Access current_user in model

Rails 5

Declare a module

module Current
  thread_mattr_accessor :user
end

Assign the current user

class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base
  around_action :set_current_user
  def set_current_user
    Current.user = current_user
    yield
  ensure
    # to address the thread variable leak issues in Puma/Thin webserver
    Current.user = nil
  end             
end

Now you can refer to the current user as Current.user

Documentation about thread_mattr_accessor

Rails 3,4

It is not a common practice to access the current_user within a model. That being said, here is a solution:

class User < ActiveRecord::Base
  def self.current
    Thread.current[:current_user]
  end

  def self.current=(usr)
    Thread.current[:current_user] = usr
  end
end

Set the current_user attribute in a around_filter of ApplicationController.

class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base
  around_filter :set_current_user

  def set_current_user
    User.current = User.find_by_id(session[:user_id])
    yield
  ensure
    # to address the thread variable leak issues in Puma/Thin webserver
    User.current = nil
  end             
end

Set the current_user after successful authentication:

def login
  if User.current=User.authenticate(params[:username], params[:password])
    session[:user_id] = User.current.id
    flash[:message] = "Successfully logged in "
    redirect_to( :action=>'home')
  else
    flash[:notice] = "Incorrect user/password combination"
    redirect_to(:action=>"login")
  end
end

Finally, refer to the current_user in update_history of Item.

class Item < ActiveRecord::Base
  has_many :histories
  after_create :update_history
  def update_history
    histories.create(:date=>Time.now, :username=> User.current.username) 
  end
end