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courieR

courieR syncs installed R packages between R versions on the same machine — migrate from old to new, keep multiple versions in parity, or selectively copy packages in either direction. No manual reinstalling, no lost libraries.

Installation

Install from GitHub (CRAN submission pending):

# install.packages("remotes")
remotes::install_github("lennon-li/courieR")

Quickstart

library(courieR)
open_hub()   # launches the Shiny dashboard

The dashboard detects all R installations on your machine, displays them in a header bar, and lets you compare and sync packages between any two.

How It Works

courieR detects every R installation on your system, scans their package libraries, and lets you push packages between them — one-way or bidirectionally — using pak under the hood.

R 4.4.1  ──▶  compare()  ──▶  missing / outdated packages found
                          ──▶  ship() installs or upgrades into target R

Installation Detection

find_routes() searches multiple sources per platform so it finds installs regardless of whether admin rights were used:

Platform	Sources searched
Windows	HKLM registry (admin installs), HKCU registry (non-admin installs), `%ProgramFiles%\R`, `%LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\R`, `%USERPROFILE%\Documents\R`, rig-managed versions
macOS	System R framework (`/Library/Frameworks`), user framework (`~/Library/Frameworks`), Homebrew (`/opt/homebrew`, `/usr/local`), rig-managed versions
Linux	`/opt/R` (rig system), `~/.local/share/rig/R` (rig user), conda environments, custom paths

Key Functions

Function	What it does
`open_hub()`	Launch the Shiny dashboard
`find_routes()`	Detect all R installations on the system
`manifest()`	List packages installed in an R version
`inventory()`	Compare two package libraries
`ship()`	Copy packages from one R to another (CLI)

Dashboard — Sync Tab

The Sync tab is the main workflow:

The header bar shows all detected installations (highlighted in the A/B accent colours once selected)
Select two R installations from the dropdowns in the sidebar
Click Compare — a summary strip shows counts of identical, missing, and version-mismatched packages
Click one of three sync buttons:
- Copy A → B — installs or upgrades packages from A into B
- Copy B → A — installs or upgrades packages from B into A
- Two-Way Sync — brings both installations to parity in both directions

CLI Usage

Prefer scripting? Use ship() directly:

library(courieR)

routes <- find_routes()
print(routes[, c("version", "rscript_path")])

# dry run first
result <- ship(
  source_path = routes$rscript_path[1],
  target_path = routes$rscript_path[2],
  dry_run = TRUE
)
print(result$plan)

# for real (upgrade = TRUE ensures outdated packages are also updated)
result <- ship(
  source_path = routes$rscript_path[1],
  target_path = routes$rscript_path[2],
  upgrade = TRUE
)

Requirements

R >= 4.1
Works on Windows, macOS, and Linux
No packages required on the source R installation

These binaries (installable software) and packages are in development.
They may not be fully stable and should be used with caution. We make no claims about them.
Health stats visible at Monitor.