R Package Repositories

R packages allow the R community to extend the base functionality provided in R with a rich set of packages available in package repositories.

CRAN, The Comprehensive R Archive Network, is the primary package repository in the R community. CRAN is a network of ftp and web servers around the world that store identical, up-to-date, versions of code and documentation for R.

Primary repository

RStudio uses the RStudio CRAN mirror (https://cran.rstudio.com) by default. This mirror is globally distributed using Amazon S3 storage so should provide good performance for all locales. If needed, override the default CRAN mirror from the Tools menu > Global Options > Packages:

The RStudio Global options > Packages menu, highlighting RStudio's global CRAN mirror.

Then, changing the “Primary CRAN repo” to a custom CRAN mirror or a custom package manager by providing its URL:

The menu for Choosing an alternative Primary Repository

For even easier way to organize and centralize packages across your team, department, or entire organization, you can configure RStudio with Posit Package Manager or Posit’s free Public Package Manager.

Secondary repositories

While specifying the primary CRAN repo is sufficient in most cases, RStudio also allows specifying a secondary package management repository. This allows you to choose additional package repositories that can be made available in your organization with solutions like Posit Package Manager, drat, minicran, or r-universe.

For instance, the rOpenSci project maintains a r-universe repository under https://ropensci.r-universe.dev/ that could be easily added as a secondary repo from RStudio. Secondary repositories can be named and added using Tools > Global Options > Packages > Add then adding a named repository entry in the Add Secondary Repository popup as follows:

The Add Secondary Repository popup, showing adding ropensci from r-universe.

When you press ok, RStudio will validate that the URL is hosting a valid CRAN-like repository. If it doesn’t adhere to the correct directory structure, it will return an error:

The given URL does not appear to be a valid CRAN repository

Otherwise, it will succeed and move back to the previous Packages tab within Global Options.

Some package management solutions can also suggest package repos which, if available, will be listed while adding secondary repos as follows:

The secondary repos menu with suggested secondary options.

Tip

Notice that the secondary repository’s order is important since packages will be searched in priority. The order of the repositories can be changed by moving up/down their priority (see also the repository options for additional information on this topic):

The Global options > Packages menu - and the option to Move up/down specific repos.