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Changelog

Source: NEWS.md

rpix 0.9.1 (2026-10-21)

Fixed

  • The question at startup, whether to reopen the project in RStudio with its Pixi R, is only asked in an interactive session.
  • Links to the rpix-forge channel go to its page on prefix.dev, rather than to the channel’s URL, which has no page.

rpix 0.9.0 (2026-10-20)

Added

  • pixi_upgrade() leaves R as it is, unless r = TRUE (or "r-base" is named): upgrading everything used to take a project to a new version of R, for which conda-forge has fewer packages. In an interactive session, pixi_update() and pixi_upgrade() show what would change, and ask before going ahead. Afterwards they install the environment, as pixi update doesn’t; in the project’s own R they say to restart it (and offer to, in RStudio), and on Windows only update pixi.lock, as a running R keeps Pixi from replacing its packages’ files (#200).
  • use_pixi_jupyter(), and use_pixi(ide = "jupyter"), set the project up for Jupyter notebooks: a kernel for each environment with R, which starts that environment’s R through pixi run, JupyterLab in an environment of its own, and a jupyter task that starts it with those kernels. Experimental. See the IDE guide (#184).
  • use_pixi_python(), and use_pixi(python = TRUE), add Python to the project’s environment for reticulate, and point reticulate at it, and pixi_add("pypi::pydytuesday") adds Python packages from PyPI. Both are experimental. See Python alongside R (#108).
  • pixi_add_environment(r_version = ) adds an environment with another version of R in one step: R, the project’s packages (so it gets the versions built for that R), rpix and the isolation from your personal library, and installs it. If that R can’t have the packages, pixi.toml is left as it was. pixi_add_environment() without features says the environment is a copy of the default one, and pixi_add(feature = ) for a feature no environment uses says how to add one (#201).
  • pixi_sitrep() lists files that more than one package in an environment installs, such as shared libraries, and whose copy is there: only one can be, so the other package may not work. It says when it’s Strawberry Perl’s MinGW runtime over conda-forge’s, which on Windows stops compiled R packages from loading, and how to find what brings perl in (#176, #177).
  • The IDE guide says how to install each IDE, and which pixi global install can install (Emacs, Neovim, Zed and direnv). use_pixi_emacs(), use_pixi_neovim(), use_pixi_zed(), and use_pixi_vscode() on Windows, link to it when the editor’s command isn’t on the PATH (#193).
  • RStudio addins: open the project with its Pixi R, add packages (the selection, or those a file uses), install the environment, run a task, open pixi.toml, and the sitrep. A New Project template, “Project with Pixi”, sets up a project as use_pixi(ide = "rstudio") does, for the version of R picked there, optionally as a git repository. In RStudio, when the project opens in an R that isn’t its Pixi R, rpix offers to reopen it in a new RStudio with that R (#137, #143).
  • At startup and in pixi_sitrep(), rpix says when a project also has renv, e.g. because RStudio’s New Project set it up, as renv and Pixi clash, and that pixi_import_renv() turns renv off.
  • pixi_add(type = ) and pixi_remove(type = ) also add packages to, or remove them from, a field of the package’s DESCRIPTION, such as "Imports" or "Suggests", as usethis::use_package() does. A >= constraint becomes the minimum version there, and packages from GitHub go in Remotes too. type = "SystemRequirements" adds conda packages there under conda-forge’s names, e.g. pixi_add("conda::gdal", type = "SystemRequirements"). The rest of DESCRIPTION stays as it is (#256).
