Hello R community,
I am happy to share that RDesk is now available on CRAN.
install.packages("RDesk")
What it does
RDesk lets you build standalone Windows desktop applications using R for the logic and HTML/CSS/JS for the interface. Apps distribute as a self-contained ZIP or installer - no R installation required on end-user machines.
The problem it solves
Distributing R tools to non-technical users is painful. Shiny needs a server. Asking users to install R fails in most enterprise environments. RDesk produces a native .exe
that anyone can double-click.
Key features
- Zero open network ports — uses stdin/stdout IPC and
WebView2 virtual hostname file serving - Native Win32 window with menus, system tray, and
file dialogs - Three-tier async engine built on mirai and callr —
5.9x faster than per-task process spawning - One-line scaffold: rdesk_create_app("MyApp") generates
a working dashboard immediately - build_app() bundles the R runtime and packages into a
self-contained distributable
Who it is for
- Data analysts building internal tools that cannot live
on a server - Consultants distributing analysis tools to clients
- Teams replacing Excel macros with proper R-powered apps
- Organisations that need offline, zero-IT-involvement
deployment
Quick start
install.packages("RDesk")
RDesk::rdesk_create_app("MyFirstApp")
Full documentation: RDesk - Native Desktop Apps for R • RDesk
Coming from Shiny guide:
I would love feedback from anyone who tries it, particularly from people working in environments where Shiny's server requirements are a challenge.