VA-Owned Gems

Last Updated: December 2025

Purpose: This document provides a centralized reference for all VA-owned and VA-forked gems used in vets-api, including their sources, ownership, maintenance status, and security considerations.

Summary

VA Original Gems (4)

breakers
vets_json_schema
bgs-ext
betamocks

VA Forked Gems (4)

connect_vbms - upstream abandoned
apivore - upstream abandoned
fhir_client - upstream active
govdelivery-tms - upstream abandoned

Complete Gem Reference

Gem	Location	Original Gem (if fork)	Ownership / Maintainers	Description	Latest Version	Current Version (vets-api, as of Dec '25)
connect_vbms	Fork Upstream Abandoned	18F/connect_vbms (archived Dec 2017)	adhocteam/connect_vbms Platform SRE	Ruby client for VBMS eFolder Service API	v2.1.1 (Aug 2024)	v2.1.1
breakers	Original Active	N/A (original)	department-of-veterans-affairs/breakers + RubyGems Platform, Health Apps/OCTO, VA Mobile App	Circuit breaker pattern for Faraday HTTP requests using Redis	1.0.1 (Jun 2025)	1.0
apivore	Fork Upstream Abandoned	westfieldlabs/apivore (unmaintained since Feb 2017)	department-of-veterans-affairs/apivore Platform SRE	Test Rails APIs against OpenAPI/Swagger specs (Rails 6+ compatible fork)	v2.1.0.vsp	v2.1.0.vsp
vets_json_schema	Original Active	N/A (original)	department-of-veterans-affairs/vets-json-schema Platform SRE, BIO-Pingwind, Education Data Migration	JSON schemas for http://VA.gov form validation (frontend/backend contract)	25.2.24	25.2.36
fhir_client	Fork Upstream Active	fhir-crucible/fhir_client (MITRE, active)	department-of-veterans-affairs/fhir_client Platform SRE, VA Mobile App	Ruby FHIR client for healthcare data servers	v6.1.0	v6.1.0
govdelivery-tms	Fork Upstream Abandoned	granicus/govdelivery-tms-ruby (last commit Aug 2020)	department-of-veterans-affairs/govdelivery-tms-ruby Platform SRE, VA Mobile App	GovDelivery TMS API client for email/SMS	v4.2.0	v4.1.0
bgs-ext	Original Active	N/A (original)	department-of-veterans-affairs/bgs-ext Pension and Burial, Platform SRE, VA Mobile App	Client for BGS (Benefits Gateway Services) internal VA webservices	0.23.3 (Nov 2025)	0.23.3
betamocks	Original Active	N/A (original)	department-of-veterans-affairs/betamocks Platform SRE, Health Apps/OCTO	Faraday middleware for mocking APIs via request recording/replay	0.11.0	0.11.0

Detailed Gem Information

connect_vbms

Purpose	Communicate with VBMS eFolder Service API for veteran benefits documents
Why Forked	Original 18F repository was archived in December 2017; active development moved to AdHoc
Status	Upstream Abandoned — Fork is maintained by AdHoc
Gemfile Entry	`gem 'connect_vbms', git: 'https://github.com/adhocteam/connect_vbms', tag: 'v2.1.1'` (View in Gemfile)

breakers

Purpose	Implements circuit breaker pattern to handle backend service outages gracefully
Status	Actively Maintained
Gemfile Entry	`gem 'breakers'` (View in Gemfile)

apivore

Purpose	Test Rails APIs against OpenAPI/Swagger specifications
Why Forked	Original westfieldlabs/apivore is unmaintained (last release Feb 2017) and incompatible with Rails 6+
Status	Upstream Abandoned — VA maintains fork for Rails 6+ compatibility
Gemfile Entry	`gem 'apivore', git: 'https://github.com/department-of-veterans-affairs/apivore', tag: 'v2.1.0.vsp'` (View in Gemfile)
Recommendation	Consider migrating to maintained alternatives like `committee` or `openapi_first`

vets_json_schema

Purpose	Centralized JSON schemas for http://VA.gov form validation across frontend (vets-website) and backend (vets-api)
Access	Requires Platform Orientation for contribution access
Status	Actively Maintained
Gemfile Entry	`gem 'vets_json_schema', git: 'https://github.com/department-of-veterans-affairs/vets-json-schema', branch: 'master'` (View in Gemfile)

fhir_client

Purpose	Ruby client for FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources) servers
Why Forked	VA needed OAuth2 gem updates and Faraday 2.0+ compatibility
Original	fhir-crucible/fhir_client (MITRE Corporation) — still active at v6.0.0
Status	Upstream Active — Monitor for security patches; consider contributing VA changes back
Gemfile Entry	`gem 'fhir_client', git: 'https://github.com/department-of-veterans-affairs/fhir_client.git', tag: 'v6.1.0'` (View in Gemfile)

govdelivery-tms

Purpose	Client for GovDelivery TMS email/SMS transactional messaging API
Why Forked	VA needed Faraday 2.0+ compatibility
Original	Granicus govdelivery-tms-ruby v3.0.0
Status	Upstream Abandoned — Last upstream commit Aug 2020; VA maintains fork
Gemfile Entry	`gem 'govdelivery-tms', git: 'https://github.com/department-of-veterans-affairs/govdelivery-tms-ruby.git', tag: 'v4.2.0'` (View in Gemfile)

bgs-ext

Purpose	Connect to VA Benefits Gateway Services (BGS/BEP) internal webservices
Contributors	27 contributors, 542 commits
Last Activity	November 25, 2025
Status	Actively Maintained
Gemfile Entry	`gem 'bgs_ext', git: 'https://github.com/department-of-veterans-affairs/bgs-ext.git', require: 'bgs', ref: 'a68ea30'` (View in Gemfile)

betamocks

Purpose	Faraday middleware for mocking APIs via request recording/replay during local development
Use Cases	Mock APIs that are: behind VPN, unreliable, missing dev environments, or rate-limited
Status	Actively Maintained
Gemfile Entry	`gem 'betamocks', git: 'https://github.com/department-of-veterans-affairs/betamocks', branch: 'master'` (View in Gemfile)