  • In a package’s Pixi environment, rpix notices when DESCRIPTION comes to need packages that pixi.toml doesn’t have, e.g. after usethis::use_package() or an edit, and in an interactive session offers to add them with pixi_import_description(). It also says when DESCRIPTION no longer lists a package. options(rpix.watch_description = FALSE) turns it off (#255).
  • use_pixi() notices a project that uses renv (renv.lock), and in an interactive session offers to move its packages over with pixi_import_renv(), which also turns renv off. Coming from renv now moves a project with use_pixi(path = ) from your usual R, rather than with commands in a terminal (#252).
  • In an interactive session, rpix offers to do the next step itself, rather than only saying how, as rlang::check_installed() does: setting up a project where there’s none (with use_pixi()), logging in to a channel that refused access and trying again, adding the packages pixi_scan() finds, updating the packages after pixi_set_date(NULL), adding VS Code’s console (arf or radian) when pixi_switch() finds it missing, adding linux-64 for use_pixi_github_action(), and using the newest R conda-forge has packages for when use_pixi() asks for a newer one (#251).
  • pixi_remove_channel() and pixi_remove_platform() remove channels and platforms from the project, as pixi_add_channel() and pixi_add_platform() add them (#254).
  • pixi_install(locked = TRUE) fails if pixi.lock is out of date with pixi.toml, and pixi_install(frozen = TRUE) installs pixi.lock without checking it, as pixi install --locked and --frozen do (#253).
  • options(rpix.ref) makes use_pixi() also install rpix into the environment from GitHub, at a branch, tag or commit (e.g. "main", or a pull request’s branch), to try a change before it’s released. The installed rpix records the commit, so use_pixi() reinstalls only when it changes (#245).
  • use_pixi_emacs(), use_pixi_neovim() and use_pixi_zed() set up those editors, and use_pixi(ide = ) takes them too. They add languageserver, and a .envrc from the new use_pixi_direnv(), which activates the project’s environment with direnv. pixi_switch() and pixi_sitrep() know them (#185, #186, #187).
  • use_pixi_positron() makes the default environment’s R Positron’s default for the project, so Positron (2026.10 or later) starts it when the project opens, without picking it first. default_r = FALSE leaves it out (#133).
  • use_pixi_vscode(console = ) sets up arf or radian as the R extension’s console, starting the environment’s R. pixi_switch() keeps the console (#132).
  • In an interactive session, use_pixi_vscode() asks which console to use. use_pixi(ide = ) passes the IDEs’ settings on, e.g. use_pixi(ide = "vscode", console = "arf") (#134).
  • In an interactive session, pixi_switch() without an environment asks which, from a menu of the project’s environments (#189).
  • use_pixi() turns on Pixi’s activation cache for the project, so R started through Pixi, e.g. by pixi run R or Positron, starts in a fraction of a second rather than a few. activation_cache = FALSE leaves it off (#195).
  • options(rpix.verbose = TRUE) shows the output and build logs of Pixi that rpix keeps back, as they come (#222).
  • When R starts in a Pixi environment without rpix, e.g. a collaborator’s or another environment of the project, the project’s .Rprofile says so, with the command that installs it. use_pixi() updates the .Rprofile of a project set up earlier (#216).

