diff --git a/Appraisals b/Appraisals
index 2b843033..834d2018 100644
--- a/Appraisals
+++ b/Appraisals
@@ -17,24 +17,20 @@ appraise "rack_1_6" do
   gem "rack-test", ">= 0.6"
 end
 
-appraise 'rails_6_0' do
-  gem 'actionpack', '~> 6.0.0'
-  gem 'activesupport', '~> 6.0.0'
+appraise 'rails_6-0' do
+  gem 'railties', '~> 6.0.0'
 end
 
 appraise 'rails_5-2' do
-  gem 'actionpack', '~> 5.2.0'
-  gem 'activesupport', '~> 5.2.0'
+  gem 'railties', '~> 5.2.0'
 end
 
 appraise 'rails_5-1' do
-  gem 'actionpack', '~> 5.1.0'
-  gem 'activesupport', '~> 5.1.0'
+  gem 'railties', '~> 5.1.0'
 end
 
 appraise 'rails_4-2' do
-  gem 'actionpack', '~> 4.2.0'
-  gem 'activesupport', '~> 4.2.0'
+  gem 'railties', '~> 4.2.0'
 
   # Override rack-test version constraint by making it more loose
   # so it's compatible with actionpack 4.2.x
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 538a732f..0b4a071a 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -68,14 +68,19 @@ Or install it yourself as:
 
 Then tell your ruby web application to use rack-attack as a middleware.
 
-a) For __rails__ applications:
-
+a) For __rails__ applications with versions >= 5 it is used by default. For older rails versions you should enable it explicitly:
 ```ruby
 # In config/application.rb
 
 config.middleware.use Rack::Attack
 ```
 
