Create and Maintain R Packages

Utilities for R package development including NEWS.md management, standalone file creation, and code formatting. Supports popular development workflows and integrates with 'usethis' and 'RStudio'. Includes helper functions for renaming functions and detecting common coding errors.

rpkgkit

The goal of rpkgkit is to provide useful functions for R package development.

Installation

From CRAN:

install.packages("rpkgkit")

From github:

if (!requireNamespace("pak")) {
  install.packages(
    "pak",
    repos = sprintf(
      "https://r-lib.github.io/p/pak/stable/%s/%s/%s",
      .Platform$pkgType,
      R.Version()$os,
      R.Version()$arch
    )
  )
}
pak::pak("Exceret/rpkgkit")

Features

All functions can detect active file contexts in RStudio and Positron, so generally file path can be omitted.

Available Standalone Scripts

Use usethis::use_standalone("WangLabCSU/rpkgkit", "<name>") to import:

args_to_func.R: matching arguments to function calls:

f1 <- function(a, b) a + b
f2 <- function(x, y, ...) x * y
f3 <- function(p, q) p - q

args <- list(a = 1, b = 2)

# Strict matching (default): returns f1 only
match_func_to_args(args, f1, f2, f3)

args <- list(a = 1, b = 2, x = 3, y = 4)
foo <- function(x , y = 1){x + y}
filter_args_for_func(args, foo) # Keeps arguments for foo
# $x
# [1] 3

# $y
# [1] 4

caller_cli.R: show where the cli function is called from

decorated <- add_caller_to_cli(cli::cli_alert_info)
foo1 <- \() {
  print("I' m in foo1")
  decorated("<- where is this called from?")
}
foo2 <- \() {
  print("I' m in foo2")
  foo1()
}
bar <- function() {
  print("I' m in bar")
  foo2()
}
bar()
# [1] "I' m in bar"
# [1] "I' m in foo2"
# [1] "I' m in foo1"
# ℹ [foo1()]: <- where is this called from?

colorful_cli.R: Easier color calling in one cli function

color_cli <- create_colorful_cli_env()
color_cli$cli_alert_danger("{.red This is a red message}")
color_cli$cli_alert_info("{.blue This is a blue message}")
color_cli$cli_alert_info("{.orange This is an orange message}")
# cyan, green, magenta, yellow, purple, etc

color_cli2 <- create_colorful_cli_env(cli_theme = generate_color_theme()) # more color but slower
color_cli2$cli_alert_success(
  "{.violetred3 R}{.orange a}{.yellow i}{.green n}{.cyan b}{.blue o}{.purple w}"
)

match_arg.R: partial matching of arguments to function calls, like match.arg, rlang::arg_match
ts_cli.R: timestamp cli function

ts_cli <- create_ts_cli_env()
ts_cli$cli_alert_info("Hello, world!")
# ℹ [2026/05/30 22:45:42] Hello, world!

Standalone File Management

inquire_standalone() - List standalone files available in a GitHub repository’s R/ directory
browse_standalone() - Look up all available standalone files in GitHub repositories

