Welcome

pos.it/modern-r-workflow

Welcome to Our Modern R Workflow

Wi-Fi network name

Posit Conf 2026

Wi-Fi password

conf2026

  • Please make sure you can see the slides
  • And you’re ready to with Posit Assistant and a posit.ai account

Venue information

  • Meditation/Prayer Room: Room 332

  • Mother’s Room: Room 333

  • Speaker’s Lounge: Room 334

  • Gender-neutral bathrooms: 4th floor, one on either side of ballroom

Workshop policies

  • Please review the posit::conf code of conduct, which applies to all workshops: https://posit.co/code-of-conduct

  • The Code of Conduct site has info on how to report a problem (in person, email, phone)

  • Please do not photograph people wearing red lanyards

Who are your TAs?

  • Julia Silge
  • Katie Masiello
  • Simon Couch
  • Thomas Pedersen

Join us on Discord

Join the posit::conf Discord server:
pos.it/joinconf26

Then head to the workshop channel:
#workshop-modern-r-workflow

Introduce yourself to your neighbors 👋

  • Do you have a hidden talent?
  • Do you have a pet or hobby?
  • What’s your biggest pet peeve with R?
  • What’s your favorite thing to do in R?

Positron

If you haven’t already, now’s a good time to install Positron.

Already have Positron?

Is Positron telling you it’s time to update? Do it!

Check your R setup

Let’s make sure everyone’s R installation is ready to go.

  1. Confirm you’re on a recent version of R. Ideally R 4.6.

  2. Install pak, if you haven’t already:

    install.packages("pak")

  3. Install/update devtools and friends:

    pak::pak("devtools")
# or maybe the more update-happy version:
pak::pak("devtools", upgrade = TRUE)

  4. Run a situation report and check that everything looks good:

    devtools::dev_sitrep()

Posit AI Pass

Sign up for Posit AI Pass, so you’re ready to use Posit Assistant during the workshop.

  • Sign up: https://posit.ai
  • Make sure to use the same email address as you used to register for conf! This is what lets us give you free credits to use today.
  • If you need to use Posit AI Pass with a different email than your conf registration, ask a TA to help you sort this out.
  • The “Using Posit AI Pass token credits” section of the Workshop Tech Setup is relevant to our workshop.

Check that Posit Assistant is alive

In Posit Assistant, sign in with your Posit AI Pass.

What’s changed?

Where are the significant changes since R Packages?

  • 80% AI
  • 15% Positron
  • 5% standalone CLIs written in rust (e.g. air, rig, quarto)

Overall

  • More changes in the last year than last 10 years combined, and doesn’t look like the pace is going to slow down
  • Non-obvious consequences because the cost-benefit ratio for many tasks has radically changed
  • We are still figuring out what it all means
  • Keep exploring and experimenting; hold loosely to your hypthoeses
  • We hope you’ll learn something useful; and we also expect to learn from you!

The good news

On the whole you’re well positioned to benefit from AI:

  • Plain text workflows are equally accessible to humans and agents
  • Baseline scepticism will serve you well (but don’t let it imprison you)
  • Human knowledge still super important!
  • Subject matter expertise now more important that programming skill
  • Development best practices now much more accessible