r-package-development
R package development with devtools, testthat, and roxygen2.
Skill by Simon P. Couch (@simonpcouch)
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About
Use cases: devops, writing
Reviews
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Permissions
What this skill can do and what it asks for, from its SKILL.md. Checked Oct 25, 2026.
- Tools
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Network hosts it talks to 1
codeload.github.com· found in install command
Files it touches
~/.claude/skills/r-package-development
What's inside
- Skill name
r-package-development- Description
- R package development with devtools, testthat, and roxygen2. Use when the user is working on an R package, running tests, writing documentation, or building package infrastructure.
- License
- MIT
- Metadata
- author: Simon P. Couch (@simonpcouch) · version: 1.2
- Instructions
- 66 lines in SKILL.md · view on GitHub
Files (1)
- SKILL.md
SKILL.md (first lines)
# R package development
## Key commands
```
# Run code in the package
Rscript -e "devtools::load_all(); code"
# Run all tests
Rscript -e "devtools::test()"
# Run all tests for files starting with {name}
Rscript -e "devtools::test(filter = '^{name}')"
# Run all tests for R/{name}.R
Rscript -e "devtools::test_active_file('R/{name}.R')"
# Run a single test "blah" for R/{name}.R
Rscript -e "devtools::test_active_file('R/{name}.R', desc = 'blah')"
# Redocument the package
Rscript -e "devtools::document()"
# Check pkgdown documentation
Rscript -e "pkgdown::check_pkgdown()"
# Check the package with R CMD check
Rscript -e "devtools::check()"
# Format code
air format .
```
## Coding
* Always run `air format .` after generating code.
* Use the base pipe operator (`|>`) not the magrittr pipe (`%>%`).
* Use `\() ...` for single-line anonymous functions. For all other cases, use `function() {...}`.
## Testing
- Tests for `R/{name}.R` go in `tests/testthat/test-{name}.R`.
- All new code should have an accompanying test.
- If there are existing tests, place new tests next to similar existing tests.
- Strive to keep tests minimal with few comments.
- Avoid `expect_true()` and `expect_false()` in favour of a specific expectation which will give a better failure message.
- When testing errors and warnings, don't use `expect_error()` or `expect_warning()`. Instead, use `expect_snapshot(error = TRUE)` for errors and `expect_snapshot()` for warnings because these allow the user to review the full text of the output.
## Documentation
- Every user-facing function should be exported and have roxygen2 documentation.
- Wrap roxygen comments at 80 characters.
- Internal functions should not have roxygen documentation.
- Whenever you add a new (non-internal) documentation topic, also add the topic to `_pkgdown.yml`.
- Always re-document the package after changing a roxygen2 comment.
- Use `pkgdown::check_pkgdown()` to check that all topics are included in the reference index.
## `NEWS.md`
- Every user-facing change should be given a bullet in `NEWS.md`. Do not add bullets for small documentation changes or internal refactorings.
- Each bullet should briefly describe the change to the end user.
- If the change is related to a function, put the name of the function early in the bullet.
- If the bullet is related to a GitHub issue or pull request, reference it by number in parentheses before the final period: `(#123).`.
- Order bullets alphabetically by function name. Put all bullets that don't mention function names at the beginning.From posit-dev/skills, MIT.
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Signals
- Stars
- 547
- Forks
- 57
- Open issues
- 6
- Last commit (this folder)
- May 20, 2026 (5 months ago)
From GitHub (fetched Oct 24, 2026).
Details
- Version
- 1.2
- License
- MIT
- Repository
- github.com/posit-dev/skills
- First seen
- Oct 24, 2026
- Last checked
- Oct 24, 2026
- Source
- GitHubgithub-graphql
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Cite this page
r-package-development skill. Agent Mart. https://agentmart.dev/skills/posit-dev-r-package-development (last updated 2026-10-24)