inquire_standalone("r-lib/rlang")
# A tibble: 13 × 9
#    name                         path                           sha                                       size url                               html_url git_url download_url type
#    <chr>                        <chr>                          <chr>                                    <int> <chr>                             <chr>    <chr>   <chr>        <chr>
#  1 standalone-cli.R             R/standalone-cli.R             14c6006f721028d2da0ab1654afd49e426e745c6 18672 https://api.github.com/repos/r-l… https:/… https:… https://raw… file
#  2 standalone-downstream-deps.R R/standalone-downstream-deps.R 09b7700582bf710498d2ca5652662669655e5600  9213 https://api.github.com/repos/r-l… https:/… https:… https://raw… file
#  3 standalone-lazyeval.R        R/standalone-lazyeval.R        50ced0ddc07e4fffccbec96ef34e30a82cfbb075  2313 https://api.github.com/repos/r-l… https:/… https:… https://raw… file
#  4 standalone-lifecycle.R       R/standalone-lifecycle.R       70f03184aa89aa7e801b2fc6b8a12dd3a0e61700  6411 https://api.github.com/repos/r-l… https:/… https:… https://raw… file
#  5 standalone-linked-version.R  R/standalone-linked-version.R  9ab21931a161722b6b837fa3cd40dd0a65b88551  2167 https://api.github.com/repos/r-l… https:/… https:… https://raw… file
#  6 standalone-obj-type.R        R/standalone-obj-type.R        e9c33c8e34f2a194c2bd71f0126fc0bdaa974e61  7175 https://api.github.com/repos/r-l… https:/… https:… https://raw… file
#  7 standalone-purrr.R           R/standalone-purrr.R           0c1d7677258aada8464e6c3f48fb70a062492a89  5501 https://api.github.com/repos/r-l… https:/… https:… https://raw… file
#  8 standalone-rlang.R           R/standalone-rlang.R           4da3655d2d1c86535616c53cd5dab421e1e0cf6b  1807 https://api.github.com/repos/r-l… https:/… https:… https://raw… file
#  9 standalone-s3-register.R     R/standalone-s3-register.R     05f0a2680fcbbdda64524ffa5481940671faac83  6056 https://api.github.com/repos/r-l… https:/… https:… https://raw… file
# 10 standalone-sizes.R           R/standalone-sizes.R           03ee9f7a8ddddd6132a3ebf703e0a9aa3ccf30d5  3069 https://api.github.com/repos/r-l… https:/… https:… https://raw… file
# 11 standalone-types-check.R     R/standalone-types-check.R     42c756a299cea38af775b587a1fe440de2afed40  6843 https://api.github.com/repos/r-l… https:/… https:… https://raw… file
# 12 standalone-vctrs.R           R/standalone-vctrs.R           a78927f6d65fd769c61e2c132dea05d89a8b353a 14292 https://api.github.com/repos/r-l… https:/… https:… https://raw… file
# 13 standalone-zeallot.R         R/standalone-zeallot.R         5e9d59a03e1d6df18ab4921e7d828750d6a41d6f   843 https://api.github.com/repos/r-l… https:/… https:… https://raw… file

browse_standalone()
# # A tibble: 184 × 9
#    repo                   name                             path                               sha                 url   html_url git_url repo_url repo_description
#    <chr>                  <chr>                            <chr>                              <chr>               <chr> <chr>    <chr>   <chr>    <chr>           
#  1 tidymodels/parsnip     standalone-survival.R            R/standalone-survival.R            3f3809cc6019326a7f… http… https:/… https:… https:/… A tidy unified …
#  2 prioritizr/prioritizr  standalone-cli.R                 R/standalone-cli.R                 00453fe89a55497eba… http… https:/… https:… https:/… Systematic cons…
#  3 r-lib/rlang            standalone-vctrs.R               R/standalone-vctrs.R               a78927f6d65fd769c6… http… https:/… https:… https:/… Low-level API f…
#  4 cran/prioritizr        standalone-all_columns_inherit.R R/standalone-all_columns_inherit.R 2c08f0fdc2e3749b46… http… https:/… https:… https:/… :exclamation: T…
#  5 ai4ci/tidyabc          standalone-distributions.R       R/standalone-distributions.R       249a19d425c208db51… http… https:/… https:… https:/… R framework for…
#  6 terminological/ggrrr   standalone-empirical.R           R/standalone-empirical.R           4bcde2d56ddc24ae9d… http… https:/… https:… https:/… Data presentati…
#  7 WangLabCSU/SigBridgeR  standalone-get_var_value.R       R/standalone-get_var_value.R       6331dae57b7e759122… http… https:/… https:… https:/… SigBridgeR: Int…
#  8 willgearty/deeptime    standalone-obj-type.R            R/standalone-obj-type.R            106accce773ab162cd… http… https:/… https:… https:/… An R package th…
#  9 ddsjoberg/standalone   standalone-check_pkg_installed.R R/standalone-check_pkg_installed.R 571303b0f4e689ab4d… http… https:/… https:… https:/… Standalone scri…
# 10 elipousson/standaloner standalone-extra-checks.R        R/standalone-extra-checks.R        75bda8f557cfcae29e… http… https:/… https:… https:/… Set or get a to…
# # ℹ 174 more rows

create_standalone() - Create standalone utility files in your package

create_standalone("foo")
# ✔ Created standalone file: /data/home/yyx/Project/rpkgkit/R/standalone-.R
# ☐ File opened in editor.