Changed

  • In R that isn’t the project’s, outside RStudio, the startup message now points to opening the project in an IDE set up with use_pixi(ide = ), before pixi run R.
  • Messages write rpix’s functions with rpix::, so the code they suggest runs as shown, as rpix usually isn’t attached (#251).
  • rpix needs Pixi 0.77 or later, which SystemRequirements now says. It’s the first Pixi that can build packages with pixi-build-r 0.2.0, for github:: packages and CRAN packages that aren’t on conda-forge. A CI job checks rpix with it (#84).
  • The examples of pixi_add(), pixi_remove(), pixi_search(), pixi_install(), the environment, channel and task functions, use_pixi_direnv(), use_pixi_positron() and pixi_sitrep() run without Pixi: they set up a throwaway project in R’s temporary folder, and show the Pixi commands with dry_run = TRUE (#84).
  • rpix is a dependency of the project (r-rpix), so it’s in pixi.lock and a collaborator’s environment has it, rather than installed into the environment from R-universe. It isn’t on conda-forge yet: until it is, use_pixi() adds the channel rpix-forge, after conda-forge, which also has the R extension’s sess and jgd for VS Code. Everything else still comes from conda-forge. The .Rprofile hint for an environment without rpix gives the Pixi commands that add it.
  • In a Pixi environment, install.packages() of a package already in pixi.toml says so, and how to update it with pixi_update(), rather than passing on Pixi’s “already a dependency” (#210).
  • use_pixi() creates a project for Linux, macOS (Intel and Apple Silicon) and Windows, and your computer’s platform if it’s another one, so collaborators on any of them can install it; platforms chooses others. Before, a project only had the platform it was created on (#215).
  • use_pixi_rstudio() adds the rstudio task for all four of those platforms, whichever the project has; Pixi adds any it doesn’t (#215).
  • Packages from GitHub build with pixi-build-r 0.2.0 or later, which rpix now asks for. It adds Rust, CMake, pkg-config and R’s recommended packages, and installs into R’s library on Windows, so rpix no longer does (#148, #149, #150, #152). rpix still adds Java, and on Windows, MSYS2’s tools and MinGW’s compilers. A project with packages as of a date before 2026-10-15 can’t get that pixi-build-r, so rpix stops and says so.
  • On Windows, use_pixi_vscode() and pixi_switch() also give the commands that start VSCodium, Cursor and Windsurf from the environment, and the IDE guide says the VS Code setup works in them too.
  • rpix finds the project of the running Pixi environment from PIXI_WORKSPACE_ROOT, as Pixi 0.82 names it, and otherwise from PIXI_PROJECT_ROOT, which Pixi keeps as an alias and older versions set.
  • pixi_switch() and pixi_check_matrix() say when they install an environment for the first time, which can take a while, and show Pixi’s output, rather than waiting in silence. pixi_check_matrix() now installs before the run, so its time doesn’t include the install (#223).
  • use_pixi() and the IDE setups only add the packages the project doesn’t have yet, rather than having Pixi say of each of the others that it’s there, and use_pixi(ide = ) sets direnv up once for several editors, so running them again, or for several IDEs, says each thing once (#222).
  • pixi_add(), and install.packages() in a Pixi environment, show Pixi’s output once the packages are added. When Pixi can’t add them but rpix can, e.g. from bioconda or by building from source, Pixi’s error isn’t shown; when rpix can’t, all of Pixi’s output is (#222).
  • A package from GitHub shows a line while it builds, rather than the build’s log, which is shown if the build fails (#222).
  • use_pixi() installs rpix into the environment quietly, and only if the environment doesn’t have this version or a newer one (#222).

