Setup

Please complete the following steps before the workshop so we can dive straight into the material.

Accounts

  • GitHub account — needed to clone and work with the workshop materials. Sign up at https://github.com if you don’t have one.

  • Posit AI account — we’ll use Posit Assistant in Positron during the workshop. If you don’t already have one, create a free account at https://posit.ai. Use the same email address you registered for the workshop with, because this is how we attach your workshop credits.

Software requirements

  1. Positron

    We’ll be live-coding in Positron. Download and install the latest Positron (2026.07 or newer) from https://positron.posit.co/download.

    The following extensions are the ones we’ll be relying on and Positron already ships with them — nothing extra to install.

    • Quarto
    • Air
    • Posit Assistant

  2. Quarto (latest release)

    We’ll rely on recent features of Quarto, so please make sure you have the latest version installed — v1.10 or later. Check your version with:

    quarto --version

    Download at: https://quarto.org/docs/download

  3. R or Python

    Bring whichever language you usually use with Quarto. For R, we recommend R 4.6 or later, an up-to-date tidyverse, and the quarto package (we use it for a few R-side rendering tricks):

    install.packages(c("tidyverse", "quarto"))

  4. Git

    We’ll clone workshop materials and discuss version control workflows. If you don’t already have Git, install it from https://git-scm.com/downloads.

  5. Posit AI

    In Positron, open the Command Palette and run Authentication: Configure Language Model Providers, choose Posit AI, and sign in through your browser. That’s it! During the workshop, usage draws from the workshop’s credit pool first, not your personal balance.

Having trouble?

If you run into installation issues, please post on the workshop thread on Posit Community before the workshop and we’ll help you get sorted.