In R/standalone-foo.R

# ---
# repo: WangLabCSU/rpkgkit
# file: standalone-foo.R
# last-updated: 2026-06-02
# license: https://unlicense.org
# imports: []
# ---
# 
# This file provides...
#
# nocov start

update_time_in_standalone() - Update last-updated field in standalone files

update_time_in_standalone()

# ---
# repo: WangLabCSU/rpkgkit
# file: standalone-foo.R
# last-updated: 2026-06-02
# license: https://unlicense.org
# imports: []
# ---

add_changelog_in_standalone() - Add changelog entries to standalone files.

add_changelog_in_standalone("R/standalone-foo.R", "Added foo function")
# ✔ Added changelog entry for "2026-06-02" in 1 file(s).

# ---
# repo: WangLabCSU/rpkgkit
# file: standalone-foo.R
# last-updated: 2026-06-02
# license: https://unlicense.org
# imports: []
# ---
#
# Changelog:
#
# 2026-06-02:
# Added foo function

NEWS.md Management

news_md_add_entry() - Add new entries to NEWS.md following CRAN guidelines

news_md_add_entry("Added foo function")

# rpkgkit 0.0.4 (2026-06-02)

## NEW FEATURES

* Added foo function

Add a different entry

news_md_add_entry(
  entry = "Fixed bugs in `foo()`",  
  version = "0.0.4",
  category = "BUG FIXES"
)

# rpkgkit 0.0.4 (2026-06-02)

## NEW FEATURES

* Added foo function

## BUG FIXES

* Fixed bugs in `foo()`

news_md_check() - Validate NEWS.md format for CRAN compliance

news_md_check()
# ℹ Checking NEWS.md with 22 lines
# ✔ NEWS.md passed all required checks
# ℹ 4 suggestion(s) for improvement
# $valid
# [1] TRUE

# $errors
# character(0)

# $warnings
# character(0)

# $suggestions
# [1] "Line 10: Bullet points should start with '* ' followed by capital letter"
# [2] "Line 12: Bullet points should start with '* ' followed by capital letter"
# [3] "Line 14: Bullet points should start with '* ' followed by capital letter"
# [4] "Line 14: Longer entries should end with punctuation"

news_md_show() - Display NEWS.md content of a package in console with color

R Function Transformation

make_func_call_explicit() - Make function calls explicit by adding package prefixes
package_func_call_explicit() - Make function calls explicit by adding package prefixes in a package

This is a code snippet from dplyr


starwars |>
  mutate(name, bmi = mass / ((height / 100)^2)) |>
  select(name:mass, bmi)

make_func_call_explicit("path_to_file", use_packages = "dplyr")

It will be converted to

starwars |>
  dplyr::mutate(name, bmi = mass / ((height / 100)^2)) |>
  dplyr::select(name:mass, bmi)

detect_lost_glue_brace() - Find all glue calls that are missing a closing brace in a file. Supports both glue and cli expressions.
package_lost_glue_brace() - Find all glue calls that are missing a closing brace in a package. Supports both glue and cli expressions.