Fixed

  • When a package isn’t on conda-forge for one of the project’s platforms, pixi_add() says so, and for which, rather than that it couldn’t be found (#215).
  • pixi_import_renv() adds only the packages the project uses from lock files written by renv 1.1 or later too, which record what each package needs differently; it added every package in them (#206).
  • In a Pixi environment, install.packages() accepts repos, and adds the packages with Pixi as usual. Package files and folders (repos = NULL) go to utils::install.packages(), which pixi.toml doesn’t record. VS Code’s R extension can now install its sess package (#209).
  • use_pixi_vscode(), and use_pixi(ide = "vscode"), add the R extension’s sess and jgd (from rpix-forge, see Changed). Version 3.2 of the extension installed sess’s dependencies from CRAN, past rpix’s install.packages(), and later needs a compiler the environment doesn’t have, so it couldn’t start an R Interactive session. r-sess brings them from conda-forge, and is built from the extension’s release, so the extension uses it as it is (#244).
  • use_pixi() sets up the folder it’s given, or the working directory, rather than a Pixi project in a parent folder. It says when a parent folder is a Pixi project, and in an interactive session asks whether to set that one up instead (#214).
  • In a package, pixi_sitrep() no longer says the package itself was installed without Pixi, e.g. after devtools::install() (#220).
  • In a project with several environments, pixi_add(), pixi_remove() and install.packages() install the environment R runs in, as Pixi doesn’t by itself there; a package added was missing until the next pixi install (#202).
  • On Windows, packages from GitHub with a configure script build: rpix gives their builds MinGW’s compilers, which R uses there, in place of pixi-build-r’s, whose Fortran compiler broke the script’s checks (#191).
  • When the IDE is set up for the project but runs another R, pixi_sitrep() says how to start the project’s R in it, e.g. pixi run rstudio for RStudio, rather than that the IDE is set up. It no longer lists R’s base packages as loaded from outside the project, and knows Emacs, Neovim and Zed when it’s in none of the IDEs (#219).
  • In a copy of a project, rpix’s functions such as pixi_add() no longer change the original project. When the running Pixi environment says it’s from another project than the working directory’s, as Pixi’s activation cache can after a copy or move, rpix uses the working directory’s project, and says so (#218).
  • A moved or copied project no longer runs the R of its old location. Pixi’s activation cache, which use_pixi() turns on, keeps the old paths, so rpix removes it when it has another location, before Pixi uses it, and says the project was moved or copied. pixi_activate() and pixi_sitrep() also name environments that were installed in the old location, which can’t be moved, and say how to reinstall them (#217).
  • When conda-forge has a new R but no R packages for it yet, as with R 4.6: use_pixi(install_rpix = FALSE) picks the newest R it has packages for, rather than one no package can be added to; use_pixi(r_version = ) with that R says so, and which R is the newest you can use; and pixi_import_renv() with a lock file from that R uses the newest R the packages are built for, and says so (#207).
  • When a package isn’t built for the project’s R, pixi_add() names it, also when it has a version constraint, and suggests a command that’s valid R and replaces the project’s R rather than adding a second one. For an old version pinned with == or =, which conda-forge won’t build for a newer R, it offers a newer version, a build of that version from source, or the older R for the whole project (#208).
  • pixi_add() and install.packages() only offer to build a package from CRAN’s source when it’s on CRAN. A mistyped name, such as "dplyrr", says it’s on neither conda-forge nor CRAN, and suggests close names: “Did you mean dplyr?” (#212).
  • A package from GitHub that rpix can’t read says why: there’s no public repository by that name, it has no such branch, tag or commit, or GitHub couldn’t be reached, rather than always that it needs a DESCRIPTION (#213).
  • pixi_remove() and pixi_search() take a Bioconductor package’s name without bioc::, as pixi_add() does: pixi_remove("limma") removes bioconductor-limma when that’s what pixi.toml has, and pixi_search("limma") looks on bioconda when it isn’t on conda-forge (#211).
  • rpix only counts a package as on conda-forge or bioconda when one has its exact name, as Pixi’s search also finds names that contain it. So pixi_add() offers to build a CRAN package such as faux from source, rather than failing because Pixi found r-fauxpas, and pixi_search("faux") no longer shows r-fauxpas (#205).
  • In a project with packages as of a date before 2026-10-15, pixi_add() and pixi_import_renv() no longer offer to build CRAN packages that aren’t on conda-forge from source, which then failed: they say that the date hides Pixi’s build backend instead (#221).

rpix 0.8.0 (2026-10-13)

Added

  • pixi_set_date() and use_pixi(date = ) use packages as they were on a date, with Pixi’s exclude-newer, e.g. to rerun an old analysis; a duration such as "7d" leaves out the newest releases instead. pixi_sitrep() reports it (#106).
  • use_pixi_check_matrix(minimum = TRUE) adds a minimum environment, with R and the package’s dependencies at the lowest versions its DESCRIPTION allows, to check that those minimums really work. It has the Suggests too, for the tests and examples; those without a minimum get at least the version the project has (#112, #168).
  • use_pixi_github_action() writes a GitHub Actions workflow that uses the project’s environments exactly as pixi.lock records them: R CMD check on Linux, macOS and Windows for each environment, test coverage, a pkgdown site, or a Pixi task. It uses the environments that have what the workflow needs, such as the check matrix’s for R CMD check, and says how to add what an environment lacks (#107, #159).
  • In a package, pixi_sitrep() checks that pixi.toml has what DESCRIPTION needs: the Depends, Imports and LinkingTo packages in the default environment, the Suggests somewhere, and installed versions at least the minimums DESCRIPTION asks for (#113).
  • New article: “How many packages you can use”, with how much of CRAN and Bioconductor works through Pixi and rpix, and what’s still missing (#121).
  • pixi_import_renv() adds the lock file’s GitHub packages, built from source at the commit it records, and offers to build CRAN packages that aren’t on conda-forge from CRAN’s source, as pixi_add() does. As building from source is experimental, it says which packages it built (#162).
  • New guide: “Developing a package”, from setting up to CI (#117).
  • An agent skill, in skills/rpix/, teaches coding agents such as Claude Code, Codex and Cursor to work in R projects the Pixi way: add packages with pixi_add() rather than install.packages(), run the environment’s R, and start from pixi_sitrep() when something’s off. In Claude Code, install it with /plugin marketplace add roaldarbol/rpix and /plugin install rpix@rpix (#155).

