This module is used to encapsulate access to thread local variables.

Instead of polluting the thread locals namespace:

Thread.current[:connection_handler]

you define a class that extends this module:

module ActiveRecord
  class RuntimeRegistry
    extend ActiveSupport::PerThreadRegistry

    attr_accessor :connection_handler
  end
end

and invoke the declared instance accessors as class methods. So

ActiveRecord::RuntimeRegistry.connection_handler = connection_handler

sets a connection handler local to the current thread, and

ActiveRecord::RuntimeRegistry.connection_handler

returns a connection handler local to the current thread.

This feature is accomplished by instantiating the class and storing the instance as a thread local keyed by the class name. In the example above a key “ActiveRecord::RuntimeRegistry” is stored in Thread.current. The class methods proxy to said thread local instance.

If the class has an initializer, it must accept no arguments.