+You can disable it permanently (like for specific environment) or temporarily (can be useful for specific test cases) by writing:
+
+```ruby
+Rack::Attack.enabled = false
+```
+
 b) For __rack__ applications:
 
 ```ruby
diff --git a/gemfiles/rails_4_2.gemfile b/gemfiles/rails_4_2.gemfile
index eb090836..055cf9f6 100644
--- a/gemfiles/rails_4_2.gemfile
+++ b/gemfiles/rails_4_2.gemfile
@@ -2,8 +2,7 @@
 
 source "https://rubygems.org"
 
-gem "actionpack", "~> 4.2.0"
-gem "activesupport", "~> 4.2.0"
+gem "railties", "~> 4.2.0"
 gem "rack-test", ">= 0.6"
 
 gemspec path: "../"
diff --git a/gemfiles/rails_5_1.gemfile b/gemfiles/rails_5_1.gemfile
index d05d8e42..66a5a0b9 100644
--- a/gemfiles/rails_5_1.gemfile
+++ b/gemfiles/rails_5_1.gemfile
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@
 
 source "https://rubygems.org"
 
-gem "actionpack", "~> 5.1.0"
-gem "activesupport", "~> 5.1.0"
+gem "railties", "~> 5.1.0"
 
 gemspec path: "../"
diff --git a/gemfiles/rails_5_2.gemfile b/gemfiles/rails_5_2.gemfile
index d12b8c65..8b2627fc 100644
--- a/gemfiles/rails_5_2.gemfile
+++ b/gemfiles/rails_5_2.gemfile
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@
 
 source "https://rubygems.org"
 
-gem "actionpack", "~> 5.2.0"
-gem "activesupport", "~> 5.2.0"
+gem "railties", "~> 5.2.0"
 
 gemspec path: "../"
diff --git a/gemfiles/rails_6_0.gemfile b/gemfiles/rails_6_0.gemfile
index 8e0b5587..4cd55a81 100644
--- a/gemfiles/rails_6_0.gemfile
+++ b/gemfiles/rails_6_0.gemfile
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@
 
 source "https://rubygems.org"
 
-gem "actionpack", "~> 6.0.0"
-gem "activesupport", "~> 6.0.0"
+gem "railties", "~> 6.0.0"
 
 gemspec path: "../"
diff --git a/lib/rack/attack.rb b/lib/rack/attack.rb
index f4297a58..c8d4ad1a 100644
--- a/lib/rack/attack.rb
+++ b/lib/rack/attack.rb
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@
 require 'rack/attack/request'
 require "ipaddr"
 
+require 'rack/attack/railtie' if defined?(::Rails)
+
 module Rack
   class Attack
     class MisconfiguredStoreError < StandardError; end
@@ -28,7 +30,8 @@ class MissingStoreError < StandardError; end
     autoload :Allow2Ban,            'rack/attack/allow2ban'
 
     class << self
-      attr_accessor :notifier, :blocklisted_response, :throttled_response, :anonymous_blocklists, :anonymous_safelists
+      attr_accessor :enabled, :notifier, :blocklisted_response, :throttled_response,
+                    :anonymous_blocklists, :anonymous_safelists
 
       def safelist(name = nil, &block)
         safelist = Safelist.new(name, &block)
@@ -134,6 +137,7 @@ def clear!
     end
 
     # Set defaults
+    @enabled = true
     @anonymous_blocklists = []
     @anonymous_safelists = []
     @notifier = ActiveSupport::Notifications if defined?(ActiveSupport::Notifications)
@@ -148,6 +152,8 @@ def initialize(app)
     end
 
     def call(env)
+      return @app.call(env) unless self.class.enabled
+
       env['PATH_INFO'] = PathNormalizer.normalize_path(env['PATH_INFO'])
       request = Rack::Attack::Request.new(env)
 
diff --git a/lib/rack/attack/railtie.rb b/lib/rack/attack/railtie.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..59994f1c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/rack/attack/railtie.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+# frozen_string_literal: true
+
+module Rack
+  class Attack
+    class Railtie < ::Rails::Railtie
+      initializer 'rack.attack.middleware', after: :load_config_initializers, before: :build_middleware_stack do |app|
+        if Gem::Version.new(::Rails::VERSION::STRING) >= Gem::Version.new("5")
+          middlewares = app.config.middleware
+          operations = middlewares.send(:operations) + middlewares.send(:delete_operations)
+
+          use_middleware = operations.none? do |operation|
+            middleware = operation[1]
+            middleware.include?(Rack::Attack)
+          end
+
+          middlewares.use(Rack::Attack) if use_middleware
+        end
+      end
+    end
+  end
+end
diff --git a/rack-attack.gemspec b/rack-attack.gemspec
index 94d627e6..dfdd09d6 100644
--- a/rack-attack.gemspec
+++ b/rack-attack.gemspec
@@ -46,8 +46,5 @@ Gem::Specification.new do |s|
     s.add_development_dependency 'byebug', '~> 11.0'
   end
 
-  # The following are potential runtime dependencies users may have,
-  # which rack-attack uses only for testing compatibility in test suite.
-  s.add_development_dependency 'actionpack', '~> 5.2'
-  s.add_development_dependency 'activesupport', '~> 5.2'
+  s.add_development_dependency 'railties', '>= 4.2'
 end
diff --git a/spec/acceptance/rails_middleware_spec.rb b/spec/acceptance/rails_middleware_spec.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..4d27c702
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/acceptance/rails_middleware_spec.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+# frozen_string_literal: true
+
+require_relative "../spec_helper"
+
+if defined?(Rails)
+  describe "Middleware for Rails" do
+    before do
+      @app = Class.new(Rails::Application) do
+        config.eager_load = false
+        config.logger = Logger.new(nil) # avoid creating the log/ directory automatically
+        config.cache_store = :null_store # avoid creating tmp/ directory for cache
+      end
+    end
+
+    if Gem::Version.new(Rails::VERSION::STRING) >= Gem::Version.new("5")
+      it "is used by default" do
+        @app.initialize!
+        assert_equal 1, @app.middleware.count(Rack::Attack)
+      end
+
+      it "is not added when it was added explicitly" do
+        @app.config.middleware.use(Rack::Attack)
+        @app.initialize!
+        assert_equal 1, @app.middleware.count(Rack::Attack)
+      end
+
+      it "is not added when it was explicitly deleted" do
+        @app.config.middleware.delete(Rack::Attack)
+        @app.initialize!
+        refute @app.middleware.include?(Rack::Attack)
+      end
+    end
+
+    if Gem::Version.new(Rails::VERSION::STRING) < Gem::Version.new("5")
+      it "is not used by default" do
+        @app.initialize!
+        assert_equal 0, @app.middleware.count(Rack::Attack)
+      end
+    end
+  end
+end
diff --git a/spec/rack_attack_spec.rb b/spec/rack_attack_spec.rb
index 51d7cf44..647a08d7 100644
--- a/spec/rack_attack_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/rack_attack_spec.rb
@@ -76,4 +76,27 @@
       end
     end
   end
+
+  describe 'enabled' do
+    it 'should be enabled by default' do
+      _(Rack::Attack.enabled).must_equal true
+    end
+
+    it 'should directly pass request when disabled' do
+      bad_ip = '1.2.3.4'
+      Rack::Attack.blocklist("ip #{bad_ip}") { |req| req.ip == bad_ip }
+
+      get '/', {}, 'REMOTE_ADDR' => bad_ip
+      _(last_response.status).must_equal 403
+
+      prev_enabled = Rack::Attack.enabled
+      begin
+        Rack::Attack.enabled = false
+        get '/', {}, 'REMOTE_ADDR' => bad_ip
+        _(last_response.status).must_equal 200
+      ensure
+        Rack::Attack.enabled = prev_enabled
+      end
+    end
+  end
 end
diff --git a/spec/spec_helper.rb b/spec/spec_helper.rb
index 49d88731..a1728cb6 100644
--- a/spec/spec_helper.rb
+++ b/spec/spec_helper.rb
@@ -5,8 +5,7 @@
 require "minitest/autorun"
 require "minitest/pride"
 require "rack/test"
-require 'active_support'
-require 'action_dispatch'
+require "rails"
 
 require "rack/attack"
 
@@ -30,6 +29,7 @@ class MiniTest::Spec
   include Rack::Test::Methods
 
   before do
+    Rails.cache = nil
     @_original_throttled_response = Rack::Attack.throttled_response
     @_original_blocklisted_response = Rack::Attack.blocklisted_response
   end