Changed

  • Packages built from source build on Windows too: in a project for Windows, rpix installs them into R’s library folder and adds MSYS2’s make, sed and coreutils (and, for Rust, the GNU target), which pixi-build-r doesn’t yet (#123).
  • Packages built from source (pixi_add("github::..."), and CRAN packages that aren’t on conda-forge) get what pixi-build-r doesn’t add yet: R’s recommended packages they use, such as Matrix and MASS, and the build tools their SystemRequirements names: Rust, Java, CMake or pkg-config (#118).
  • rpix’s questions, when it offers to install Pixi or to build a package from source, say what will happen, then offer a numbered menu (#104).

Fixed

  • pixi_add_environment(default_feature = FALSE) adds conda-ecosystem-user-package-isolation to an environment with R, which keeps the personal R library out, as use_pixi() does for the default feature. Before, such an environment, e.g. with another version of R, could load packages built for another R, and crash. pixi_add() adds it too when it adds R to the default feature without it, and pixi_sitrep() reports environments with R that lack it, e.g. after editing pixi.toml by hand (#160).
  • “Coming from renv” no longer says that packages from GitHub aren’t available, and that only a few CRAN packages aren’t on conda-forge: it says that Pixi can build them from source (#161).
  • pixi_add(), pixi_install(), pixi_update() and pixi_upgrade() notice when Pixi skips a package’s install script, which Bioconductor’s annotation and data packages (such as org.Hs.eg.db) use to download their data. They offer to allow these scripts in the project, and otherwise warn. Before, such packages were added without their data, and didn’t load. Committing .pixi/config.toml allows the scripts for everyone who uses the project, CI included (#142, #158).
  • The check matrix’s environments keep your personal R library out, as the default environment does. Without it, R could load packages built for your usual R, and crash (#112).
  • Packages built from source whose names have a dot, such as sym.arma, are written correctly into pixi.toml; Pixi couldn’t read them before (#120).
  • In a package, use_pixi() adds .pixi, pixi.toml and pixi.lock to .Rbuildignore, and the IDE setup adds .vscode, so they stay out of the package’s builds. pixi_sitrep() reports them when they’re missing (#114).

rpix 0.7.0 (2026-10-10)

Added

  • install_pixi() installs Pixi with Pixi’s official installer (#87). When a function can’t find Pixi, rpix offers to install it.

  • pixi_auth_login(), pixi_auth_logout() and pixi_auth_status() log in to private conda channels, e.g. on prefix.dev, anaconda.org, Artifactory or S3 (experimental; #93, #97). pixi_auth_login() asks for the token or password without showing it, and rpix shows <hidden> wherever it would appear.

  • When a channel refuses access, rpix’s errors and pixi_sitrep() say which host refused and suggest pixi_auth_login(), and pixi_sitrep() lists the hosts Pixi has logins for (#95).

  • pixi_add() adds R packages from GitHub, built from source by Pixi’s R build backend, pixi-build-r (experimental; #88, #96):

    pixi_add("github::user/repo")
pixi_add("github::cran/praise", versions = "1.0.0")

    @ref or versions picks a branch, tag or commit. pixi_remove() removes them the same way.

  • When pixi_add() can’t find a CRAN package on conda-forge, it offers to build it from CRAN’s GitHub mirror, or, in a script, says how (experimental; #89, #96).

  • New guide: “Private channels and company networks” (#95).

