diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 6d59a0e1..068f9755 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Run Rubocop
         run: bundle exec rubocop
 
-  test_generated_apps:
+  apps: # GitHub UI truncates job names so keep this short
     permissions:
       contents: read
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
@@ -82,21 +82,22 @@ jobs:
         js_package_manager:
           - name: npm
             installer: npm
-          - name: yarn_berry
-            installer: yarn
-            linker: pnp
-          - name: yarn_berry
-            installer: yarn
-            linker: node-modules
-          - name: yarn_berry
-            installer: yarn
-            linker: pnpm
-          - name: yarn_classic
-            installer: yarn
-          - name: pnpm
-            installer: pnpm
-          - name: bun
-            installer: bun
+          # TODO: temp disable to make CI easier to grok
+          # - name: yarn_berry
+          #   installer: yarn
+          #   linker: pnp
+          # - name: yarn_berry
+          #   installer: yarn
+          #   linker: node-modules
+          # - name: yarn_berry
+          #   installer: yarn
+          #   linker: pnpm
+          # - name: yarn_classic
+          #   installer: yarn
+          # - name: pnpm
+          #   installer: pnpm
+          # - name: bun
+          #   installer: bun
         variant:
           - name: defaults
             config_path: 'ackama_rails_template.config.yml'
@@ -203,7 +204,9 @@ jobs:
           # "react", "sidekiq" etc.
           APP_NAME: ${{ matrix.variant.name }}-demo
           CONFIG_PATH: ${{ matrix.variant.config_path }}
-          SKIPS: '--skip-javascript --skip-docker ${{ matrix.variant.skips }}'
+          SKIPS:
+            '--skip-javascript --skip-docker --skip-kamal --skip-solid ${{
+            matrix.variant.skips }}'
           PGUSER: postgres
           PGPASSWORD: postgres
           PGHOST: localhost
diff --git a/Gemfile.lock b/Gemfile.lock
index 6e1f5cd3..a0574593 100644
--- a/Gemfile.lock
+++ b/Gemfile.lock
@@ -83,4 +83,4 @@ DEPENDENCIES
   rubocop-rspec (~> 2.12)
 
 BUNDLED WITH
-   2.3.11
+   2.5.23
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index a4267a35..16d99b43 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -193,7 +193,7 @@ $ wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ackama/rails-template/main/ackama_rails
 
 # Create a new app using the template. Template options will be taken from
 # ./ackama_rails_template.config.yml
-$ rails new my_app --no-rc --database=postgresql --skip-javascript --skip-docker --template=https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ackama/rails-template/main/template.rb
+$ rails new my_app --no-rc --database=postgresql --skip-javascript --skip-docker --skip-kamal --skip-solid --template=https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ackama/rails-template/main/template.rb
 
 # Example 2
 # #########
@@ -201,7 +201,7 @@ $ rails new my_app --no-rc --database=postgresql --skip-javascript --skip-docker
 # Create a custom config YAML file, saving as ./my_custom_config.yml
 
 # Template options will be taken from ../my_custom_config.yml (relative to the new app directory)
-$ CONFIG_PATH=../my_custom_config.yml rails new my_app --no-rc --database=postgresql --skip-javascript --skip-docker --template=https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ackama/rails-template/main/template.rb
+$ CONFIG_PATH=../my_custom_config.yml rails new my_app --no-rc --database=postgresql --skip-javascript --skip-docker --skip-kamal --skip-solid --template=https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ackama/rails-template/main/template.rb
 ```
 
 Here are some additional options you can add to this command. We don't
@@ -230,6 +230,8 @@ To make this the default Rails application template on your system, create a
 -d postgresql
 --skip-javascript
 --skip-docker
+--skip-kamal
+--skip-solid
 -m https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ackama/rails-template/main/template.rb
 ```
 
diff --git a/target_versions.yml b/target_versions.yml
index eadfffcc..8191b681 100644
--- a/target_versions.yml
+++ b/target_versions.yml
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 #
 # This is stored in a separate file so we can share it between the template and
 # our CI configuration.
-target_rails_major_minor: '7.2' # specify as major.minor
+target_rails_major_minor: '8.0' # specify as major.minor
 
 # Set this to the minimum version of Ruby that the chosen Rails version supports.
-minimum_ruby_major_minor: '3.1'
+minimum_ruby_major_minor: '3.2'
diff --git a/template.rb b/template.rb
index 55d58014..9a1c0ac4 100644
--- a/template.rb
+++ b/template.rb
@@ -147,6 +147,8 @@ def apply_template! # rubocop:disable Metrics/MethodLength, Metrics/AbcSize, Met
   # but also after `shakapacker:install` and after Rails has initialized the git
   # repo
   after_bundle do # rubocop:disable Metrics/BlockLength
+    TERMINAL.puts_header "START after_bundle block"
+
     require_package_json_gem
 
     apply "variants/backend-base/lib/template.rb"
@@ -157,6 +159,7 @@ def apply_template! # rubocop:disable Metrics/MethodLength, Metrics/AbcSize, Met
     # its own `spec/` directory
     remove_dir "test"
 
+    TERMINAL.puts_header "START bin/setup"
     run_with_clean_bundler_env "bin/setup"
 
     apply "variants/frontend-base/template.rb"
@@ -231,8 +234,8 @@ def apply_template! # rubocop:disable Metrics/MethodLength, Metrics/AbcSize, Met
 
