diff --git a/Gemfile b/Gemfile
index 4b3b92e4..38d710f1 100644
--- a/Gemfile
+++ b/Gemfile
@@ -27,12 +27,14 @@ when /\// # A path
   gem 'activerecord', path: "#{rails}/activerecord", require: false
   gem 'actionpack', path: "#{rails}/actionpack"
   gem 'actionview', path: "#{rails}/actionview"
+  gem 'railties', path: "#{rails}/railties"
 when /^v/ # A tagged version
   git 'https://github.com/rails/rails.git', tag: rails do
     gem 'activesupport'
     gem 'activemodel'
     gem 'activerecord', require: false
     gem 'actionpack'
+    gem 'railties'
   end
 else
   git 'https://github.com/rails/rails.git', branch: rails do
@@ -40,6 +42,7 @@ else
     gem 'activemodel'
     gem 'activerecord', require: false
     gem 'actionpack'
+    gem 'railties'
   end
 end
 gem 'mysql2'
diff --git a/docs/docs/going-further/other-notes.md b/docs/docs/going-further/other-notes.md
index 68785bcb..2c2ceac9 100644
--- a/docs/docs/going-further/other-notes.md
+++ b/docs/docs/going-further/other-notes.md
@@ -414,15 +414,33 @@ artists.result.to_sql
     OR \"musicians\".\"email\" ILIKE '%bar%'))"
 ```
 
-### Using SimpleForm
+### Using SimpleForm with Ransack
 
-If you would like to combine the Ransack and SimpleForm form builders, set the
-`RANSACK_FORM_BUILDER` environment variable before Rails boots up, e.g. in
-`config/application.rb` before `require 'rails/all'` as shown below (and add
-`gem 'simple_form'` in your Gemfile).
+To integrate Ransack with SimpleForm, use the `search_simple_form_for` helper
+instead of `search_form_for`. This helper specifically utilizes SimpleForm's
+capabilities to construct your form, ensuring that form fields are
+automatically tailored to match the expected input types based on the
+attribute definitions.
 
-```ruby
-require File.expand_path('../boot', __FILE__)
-ENV['RANSACK_FORM_BUILDER'] = '::SimpleForm::FormBuilder'
-require 'rails/all'
+```erb
+<%= search_simple_form_for @q do |f| %>
+  <%= f.input :name_cont %>
+  <%= f.input :employee_name_present %>
+  <%= f.input :created_at_gteq %>
+  <%= f.button :submit %>
+<% end %>
 ```
+
+In the example above, if you are employing Bootstrap wrappers with SimpleForm,
+the generated form will include appropriate wrapper **divs** and **classes**.
+The form builder intelligently determines the input type: it uses **boolean**
+for predicates ending in **_present** and **date** for attributes like
+**created_at**.
+
+**Important Update:** Previously, integrating SimpleForm with Ransack required
+setting the environment variable `RANSACK_FORM_BUILDER` to
+`::SimpleForm::FormBuilder`.
+
+With the introduction of the `search_simple_form_for` helper, this workaround
+is obsolete and will be deprecated. Using the new helper is the recommended
+approach moving forward.
diff --git a/lib/ransack/helpers.rb b/lib/ransack/helpers.rb
index 799e53e7..917ad23f 100644
--- a/lib/ransack/helpers.rb
+++ b/lib/ransack/helpers.rb
@@ -1,2 +1,3 @@
 require 'ransack/helpers/form_builder'
+require 'ransack/helpers/simple_form_builder' if defined?(::SimpleForm)
 require 'ransack/helpers/form_helper'
diff --git a/lib/ransack/helpers/form_builder.rb b/lib/ransack/helpers/form_builder.rb
index 0f9d826f..3916b3ec 100644
--- a/lib/ransack/helpers/form_builder.rb
+++ b/lib/ransack/helpers/form_builder.rb
@@ -28,13 +28,16 @@ module Helpers
     class FormBuilder < (ENV[RANSACK_FORM_BUILDER].try(:constantize) ||
       ActionView::Helpers::FormBuilder)
 
-      def label(method, *args, &block)
-        options = args.extract_options!
-        text = args.first
+      def label_text(method, text=nil, options={})
         i18n = options[:i18n] || {}
         text ||= object.translate(
           method, i18n.reverse_merge(include_associations: true)
           ) if object.respond_to? :translate
+      end
+
+      def label(method, *args, &block)
+        options = args.extract_options!
+        text = label_text(method, args.first, options)
         super(method, text, options, &block)
       end
 
diff --git a/lib/ransack/helpers/form_helper.rb b/lib/ransack/helpers/form_helper.rb
index 77e11784..2b074c7e 100644
--- a/lib/ransack/helpers/form_helper.rb
+++ b/lib/ransack/helpers/form_helper.rb
@@ -34,6 +34,19 @@ def search_form_for(record, options = {}, &proc)
         form_for(record, options, &proc)
       end
 