Changed

Removed

Fixed

  • Errors in projects set up with use_pixi() show their message again, rather than “there is no package called ‘rlang’” (#98).

rpix 0.6.0 (2026-10-09)

Added

  • pixi_switch() moves your work to another environment’s R (#32). In RStudio it starts a new RStudio with that R; in Positron it looks for interpreters again and opens the interpreter picker; in VS Code it points the R extension at that R.
  • pixi_r() runs a function in another environment’s R, e.g. one with another version of R, and returns its result (#33).
  • pixi_check_matrix() runs a package’s tests or R CMD check in several environments, one at a time or all at once, and shows the results side by side. use_pixi_check_matrix() adds an environment for each version of R (#34).
  • pixi_import_renv() moves a project from renv: it adds the packages in renv.lock that nothing else in it needs, at least at their locked versions or exactly, lists those it can’t add, and turns renv off (#37).
  • pixi_import_description() adds a package’s Depends and Imports to the project, and its Suggests to a test environment, finding Bioconductor packages on bioconda (#36).
  • pixi_scan() finds the packages the project’s code uses, in .R files, the R chunks of .qmd and .Rmd documents and Pixi tasks, lists those missing from pixi.toml (and adds them with add = TRUE), and lists packages the code never uses (#38).
  • pixi_tasks(), pixi_run(), pixi_add_task() and pixi_remove_task() work with the project’s Pixi tasks (#35).
  • In a Pixi environment’s R, install.packages() adds packages with pixi_add(), so they’re recorded in pixi.toml and pixi.lock (#3). Turn it off with options(rpix.install_packages = FALSE).
  • pixi_sitrep() lists packages in the environment that Pixi didn’t install (#3).

Changed

Removed

  • restart_rstudio_with_pixi(). Use pixi_switch(), or start RStudio with pixi run rstudio (#32).

Fixed

  • Pixi’s output is shown in Pixi’s own colours, rather than partly red (#68).

rpix 0.5.0 (2026-10-08)

Added

Changed

  • use_pixi() keeps your personal R library out of the environment’s R, by adding conda-forge’s conda-ecosystem-user-package-isolation (conda-forge/r-base-feedstock#37).

Deprecated

rpix 0.4.0 (2026-10-08)

Added

  • R package names are translated to conda names (#21): "Rcpp" becomes r-rcpp, "bioc::DESeq2" a Bioconductor package from bioconda (#17), and "conda::gdal" a conda package that isn’t an R package.
  • pixi_add() takes version constraints inline ("dplyr>=1.1"), and one per package in versions.
  • New guides: getting started, finding packages, coming from renv, sharing projects, how rpix works and troubleshooting (#48).

Changed

  • Functions that run a Pixi command are called pixi_<command>() (#20). remove() and search() are now pixi_remove() and pixi_search().
  • rpix no longer points a running R at a Pixi environment’s library, which could crash R (#14, #22). Work in R started by Pixi instead, e.g. with pixi run R.
  • setup_pixi() only sets up the project: it creates pixi.toml, adds R (r_version picks the version) and installs rpix. It removes the “Pixi R library setup” block from the project’s .Rprofile, and warns about one in ~/.Rprofile.
  • Pixi commands work from any subfolder of a project, Pixi’s failures become R errors, and Pixi is found even if it isn’t on the PATH (#19). Set options(rpix.pixi_path = ) for unusual installs.
  • With dry_run = TRUE, pixi_add(), pixi_remove() and pixi_search() return the command invisibly.
  • pixi_add() suggests bioc:: and conda:: when a package can’t be found.

Deprecated

Removed

Fixed

  • pixi_add(channel = ) adds the channel to the project and installs from it.

rpix 0.3.0 (2025-06-16)

Added

  • restart_rstudio_with_pixi() restarts RStudio with the project’s R.

Changed

  • setup_pixi() installs rpix from CRAN into the Pixi environment.

rpix 0.2.0 (2025-05-17)

Added

  • setup_pixi() sets up a Pixi project from R.
  • search() searches for packages, their versions and their dependencies.
  • dry_run shows the Pixi command without running it.

Changed

  • add() adds several packages at once.

rpix 0.1.0