# foo.R
name <- "world"
msg <- glue::glue("Hello, {name!")

library(cli)
warning <- ""
bar <- cli::col_red(cli::cli_alert_warning(
  "{.field warning}}: This string is missing {.val 1} brace{?s}"
))

detect_lost_glue_brace()

# msg <- glue::glue("Hello, {name!")
#                           ^^^^^^ 

#   "{.field warning}}: This string is missing {.val 1} brace{?s}"
#    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 
# ✖ Found 2 lines with mismatched braces: 3 and 8

make_func_arg_explicit() - Make function arguments are passed with explicit parameter names
package_func_arg_explicit() - Make function arguments are passed with explicit parameter names in a package

tf <- tempfile(fileext = ".R")
writeLines("vapply(1:9, function(x) x*2, numeric(1))", tf)
make_func_arg_explicit(tf)
# ✔ Made function arguments explicit in /tmp/RtmpOr1Iz0/file15b76c2120b264.R

cat(readLines(tf), sep = "\n")
# vapply(X = 1:9, FUN = function(x) x * 2, FUN.VALUE = numeric(length = 1))

rename_func() - Rename functions in a file with specific style

tf <- tempfile(fileext = ".R")
writeLines("this_is_a_function <- function(){message('Hello, world')}", tf)

rename_func(
  tf,
  style = "camelCase"
)
# ✔ Renamed 1 function to "camelCase" style in /tmp/RtmpOr1Iz0/file15b76c8de7e51.R

cat(readLines(tf), sep = "\n")
# thisIsAFunction <- function(){message('Hello, world')}

detect_print_and_cat() - Detect print() and cat() calls in a file
package_print_and_cat() - Detect print() and cat() calls in a package

print() and cat() are not allowed due to CRAN policy, so we need to fix them with message()

tf <- tempfile(fileext = ".R")
writeLines("print('Hello, world')", tf)
detect_print_and_cat(tf)
# print('Hello, world')
# ^^^^^^
# ✖ Found 1 unsupported call on line 
# 1.
detect_print_and_cat(tf, fix = TRUE)
cat(readLines(tf), sep = "\n")
# message('Hello, world')

convert_func_syntax() - Convert function syntax between function() and \()

f <- tempfile(fileext = ".R")
writeLines("f <- function(x) x^2", f)
convert_func_syntax(f)
# ✔ Converted function definitions in /tmp/Rtmp9ftJDS/file2a5a1320c9342e.R to "to_lambda"
message(readLines(f), sep = "\n")
# f <- \(x) x^2

convert_func_syntax(f, "to_explicit")
# ✔ Converted function definitions in /tmp/Rtmp9ftJDS/file2a5a1320c9342e.R to "to_explicit"
message(readLines(f), sep = "\n")
# f <- function(x) x^2

R Package Maintenance

use_zzz() - Create {pkgname}-package.R file in R/ folder, with .onLoad, .onAttach, %||% and package description. Similar to usethis::use_package_doc() but more powerful.

# * E.g., use it in rpkgkit dev environment
use_zzz()

# #' @title Create and Maintain R Packages
# #'
# #' @description Utilities for R package development including NEWS.md
# #' management, standalone file creation, and code formatting. Supports popular
# #' development workflows and integrates with 'usethis' and 'RStudio'. Includes
# #' helper functions for renaming functions and detecting common coding errors.
# #'
# #' @section License:
# #' MIT + file LICENSE
# #'
# #' @docType package
# #' @name rpkgkit-package
# #' @aliases rpkgkit
# #' @keywords internal
# #'
# "_PACKAGE"


# .onAttach <- function(libname, pkgname) {
#   pkg_version <- utils::packageVersion(pkgname)

#   msg <- cli::cli_fmt(cli::cli_alert_success(
#     "{.pkg {pkgname}} v{pkg_version} loaded"
#   ))
#   packageStartupMessage(msg)
#   invisible()
# }

# .onLoad <- function(libname, pkgname) {
#   invisible()
# }

# `%||%` <- function(left, right) {
#   if (is.null(left)) {
#     return(right)
#   }
#   left
# }

check_pkgdown_reference() - Check if all exported function are referenced in _pkgdown.yml

check_pkgdown_reference()
# ✖ 9 exported functions missing from pkgdown reference:
# - current_packages
# - detect_lost_glue_brace
# - detect_print_and_cat
# - imported_functions
# - make_func_arg_explicit
# - make_func_call_explicit
# - news_md_add_entry
# - news_md_check
# - news_md_show

use_vendor() - Reference a permissively-licensed R package from GitHub for inclusion in your own R package. Make it easy to import github R package under CRAN policy.

