pot# R Plot Pro
Professional R & Julia plot visualization for VS Code
The ultimate visualization experience for VS Code. High-performance, real-time, and designed for professionals who demand the best of RStudio, Positron, and Julia.
Tired of switching between VS Code and external windows just to see your plots? R Plot Pro brings the familiar RStudio Plots pane, Positron's modern experience, and traceless Julia plotting directly into VS Code.
Multi-Language Power:
- ✅ R Support - Works with Base R and ggplot2.
- ✅ Julia Support - Works with CairoMakie and Plots.jl.
- ✅ Side panel plot viewer - Opens in the right sidebar, just like RStudio.
- ✅ Automatic plot capture - Every plot you create appears instantly.
- ✅ Silent Professional Stealth - Zero initialization trace with dynamic, width-aware clearing.
- ✅ Modern UI - Positron-inspired design with smooth animations.
No more context switching! Work in VS Code with the plotting power of RStudio and the elegance of Positron.
✨ Features
🎨 Real-Time Visualization
View your R and Julia plots instantly as they're generated in the terminal. No manual refresh or external windows needed.
🕵️ Silent Professional Stealth
Our initialization process is virtually invisible. It automatically detects your terminal's width and calculates the exact number of lines occupied by the attachment command to perform a surgical wipe. This ensures your workspace remains professional and distraction-free, while perfectly preserving your R and Julia startup banners.
📊 Advanced Plot Gallery
- Thumbnail view with timestamp and metadata
- Drag-and-drop plot reordering
- Favorites system to mark important plots
- Filter to show only favorited plots
- Notes for documenting your analysis
🎯 Interactive Navigation
- Navigate plots with arrow keys or navigation buttons
- Fullscreen mode for detailed inspection
- Smooth transitions between plots
- Auto-scroll active plot into view
🎛️ Flexible Layouts
- Auto-sizing - plots adapt to window size
- Aspect ratio control - square, landscape, portrait, or fill
- Zoom controls - 50% to 200% with fit-to-screen option
- Sidebar toggle for maximum plot space
💾 Export & Organization
- Drag plots directly to desktop/finder to save
- Notes on each plot for documentation
- Plot history - keeps last 200 plots
- Memory optimized - automatic cleanup
🎭 Beautiful UI
- Dark mode support (auto-detects VS Code theme)
- Smooth animations and transitions
- Modern design with glassmorphism effects
- Responsive interface
- Split View support with independent controls
✍️ Annotations
- Draw on plots with freehand tools
- Highlight important data points
- Values preserved when exporting or copying
- Undo/Redo support for annotations
🚀 Getting Started
Installation
Install from Marketplace:
ext install ofurkancoban.r-plot-pro
Or install manually:
- Download the
.vsix file
- Run:
code --install-extension r-plot-pro-0.12.12.vsix
First Use
- Open an R or Julia file in VS Code
- Run code in the integrated terminal
- Plot viewer opens automatically in the right sidebar panel when you create your first plot
- The viewer stays open and updates in real-time as you create more plots
- Start plotting! 🎉
💡 Tip: The plot viewer appears as a sidebar panel (like RStudio's Plots pane), keeping your code visible while you explore visualizations. You can drag it to any position or open it manually with View > Open View > R Plot Viewer.
