The asset pipeline (which is actually backed by sprockets Show archive.org snapshot ) has a nice feature where templates ending in .jst are compiled into Javascript template functions. These templates can be rendered by calling JST['path/to/template'](template: 'variables'):

<!-- templates/hello.jst.ejs -->
<div>Hello, <span><%= name %></span>!</div>

// application.js
//= require templates/hello
$("#hello").html(JST["templates/hello"]({ name: "Sam" }));

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Whatever is in the <% ... %> is evaluated in Javascript. You can also use CoffeeScript here:

Sprockets supports two JavaScript template languages: EJS, for embedded JavaScript, and Eco, for embedded CoffeeScript. Both languages use the familiar <% … %> syntax for embedding logic in templates.

This allows you to e. g. write templates for Backbone views using Haml.