+      # +search_simple_form_for+
+      #
+      #   <%= search_simple_form_for(@q) do |f| %>
+      #
+      #   This is a shortcut to:
+      #
+      #   <%= search_form_for(@q, builder: Ransack::Helpers::SimpleFormBuilder) do |f| %>
+      #
+
+      def search_simple_form_for(record, options = {}, &proc)
+        search_form_for(record, options.merge(builder: Ransack::Helpers::SimpleFormBuilder), &proc)
+      end
+
       # +sort_link+
       #
       #   <%= sort_link(@q, :name, [:name, 'kind ASC'], 'Player Name') %>
diff --git a/lib/ransack/helpers/simple_form_builder.rb b/lib/ransack/helpers/simple_form_builder.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e207f894
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/ransack/helpers/simple_form_builder.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+module Ransack
+  module Helpers
+    class SimpleFormBuilder < ::Ransack::Helpers::FormBuilder
+      attr_reader :simple_form_builder
+
+      def initialize(*args, **kwargs)
+        @simple_form_builder = ::SimpleForm::FormBuilder.new(*args, **kwargs)
+        super
+      end
+
+      def input(attribute_name, options = {}, &block)
+        options[:label] ||= label_text(attribute_name, nil, options)
+        options[:required] ||= false
+        simple_form_builder.input(attribute_name, options, &block)
+      end
+    end
+  end
+end
diff --git a/lib/ransack/search.rb b/lib/ransack/search.rb
index a8bf95f8..4e721d19 100644
--- a/lib/ransack/search.rb
+++ b/lib/ransack/search.rb
@@ -128,6 +128,41 @@ def inspect
       "Ransack::Search<#{details}>"
     end
 
+    # Determines if the given attribute exists within the base object (Nodes::Grouping).
+    # This method is particularly useful for form builders like SimpleForm,
+    # which rely on such checks to build appropriate input fields dynamically.
+    #
+    # @param attr_name [String, Symbol] the name of the attribute to check
+    # @return [Boolean] truethy if the attribute exists, falsey otherwise
+    def has_attribute?(attr_name)
+      base.attribute_method?(attr_name.to_s)
+    end
+
+    # Retrieves the type of a specified attribute, used primarily by form builders
+    # like SimpleForm to correctly generate input fields. It leverages private
+    # method calls within the Nodes::Condition to deduce attribute details
+    # such as name, predicate, and combinator.
+    #
+    # If the predicate defines a type, the predicate is returned.
+    # Otherwise, this method fetches the type based on the search context's object,
+    # defaulting to the type of the first attribute if multiple are specified.
+    # The form builder will call #type on the returned value to get a Symbol
+    # representing the type of input field to generate (e.g. :boolean, :string, :date).
+    #
+    # @param attr_name [String, Symbol] the name of the attribute for which the type is requested
+    # @return [Object] the predicate or AR type (both should respond to #type).
+
+    def type_for_attribute(attr_name)
+      attributes, predicate, _combinator =
+        Nodes::Condition.send(
+          :extract_values_for_condition,
+          attr_name,
+          context
+        )
+
+      predicate.type ? predicate : context.object.type_for_attribute(attributes.first)
+    end
+
     private
 
     def add_scope(key, args)
diff --git a/ransack.gemspec b/ransack.gemspec
index 3e4e15fd..f23f70ab 100644
--- a/ransack.gemspec
+++ b/ransack.gemspec
@@ -19,6 +19,8 @@ Gem::Specification.new do |s|
   s.add_dependency 'activesupport', '>= 6.1.5'
   s.add_dependency 'i18n'
 
