Dear all,
We are developing an integration to improve code quality with AI using a Shiny prototype that reads and analyzes console history.
I’ve written an RStudio addin that launches a Shiny gadget in the RStudio Viewer. However, once the addin is running, my R console is locked until I close it. Here’s a minimal example of my code:
library(rstudioapi)
library(shiny)
# Simplified function to fetch history
get_r_history <- function() {
# Simulates fetching history (real function fetches R or terminal history)
return(c("plot(1:10)", "summary(mtcars)", "lm(y ~ x, data = df)"))
}
# Simplified addin UI and server
run_addin <- function() {
history <- get_r_history()
ui <- fluidPage(
titlePanel("History Selector"),
selectInput("selected_line", "Select a line:", choices = history),
actionButton("insert", "Insert into Script")
)
server <- function(input, output, session) {
observeEvent(input$insert, {
selected_line <- input$selected_line
if (!is.null(selected_line)) {
context <- rstudioapi::getActiveDocumentContext()
if (!is.null(context)) {
rstudioapi::insertText(location = context$selection[[1]]$range, text = selected_line)
}
}
})
}
shiny::runGadget(ui, server, viewer = shiny::paneViewer())
}
run_addin()
When the gadget is displayed in the RStudio Viewer, I cannot execute code in the console simultaneously. Is there a way to keep the gadget in the RStudio Viewer but still have access to the console? I have seen that by using browserViewer() to open it externally might work, but I specifically want to display it in the RStudio Viewer.
I have tried to convert it to a shiny app and run it as a background job, but doing so does not allow the app to access the r environment and thus the history and ability to interact with the documents opened in RStudio.
I am not fully confident about shiny since it is my first experience with it, so I don't fully understand the differences between a shiny gadget and an app.
Any suggestions or workarounds would be greatly appreciated.
