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Initialize a new R project with a standard folder structure

Source: R/init-project.R
init_project.Rd

init_project() creates a new R project at the given path with an opinionated folder structure suited for research workflows. It optionally initializes renv for package management and git for version control.

Usage

init_project(
  path,
  use_renv = TRUE,
  use_git = TRUE,
  custom_folders = NULL,
  config = NULL,
  open = FALSE,
  uw_branding = FALSE
)

Arguments

path

A character string with the path and name of the new project (e.g., "~/Documents/my-project").

use_renv

Logical. If TRUE, initializes renv in the new project. Defaults to TRUE.

use_git

Logical. If TRUE, initializes a git repository in the new project. Defaults to TRUE.

custom_folders

A character vector of folder names to add to or remove from the project structure after the base set is resolved. Bare names (e.g., "models") add a folder. Names prefixed with "-" (e.g., "-output/figures") suppress creation of that folder. When removing, only the named leaf is suppressed – parent directories are unaffected. Duplicates of existing folders generate a message and are skipped. References to non-existent folders via "-" generate a warning. Defaults to NULL.

config

A character string. Path to a YAML project config file produced by generate_project_config(). When supplied, the folder list in the config replaces the built-in standard structure entirely. custom_folders is still applied on top of the config-derived set. Defaults to NULL.

open

Logical. If TRUE, opens the new project in RStudio after creation. Defaults to FALSE.

uw_branding

Logical. If TRUE, creates an assets/ folder and populates it with UW-Madison RCI branding files (styles.css, header.html, rci-banner.png). Defaults to FALSE.

Value

Called for its side effects. Invisibly returns path.

Examples

if (FALSE) { # \dontrun{
init_project(path = file.path(tempdir(), "project1"),
             use_renv = FALSE, use_git = FALSE)

init_project(path = file.path(tempdir(), "project2"),
             uw_branding = TRUE, use_renv = FALSE, use_git = FALSE)

# Add a folder and suppress one from the standard set
init_project(path = file.path(tempdir(), "project3"),
             custom_folders = c("models", "-output/figures"),
             use_renv = FALSE, use_git = FALSE)

# Drive structure entirely from a config file
init_project(path = file.path(tempdir(), "project4"),
             config = "~/linguistics-project.yml",
             use_renv = FALSE, use_git = FALSE)
} # }