I have some code that I would like to automatically execute on a per-project basis when I start up rails c. In one of my Rails 6 projects, I just created a .irbrc file at the top-level of the project, and it successfully executes as expected.

However, for a new Rails 7 (API-only) project that I am working on, the .irbrc file is ignored. I am using rvm, which wants to set the IRBRC environment variable to another file. However, even this config file isn’t executed. I’ve tried both unset IRBRC and export IRBRC=.irbrc, but neither of these by themselves solves the issue.

I finally added gem "irb" to my GEMFILE, ran bundle install. I then ran IRBC=.irbc rails c and then within the console session I invoked IRB.start and it finally loaded the script!

How can I get Rails 7 to properly load my project specific .irbc file when using the console (only)?