Working with VS Code
Why use VS Code?
Posit workbench is the most popular IDE for development using R. It has a lot of great functionality out of the box. However, when working with multiple languages, or if you need something a little more than just an IDE, VS Code is an excellent alternative.
Here are some of the following features compelling reasons to use VS Code:
- VS Code has a better approach to multiple windows.
- It works with multiple languages (syntax, autocomplete, error checking, etc).
- Excellent support for git, GitHub, etc.
- Editing code on remote servers.
- VS Code has a huge range of extensions.
- Easy to navigate command palette (CTRL-SHIFT-P)
- It’s highly customisable.
Setting Up
A little work is required to set up R in VS Code.
R Packages
The following R packages should be installed along with the VS Code extensions:
- {languageserver} This package supports the R language in VS Code.
- {httpg} The httpg package provides a graphics device for plotting.
- {vscDebugger} Supports debugging R code under VS Code. It is not on CRAN but can be installed via R-Universe:
install.packages("vscDebugger", repos = "https://manuelhentschel.r-universe.dev")
vscode-R extension
Install the VS Code R extension (https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/languages/r). The extension includes a number of features such as code completion and linting. See https://github.com/REditorSupport/vscode-R/wiki/R-Language-Service for more details.
R debugger extension
This adds debugging capability and dependes on the {vscDebugger} package.
Radian Terminal
The Radian terminal is modern terminal for R. It provides a better experience, closer to Posit’s console, adding multiline editing, syntax highlighting and autocompletion in the terminal. Radian is a python package and needs to be installed with pip3 install -U radian.
In order to use Radian, the default R terminal needs to be updated in the VS Code settings. For a windows machine, edit settings via the menu (File>Preferences>Settings or CTRL+, or CTRL+P+“Preferences: Open Settings(UI)), search for Rterm:windows and set r.rterm.windows = "C:\Python311\Scripts\radian.exe"
Using renv
Packages can be managed using renv when working with R in VS Code, however the languageserver R package and its dependencies will also be required. One way to manage this is to maintain a standalone, minimal library with packages that VS Code requires. This is detailed in https://github.com/REditorSupport/vscode-R/wiki/Working-with-renv-enabled-projects
VS Code Extensions
Listed below are some of our favorite VS Code extensions.
languages
VS Code is an editor that works well with many programming languages. It has native support for HTML, css, Javascript along with extensions for most modern programming languages. VS Code is particularly useful when learning a new programming language as its syntax and linting features can highlight issues as you type.
Emmet
Not strictly an extension as it is now part of the core code. If you write in HTML and css, Emmet is an enormous time saver. It parses abbreviated expressions, turning them into code. More information available at https://docs.emmet.io/
Path Autocomplete
This extension provides path completion for relative and absolute paths. For e.g. this is convenient when you want to add an image to quarto / markdown and you need to link to the path of the image.
mongoDB
This is a great extension for working with mongoDB databases. Includes a playground to build and test queries.
Gitlens and Git Graph
Two extensions to help when working with version control. Git graph provides a visual representation of commits, making it simple to work with branches. Git Lens provides many additional views of code under version control.
git-autoconfig
This extension helps manage multiple git profiles. For e.g. if you work on repos using your work email address in some cases and a private email address in others you can manage this easily using git-autoconfig.
Quarto
The VS Code quarto extension makes it easy to work with quarto and manage quarto projects.
markdown extended
This adds a number of non-standard markdown extensions such as subscript/superscript, callout blocks, tables, footnotes, toc and many more.
Markdown Preview Mermaid
This extension will render a preview of your mermaid diagram embedded in your markdown file.
docker
The docker extension helps you build and manage containers and images from within VS Code. Like many other languages in VS Code it provides intellisense and syntax help as you are writing Dockerfile and docker-compose.yml files.
rest client
This extension is particularly useful when working with APIs. It allows you to run requests to the API directly from the editor. It’s a great way to test as you are developing APIs without having to leave the editor. It can also run graphQL parameterized queries.
remote ssh
Connect to and edit files on a remote server.
live server
Launch a dynamic server to render webpages whilst editing.
Error lens
Highlights errors and warnings with messages. VS Code natively highlights errors but this adds more context as you’re typing.
indent-rainbow
This is a simple extensions that helps with code readability by colorizes the indentation in front of your indented code / text with alternating colours.
foam and dendron
These are both note organizers. If you have lots of notes, foam and dendron are two extensions that help you organize, classify and connect notes.
kanbn
This is a great kanban extension for VS Code. The kanban board can be attached to a VS Code workplace, useful for managing at a project-level.
spotify
Control Spotify from within VS Code.