Getting Started

For many R users, RStudio has long been a great integrated development environment for data analysis and visualization. It provides a rich set of features that make it unprecedentedly easy to perform a wide range of tasks interactively.

VS Code, in contrast, is not specifically designed for a certain programming language. It is highly customizable through settings, and highly extensible through extensions. It supports many programming languages at different levels through language extensions that implement some common protocols such as the Language Server Protocol to enable language features based on code analysis such as Go To Definition and Rename symbol, and the Debug Adapter Protocol to enable interactive debugging of any target.

This vscode-R extension is an extension that attempts to make it easier to write R code and work with R sessions interactively in VS Code. Though vscode-R provides support emulating RStudio's features, it is not intended to be a full drop-in replacement for RStudio. In contrast, vscode-R is useful for those who want a unified development environment to work with multiple programming languages such as R, Python, C++, etc., as well as those who need to work with remote servers, containers, self-managed R sessions or multiple R sessions at the same time.

To enjoy the full R development experience, we recommend that you install all of the following packages:

• vscode-R: Provides R language service, R Markdown, and interactivity between VS Code and R terminal.

• languageserver: An R package that implements the Language Server Protocol for R to provide a wide range of language analysis features such as auto-completion, function signature, documentation, symbol highlight, document outline, code formatting, symbol hover, diagnostics, go to definition, find references, etc.

• radian: A modern R console that corrects many limitations of the official R terminal and supports many features such as syntax highlighting and auto-completion.

• VSCode-R-Debugger: A VS Code extension to support R debugging capabilities.

• httpgd: An R package to provide a graphics device that asynchronously serves SVG graphics via HTTP and WebSockets. vscode-R uses httpgd to provide an interactive plot viewer.

• rmarkdown: An R package and format for creating reproducible and narrative-driven data analyses. vscode-R provides tooling to edit, run, and knit Rmarkdown files.

• Pandoc (optional): A powerful document conversion tool. vscode-R uses this to render help previews when users hover over R code.

However, the astounding flexibility of VS Code comes at a cost that some users might not find enjoyable in the beginning: Some setup and configuration are needed to make each part work well together. To minimize that cost, please refer to the installation guidelines on the right side and see the installation instructions we provide in details on Windows, Linux and macOS.