     # erblint does not like some of Rails auto-generated ERB code e.g.
     # `app/views/layouts/mailer.html.erb` so we auto-correct it.
-    copy_file "variants/backend-base/.erb-lint.yml", ".erb-lint.yml"
-    run_with_clean_bundler_env "bundle exec erblint --autocorrect ."
+    copy_file "variants/backend-base/.erb_lint.yml", ".erb_lint.yml"
+    run_with_clean_bundler_env "bundle exec erb_lint --autocorrect ."
     git add: "-A ."
     git commit: "-n -m 'Set up erblint'"
 
@@ -249,6 +252,8 @@ def apply_template! # rubocop:disable Metrics/MethodLength, Metrics/AbcSize, Met
 
     # Run prettier one last time to ensure that everything is formatted
     apply_prettier_all_over
+
+    TERMINAL.puts_header "END after_bundle block"
   end
 end
 
diff --git a/variants/accessibility/Gemfile.rb b/variants/accessibility/Gemfile.rb
index f9470ea4..a4328f20 100644
--- a/variants/accessibility/Gemfile.rb
+++ b/variants/accessibility/Gemfile.rb
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+TERMINAL.puts_header "Installing accessibility checking gems"
+
 insert_into_file "Gemfile", after: /gem "selenium-webdriver"\n/ do
   <<~GEMS
 
diff --git a/variants/backend-base/.erb-lint.yml b/variants/backend-base/.erb_lint.yml
similarity index 100%
rename from variants/backend-base/.erb-lint.yml
rename to variants/backend-base/.erb_lint.yml
diff --git a/variants/backend-base/Gemfile.tt b/variants/backend-base/Gemfile.tt
index 5dddbee0..b861dab1 100644
--- a/variants/backend-base/Gemfile.tt
+++ b/variants/backend-base/Gemfile.tt
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ ruby File.read(".ruby-version")
 gem "rails", "<%= Rails.version %>"
 gem "puma"
 gem "pg"
-gem 'dotenv-rails', require: "dotenv/load"
+gem "dotenv-rails", require: "dotenv/load"
 gem "bootsnap", require: false
 
 gem "shakapacker"
@@ -15,10 +15,13 @@ gem "okcomputer"
 gem "sentry-ruby"
 gem "sentry-rails"
 
+# Use Active Model has_secure_password [https://guides.rubyonrails.org/active_model_basics.html#securepassword]
+# gem "bcrypt", "~> 3.1.7"
+
 gem "rack-canonical-host"
 
-# The original asset pipeline for Rails [https://github.com/rails/sprockets-rails]
-gem "sprockets-rails"
+# The modern asset pipeline for Rails [https://github.com/rails/propshaft]
+gem "propshaft"
 
 # Hotwire's SPA-like page accelerator [https://turbo.hotwired.dev]
 gem "turbo-rails"
diff --git a/variants/backend-base/config/environments/production.rb b/variants/backend-base/config/environments/production.rb
index eeea4680..917d9b07 100644
--- a/variants/backend-base/config/environments/production.rb
+++ b/variants/backend-base/config/environments/production.rb
@@ -1,13 +1,3 @@
-insert_into_file "config/environments/production.rb",
-                 after: /# config\.assets\.css_compressor = :sass\n/ do
-  <<-RUBY
-
-  # Disable minification since it adds a *huge* amount of time to precompile.
-  # Anyway, gzip alone gets us about 70% of the benefits of minify+gzip.
-  config.assets.css_compressor = false
-  RUBY
-end
-
 gsub_file! "config/environments/production.rb",
            "config.force_ssl = true",
            <<~RUBY
@@ -46,10 +36,7 @@
            'ENV.fetch("RAILS_LOG_LEVEL", "info")',
            'ENV.fetch("RAILS_LOG_LEVEL", ENV.fetch("LOG_LEVEL", "info"))'
 
-gsub_file! "config/environments/production.rb",
-           "ActiveSupport::Logger.new(STDOUT)",
-           "ActiveSupport::Logger.new($stdout)"
-
+# TODO: https://github.com/ackama/rails-template/issues/569
 insert_into_file "config/environments/production.rb",
                  after: /.*config\.public_file_server\.enabled.*\n/ do
   <<~'RUBY'
@@ -81,7 +68,6 @@
     config.public_file_server.headers = {
       "Cache-Control" => "public, s-maxage=#{365.days.seconds}, max-age=#{365.days.seconds}"
     }
-
   RUBY
 end
 
diff --git a/variants/bullet/template.rb b/variants/bullet/template.rb
index 27ce6534..1e50f65e 100644
--- a/variants/bullet/template.rb
+++ b/variants/bullet/template.rb
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 insert_into_file "Gemfile", after: /^group :development, :test do\n/ do
   <<~GEMS
-    gem "bullet"
+    gem "bullet", ">= 8.0" # Rails 8+ requires Bullet 8+
   GEMS
 end
 
diff --git a/variants/code-annotation/template.rb b/variants/code-annotation/template.rb
index 67161781..8e86f176 100644
--- a/variants/code-annotation/template.rb
+++ b/variants/code-annotation/template.rb
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
   <<-GEMS
   # code annotation
   gem "chusaku", require: false
-  gem "annotate", require: false
+  gem "annotaterb", require: false
 
   GEMS
 end
@@ -15,12 +15,13 @@
 run "bundle install"
 
 # adds a rake task which causes annotate to auto-run on every migration
-run "bundle exec rails generate annotate:install"
+run "bundle exec rails generate annotate_rb:install"
 
 TERMINAL.puts_header "Annotating code"
 
 run "bundle exec chusaku"
-run "bundle exec annotate"
+run "bundle exec annotaterb models"
+run "bundle exec annotaterb routes"
 
 TERMINAL.puts_header "Running rubocop -A to fix formatting in files related to annotations"
 run "bundle exec rubocop -A -c ./.rubocop.yml"