License, copyright and declaration are automatically generated in DESCRIPTION, R/vendor-*.R and inst/vendor/.

dir <- tempdir()
usethis::create_package(path = dir)
use_vendor(pkg = "WangLabCSU/rpkgkit", "43_use_vendor.R", branch = "main", path = dir)
# ℹ Fetching repository information for WangLabCSU/rpkgkit...
# ✔ Vendor package uses MIT license.
# ✔ Created directory /tmp/RtmpOr1Iz0/inst/vendor/rpkgkit.
# ✔ Copied LICENSE.
# ✔ Copied LICENSE.md.
# ✔ Created inst/vendor/rpkgkit/README.md.
# ✔ Created /tmp/RtmpOr1Iz0//R/vendor-rpkgkit.R.
# ✔ Added rpkgkit authors to Authors@R.
# ✔ Updated DESCRIPTION.
# ☐ Consider pasting the following statement into README.md

# ## Acknowledgements

# We would like to thank the following people and projects:

# - The authors of the [rpkgkit](https://github.com/WangLabCSU/rpkgkit) package &mdash; **Yuxi Yang, Jacob Scott, Christopher T. Kenny, Sebastian Lammers and Diego Hernangómez** &mdash; whose code is included (under MIT license) in `R/vendor-rpkgkit.R`.

use_multilanguage_readme() - Create a multi-language README.md template for your R package.
badge_translated_by_ai() - Create a badge for translated by AI.

use_multilangauge_readme("es")
# ✔ Created 1 README translation file in inst/translations.
# ☐ Consider pasting the following badges into your main README.md:

# [![Español](https://img.shields.io/badge/README-Espa%C3%B1ol-blue)](inst/translations/README.es.md)

badge_translated_by_ai("es")
# ☐ Consider copying the following statement to the AI-translated file(s):

# [![AI](https://img.shields.io/badge/AI-Espa%C3%B1ol-yellow)]()

# > Este contenido ha sido traducido por IA y no ha sido revisado. No es la lengua materna del autor y es solo para referencia.

Add_global_rbuildignore() - Add global .Rbuildignore file to your R package.
Add_global_gitignore() - Add global .gitignore file to your R package.

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the following people and projects:

The authors of the pedant package — Jacob Scott, Christopher T. Kenny, and Sebastian Lammers — whose code is included (under MIT license) in R/vendor-pedant.R.
The authors of the pkgdev package — Diego Hernangómez — whose code is included (under MIT license) in R/vendor-pkgdev.R.
All contributors and users who have reported issues, suggested features, or helped improve the package.

Reference manual

install.packages("rpkgkit")

0.1.7 by Yuxi Yang, 3 months ago

https://github.com/WangLabCSU/rpkgkit

Report a bug at https://github.com/WangLabCSU/rpkgkit/issues

Browse source code at https://github.com/cran/rpkgkit

Authors: Yuxi Yang [aut, cre] , Jacob Scott [aut, cph] (Author of the included pedant code (https://github.com/wurli/pedant)) , Christopher T. Kenny [ctb, cph] (Contributor to the included pedant code) , Sebastian Lammers [ctb, cph] (Contributor to the included pedant code) , Diego Hernangómez [aut, cph] (Author of the included pkgdev code (https://github.com/dieghernan/pkgdev))

Documentation: PDF Manual

MIT + file LICENSE license

Imports cli, lifecycle, rlang, rstudioapi

Suggests desc, devtools, dplyr, flir, gh, grDevices, httr2, pkgload, rmarkdown, stats, testthat, usethis, withr, yaml

See at CRAN

rpkgkit

Create and Maintain R Packages

rpkgkit

Installation

Features

Available Standalone Scripts

Standalone File Management

NEWS.md Management

R Function Transformation

R Package Maintenance

Acknowledgements

Reference manual

R links

R homepage

Download R

Mailing lists

R documentation

R manuals

R FAQs

The R Journal

CRAN links

CRAN homepage

CRAN repository policy

Submit a package

METACRAN stuff

About METACRAN

At github

Report a bug