_key by default. You may specify additional fields, presumably fields that validate uniqueness, by calling the boxey method. class User < ActiveRecord::Base boxey :id, :login, :email validates :login, uniqueness: true validates :email, uniqueness: true end # Use Given the configuration above: `User[1]` returns the first User with an id (or login or email) of `1`. `User['me@example.com']` returns the first User with an email (or id or login) of `'me@example.com'`. `[]` returns `nil` if no match is found.