zabbix_sender_api is a ruby library that puts an API over the top of zabbix_sender.  It takes a lot of the drudgery out of writing sender applications.

zfstozab is an example of something that builds upon it.

Install into your ruby environment with "gem install zabbix_sender_api"

There is also some decent yard documentation built in (and you can view that at rubydoc.info)

As of version 1.1.1, zabbix_sender_api can communicate with zabbix using a tcp socket right from ruby - using zabbix_sender is now optional.