diff --git a/app/apps/ood_app.rb b/app/apps/ood_app.rb
index 1a81b774..7f0b4c03 100644
--- a/app/apps/ood_app.rb
+++ b/app/apps/ood_app.rb
@@ -84,6 +84,39 @@ def run_setup_production
     end
   end
 
+  def passenger_rack_app?
+    path.join("config.ru").file?
+  end
+
+  def passenger_nodejs_app?
+    path.join("app.js").file?
+  end
+
+  def passenger_python_app?
+    path.join("passenger_wsgi.py").file?
+  end
+
+  def passenger_meteor_app?
+    path.join(".meteor").exist?
+  end
+
+  def passenger_app?
+    passenger_rack_app? || passenger_nodejs_app? || passenger_python_app? || passenger_meteor_app?
+  end
+
+  def passenger_rails_app?
+    return @passenger_rails_app if defined? @passenger_rails_app
+    @passenger_rails_app = (passenger_rack_app? && bundler_helper.has_gem?("rails"))
+  end
+
+  def passenger_railsdb_app?
+    # FIXME: assumes a rails db ood app will always use sqlite3
+    return @passenger_railsdb_app if defined? @passenger_railsdb_app
+    @passenger_railsdb_app = (passenger_rails_app? && bundler_helper.has_gem?("sqlite3"))
+  end
+
+
+
   private
 
   def load_manifest
diff --git a/app/helpers/products_helper.rb b/app/helpers/products_helper.rb
index 17f44517..99a894e4 100644
--- a/app/helpers/products_helper.rb
+++ b/app/helpers/products_helper.rb
@@ -33,4 +33,15 @@ def ssh_key
     target = Pathname.new("~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub").expand_path
     File.read(target) if target.file?
   end
+
+  def command_btn(title:, key:, display:)
+    button_tag(title,
+      class: "btn btn-default btn-block",
+      data: {
+        toggle: "cli",
+        target: cli_product_path(key, name: @product.name, type: @type),
+        title: title,
+        cmd: display
+    })
+  end
 end
diff --git a/app/models/product.rb b/app/models/product.rb
index d4b423d8..5646c75b 100644
--- a/app/models/product.rb
+++ b/app/models/product.rb
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 class Product
   include ActiveModel::Model
 
+  delegate :passenger_rack_app?, :passenger_rails_app?, :passenger_app?, to: :app
+
   TEMPLATE = "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/AweSim-OSC/rails-application-template/remote_source/awesim.rb"
 
   attr_accessor :name
@@ -16,8 +18,12 @@ class Product
 
   # lint a given app
   validate :manifest_is_valid, on: [:show_app, :list_apps]
-  validate :gemfile_is_valid, on: :show_app
-  validate :gems_installed, on: :show_app
+
+  with_options if: :passenger_rails_app?, on: :show_app do |app|
+    app.validate :gemfile_is_valid
+    app.validate :gems_installed
+  end
+
   validate :is_git_repo, on: :show_app
 
   def app_does_not_exist
diff --git a/app/views/products/show.html.erb b/app/views/products/show.html.erb
index 4226c354..6b3c7580 100644
--- a/app/views/products/show.html.erb
+++ b/app/views/products/show.html.erb
@@ -42,21 +42,13 @@
     </p>
   </div><!-- /.col-md-6 -->
   <div class="col-md-2 col-xs-6">
-    <%= link_to 'Shell', OodAppkit.shell.url(host: ENV['OOD_DEV_SSH_HOST'], path: @product.router.path.realdirpath).to_s, target: '_blank', class: 'btn btn-default btn-block' %>
-    <%= link_to 'Files', OodAppkit.files.url(path: @product.router.path.realdirpath).to_s, target: '_blank', class: 'btn btn-default btn-block' %>
+    <%= command_btn(title: "Bundle Install", key: "bundle_install", display:"<code>scl enable rh-ruby22 nodejs010 -- bin/bundle install --path=vendor/bundle</code>") if @product.passenger_rails_app? %>
+    <%= command_btn(title: "Precompile Assets", key: "precompile_assets", display: "RAILS_ENV=production scl enable rh-ruby22 nodejs010 -- <<< 'bin/rake assets:clobber && bin/rake assets:precompile && bin/rake tmp:clear'") if @type == :usr && @product.passenger_rails_app? %>
+    <%= command_btn(title: "Restart App", key: "restart_app", display: "<code>mkdir -p tmp && touch tmp/restart.txt</code>") if @product.passenger_app? %>
   </div><!-- /.col-md-2 -->
   <div class="col-md-2 col-xs-6">
-    <button class="btn btn-default btn-block" data-toggle="cli" data-target="<%= cli_product_path('bundle_install', name: @product.name, type: @type) %>" data-title="Bundle Install" data-cmd="<code>scl enable rh-ruby22 nodejs010 -- bin/bundle install --path=vendor/bundle</code>">
-      Bundle Install
-    </button>
-    <% if @type == :usr %>
-    <button class="btn btn-default btn-block" data-toggle="cli" data-target="<%= cli_product_path('precompile_assets', name: @product.name, type: @type) %>" data-title="Precompile Assets" data-cmd="RAILS_ENV=production scl enable rh-ruby22 nodejs010 -- <<< 'bin/rake assets:clobber && bin/rake assets:precompile && bin/rake tmp:clear'">
-      Build Assets
-    </button>
-    <% end %>
-    <button class="btn btn-default btn-block" data-toggle="cli" data-target="<%= cli_product_path('restart_app', name: @product.name, type: @type) %>" data-title="Restart App" data-cmd="mkdir -p tmp && touch tmp/restart.txt">
-      Restart App
-    </button>
+    <%= link_to 'Shell', OodAppkit.shell.url(host: ENV['OOD_DEV_SSH_HOST'], path: @product.router.path.realdirpath).to_s, target: '_blank', class: 'btn btn-default btn-block' %>
+    <%= link_to 'Files', OodAppkit.files.url(path: @product.router.path.realdirpath).to_s, target: '_blank', class: 'btn btn-default btn-block' %>
   </div><!-- /.col-md-2 -->
 
 </div><!-- /.row -->