+  s.add_development_dependency 'simple_form'
+
   s.files         = `git ls-files`.split("\n")
   s.test_files    = `git ls-files -- {test,spec,features}/*`.split("\n")
   s.executables   = `git ls-files -- bin/*`.split("\n").map{ |f| File.basename(f) }
diff --git a/spec/ransack/helpers/form_helper_spec.rb b/spec/ransack/helpers/form_helper_spec.rb
index a77ca4f0..43aee9e9 100644
--- a/spec/ransack/helpers/form_helper_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/ransack/helpers/form_helper_spec.rb
@@ -850,12 +850,39 @@ module Helpers
         before do
           Ransack.configure { |c| c.search_key = :example }
         end
+
+        after do
+          Ransack.configure { |c| c.search_key = nil }
+        end
+
         subject {
           @controller.view_context
           .search_form_for(Person.ransack) { |f| f.text_field :name_eq }
         }
         it { should match /example_name_eq/ }
       end
+
+      describe "#search_form_for default builder" do
+        subject {
+          @controller.view_context
+          .search_form_for(Person.ransack) { |f| return f.class }
+        }
+        it { should be Ransack::Helpers::FormBuilder }
+      end
+
+      describe "#search_simple_form_for default builder" do
+        subject {
+          @controller.view_context
+          .search_simple_form_for(Person.ransack) { |f| return f.class }
+        }
+        it { should be Ransack::Helpers::SimpleFormBuilder }
+      end
+
+      describe '#search_simple_form_for with default format' do
+        subject { @controller.view_context
+          .search_simple_form_for(Person.ransack) {} }
+        it { should match /action="\/people"/ }
+      end
     end
   end
 end
diff --git a/spec/ransack/helpers/simple_form_builder_spec.rb b/spec/ransack/helpers/simple_form_builder_spec.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..df009516
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/ransack/helpers/simple_form_builder_spec.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,83 @@
+require 'spec_helper'
+
+module Ransack
+  module Helpers
+    describe SimpleFormBuilder do
+
+      router = ActionDispatch::Routing::RouteSet.new
+      router.draw do
+        resources :people, :comments, :notes
+      end
+
+      include router.url_helpers
+
+      # FIXME: figure out a cleaner way to get this behavior
+      before do
+        @controller = ActionView::TestCase::TestController.new
+        @controller.instance_variable_set(:@_routes, router)
+        @controller.class_eval { include router.url_helpers }
+        @controller.view_context_class.class_eval { include router.url_helpers }
+        @s = Person.ransack
+        @controller.view_context.search_simple_form_for(@s) { |f| @f = f }
+      end
+
+      describe "#input (from SimpleForm)" do
+        context "with :name_cont predicate" do
+          subject { @f.input(:name_cont) }
+
+          it "should generate a wrapping div with both label and input inside" do
+            expect(subject).to match(/<div.*?><label.*?<\/label>.*?<input.*?\/>.*?<\/div>/)
+          end
+
+          it "the wrapping div should have class 'q_name_cont'" do
+            expect(subject).to match(/<div.*?class=".*?q_name_cont.*?".*?>/)
+          end
+
+          it "should generate correct label text with predicate from locale files" do
+            expect(subject).to match(/<label.*?>.*?Full Name contains.*?<\/label>/)
+          end
+
+          it "should generate correct input name=\"q[name_cont]\"" do
+            expect(subject).to match(/<input.*?name="q\[name_cont\]".*?\/>/)
+          end
+
+          it "should generate correct input id=\"q_name_cont\"" do
+            expect(subject).to match(/<input.*?id="q_name_cont".*?\/>/)
+          end
+
+          it "should generate correct input type=\"text\"" do
+            expect(subject).to match(/<input.*?type="text".*?\/>/)
+          end
+        end
+
+        context "may be able to guess the type of the attribute" do
+          context "with :name_present (boolean) predicate" do
+            subject { @f.input(:name_present) }
+
+            it "the wrapping div should have class \"boolean\"" do
+              expect(subject).to match(/<div.*?class=".*?boolean.*?".*?>/)
+            end
+
+            it "should generate correct input type=\"checkbox\"" do
+              expect(subject).to match(/<input.*?type="checkbox".*?\/>/)
+            end
+          end
+
+          context "with :life_start_gteq predicate / date attribute " do
+            subject { @f.input(:life_start_gteq) }
+
+            it "the wrapping div should have class 'input date'" do
+              expect(subject).to match(/<div.*?class=".*?input date.*?".*?>/)
+            end
+
+            it "should generate selects for the fields of the date (year, month, day), at least" do
+              expect(subject).to match(/<select.*?name="q\[life_start_gteq\(1i\)\]".*?>/)
+              expect(subject).to match(/<select.*?name="q\[life_start_gteq\(2i\)\]".*?>/)
+              expect(subject).to match(/<select.*?name="q\[life_start_gteq\(3i\)\]".*?>/)
+            end
+          end
+        end
+      end
+    end
+  end
+end
diff --git a/spec/spec_helper.rb b/spec/spec_helper.rb
index 0c4bf109..cb8fb738 100644
--- a/spec/spec_helper.rb
+++ b/spec/spec_helper.rb
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 require 'faker'
 require 'ransack'
 require 'action_controller'
+require 'simple_form'
 require 'ransack/helpers'
 require 'pry'
 require 'simplecov'