Raven
R language support with cross-file code intelligence (completions, diagnostics, navigation), an R console, and plot, data, and help viewers.
The language server analyzes your code in realtime: it completes variable and accessor names as you type, flags syntax errors and undefined variables, and lets you jump to where a variable or function is defined or list all the other places that your codebase references it.
Compared with REditorSupport's R extension, Positron, and RStudio, Raven's language server is the only one that traces source() chains, so completions, diagnostics, and navigation reflect the actual order of execution at each cursor position. Of those three, REditorSupport is the only other VS Code option; against REditorSupport specifically, Raven adds RStudio-style indentation on Enter without disturbing the surrounding code, sends large blocks of code to R faster, and uses a virtualized Arrow-backed data viewer that stays responsive on large frames.
If you already have the REditorSupport (R) extension installed, or you're using Positron, Raven's R-console features (R console, plot viewer, data viewer) step aside by default — see Coexistence below. Raven still provides code intelligence and scope-aware help in either setup.
Features
Code intelligence
- Completions — Symbols, packages, and function parameters — across files
- Go-to-definition — Jump to definitions across file boundaries
- Find references — Locate all usages of a symbol across your project
- Hover — Symbol info including source file and package origin
- Diagnostics — Undefined variable detection that understands sourced files and loaded packages
- Document outline — Hierarchical view with sections, classes, and nested functions
- Workspace symbols — Project-wide symbol search (Cmd/Ctrl+T)
- File path intellisense — Completions and cmd-click inside
source() paths
- Smart indentation — Context-aware auto-indent with RStudio-style alignment
- Cross-file awareness — Follows
source() chains to resolve scope across files
- Directives — Declare relationships and symbols the analyzer can't infer
- Syntax highlighting — R function names via LSP semantic tokens, plus JAGS and Stan syntax highlighting
R session integration
- R console — Interactive R console with statement detection and a temp-file fallback for large blocks; supports R, arf, and radian
- Plot viewer — Plots render in a VS Code panel via httpgd, with history navigation, save (PNG/SVG/PDF), and theme-aware background
- Data viewer —
View(df) opens a virtualized grid backed by Apache Arrow; viewport-based rendering keeps scrolling responsive on multi-million-row frames
- Help viewer — Scope-aware R help: hovering shows the function in scope at the cursor instead of falling through to a multi-package list when scope can't be inferred
Raven also provides lightweight support for JAGS (.jags, .bugs) and Stan (.stan) files: syntax highlighting, completions (keywords, distributions, file-local symbols), go-to-definition, find references, and document outline with model structure navigation.
Settings
Key settings (all under the raven.* prefix):
| Setting |
Default |
Description |
raven.rConsole.activation |
"auto" |
When Raven's R console (and the plot and data viewers it powers) activates: "enabled", "disabled", or "auto" (off when REditorSupport.r is enabled or running in Positron). See Coexistence. |
raven.help.viewerColumn |
"beside" |
Initial editor column when the R help viewer first opens ("active" or "beside"). Code intelligence and the help viewer are unaffected by raven.rConsole.activation. |
raven.diagnostics.enabled |
true |
Enable/disable all diagnostics |
raven.diagnostics.undefinedVariableSeverity |
"warning" |
Severity for undefined variable diagnostics ("off" to disable) |
raven.packages.rPath |
auto-detect |
Path to R executable |
raven.crossFile.indexWorkspace |
true |
Enable background workspace indexing |
raven.server.path |
bundled |
Path to raven binary (if not using the bundled one) |
See the full configuration reference for all options.
Coexistence with vscode-R and Positron
Raven's R-console features (R console, plot viewer, data viewer) and REditorSupport's vscode-R cover overlapping ground. By default raven.rConsole.activation is "auto", which leaves Raven's R-console features off when vscode-R is enabled or you're running inside Positron. Raven's help viewer and language server activate either way.
Set "enabled" so Raven's R console is available alongside REditorSupport's. Cmd+Enter / Ctrl+Enter can only be bound to one extension's send command; VS Code's keybinding editor lets you rebind either. See Coexistence for when you'd want to do this.
REditorSupport's lintr diagnostics are provided by its language server. If you want lintr alongside Raven, leave r.lsp.enabled at its default (true) — both language servers will run, with some overlap in completions and diagnostics. If you don't need lintr and only want vscode-R for its R-session features, disable its language server:
"r.lsp.enabled": false
For a deeper comparison see docs/comparison.md.
Using with Sight (Stata)
If you work with Stata, see Sight — a Stata language server with the same cross-file awareness model. Install from the VS Code Marketplace.
See the main repository for full documentation including cross-file directives, editor integrations, and comparison with other R tools.
License
GPL-3.0
