[irahul]

> So wouldn't you be best just cherry-picking your own gems?

I skimmed through the README. This project is picking up a default set of components needed for API. You can add or subtract components based on your needs. So instead of you cherry picking all your gems, you choose either none or some. For many people, having a default working set with non-needed components removed is good.

> Or using something barebones to begin with, like sinatra/padrino?

I have used sinatra and though I like it, I much prefer rails. Sinatra has its charm, but it's too open ended that in a big project, you end up creating half of rails yourself. Some people mount sinatra apps in their rails application, but I prefer letting Rails handle the api.