You have to specify the environment with -e env_name or RAILS_ENV=env_name if you want to run a script on the server.

Rails Long Term Support

Rails LTS provides security patches for old versions of Ruby on Rails (2.3, 3.2, 4.2 and 5.2)

• Prevents you from data breaches and liability risks
• Upgrade at your own pace
• Works with modern Rubies

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at Rails 2 it's script/runner

bundle exec script/runner -e env_name path/to/script.rb argument1 argument2 ...

at Rails 3 it's rails runner

RAILS_ENV=env_name bundle exec rails runner path/to/script.rb argument1 argument2 ...