📖 Usage
Basic Workflow
# Create a plot - viewer opens automatically (R)
library(ggplot2)
ggplot(mtcars, aes(x = mpg, y = hp)) +
geom_point(color = "steelblue", size = 3) +
theme_minimal()
# Create a plot - viewer opens automatically (Julia)
using CairoMakie
f = Figure()
ax = Axis(f[1, 1], title = "Makie in VS Code")
lines!(ax, 1:10, rand(10))
f # Plot is captured instantly
Keyboard Shortcuts
| Shortcut |
Action |
Cmd/Ctrl + → |
Next plot |
Cmd/Ctrl + ← |
Previous plot |
Space |
Toggle fullscreen |
Esc |
Exit fullscreen |
UI Controls
Top Toolbar:
- Navigation - Previous/Next plot buttons
- Zoom - 50%, 75%, 100%, 150%, 200%, Fit
- Layout - Aspect ratio control (auto, square, landscape, portrait, fill)
- Clear All - Remove all plots
Plot Thumbnail Actions:
- Click - View plot
- Star icon - Mark as favorite
- Note icon - Add/edit note
- Delete icon - Remove plot
- Drag - Reorder or export
🔧 Requirements
- VS Code 1.85.0 or higher
- R 4.0.0 or higher (for R users)
- Julia 1.9.0 or higher (for Julia users)
📋 Features in Detail
Plot Memory Management
- Automatically keeps last 200 plots
- Oldest plots removed when limit reached
- Optimized memory usage (~100MB for 200 plots)
Export Options
- Drag-and-drop to desktop (saves as PNG)
- High-resolution output
- Preserves aspect ratio
Notes & Documentation
- Add notes to any plot
- Notes saved in VS Code state
- Perfect for documenting analysis steps
Favorites
- Star important plots
- Filter view to show only favorites
- Never lose track of key visualizations
🎯 Use Cases
Data Exploration
Quickly iterate through different visualizations while keeping a history of all attempts.
Presentation Prep
Mark your best plots as favorites, add notes, and easily export for slides.
Collaborative Analysis
Document your plotting process with notes for team members.
Teaching
Show students the progression of plot improvements with before/after comparisons.
⚙️ Extension Settings
This extension works out of the box with no configuration needed. Advanced users can modify:
- Plot server port (default: auto-assigned)
- Maximum plots to keep (default: 200)
- Auto-open viewer (default: true)
🐛 Known Issues
- Plots created in background R sessions may not appear (must use VS Code terminal)
- Very large plots (>10MB) may render slowly
- Some R graphics devices may not be captured
🔄 Release Notes
0.12.12 - The Silent Professional
The Ultimate Stealth & Performance Update
- Dynamic Width-Aware Stealth: Overhauled the terminal clearing logic. The extension now measures command length and terminal width to precisely wipe its own traces without affecting startup banners.
- Silent Julia Backend: Removed all verbose debug and progress logs from the Julia REPL for a cleaner experience.
- Improved Attachment Timing: Optimized R and Julia delays for perfect banner preservation on all systems.
- Bug Fixes:
- Resolved double-injection race conditions in terminal attachment.
- Fixed
isinteractive() compatibility issue in Julia.
- Improved terminal detection reliability for renamed terminals.
0.2.0 - Nuclear Stealth & Julia Integration
The Biggest Update Yet!
- Full Julia Support: Seamlessly integrate Julia plotting into your VS Code workflow.
- Supports CairoMakie and Plots.jl (GR).
- Intercepts all
display() calls to route plots directly to the extension.
- Suppresses external PNG/SVG windows for a distraction-free experience.
- Nuclear Stealth Mode:
- Trace-free terminal initialization for both R and Julia.
- Automatically wipes the
source() or include() command from the terminal buffer using advanced ANSI sequences.
- Works even on narrow terminals with wrapped paths (up to 6 lines cleared).
- Silent Operation: All diagnostic logs and server-starting messages are now hidden by default for a clean terminal experience.
0.1.0 - Julia Beta Release
- Initial support for Julia language.
- WebSocket-based real-time communication.
0.0.61 - Full Static Wait & Color Picker Fix
New Features:
- Perfect Static Wait: Fixed the issue where color swatches would shrink on hover-off. Now the entire palette remains 100% static for the 2-second delay.
- Flex-Stable Layout: Added
flex-shrink: 0 to internal components to prevent any sub-pixel layout shifts during the transition wait.
- Synchronized Fading: Color buttons now fade out in perfect sync with the toolbar frame.
0.0.60 - Zero-Shrink Delay & Drag Handle Fix
New Features:
- Zero-Shrink Delay: Synchronized every internal property (margins, handle size, button widths) to ensure the toolbar remains absolutely stationary for the full 2-second buffer.
- Perfect Sync: All components now collapse simultaneously without intermediate "staged" or "half-shrunk" visual states.
- Improved UI Stability: No more "ghost shrinking" on hover-off; the toolbar stays fully expanded until the count-down is complete.
0.0.59 - Pro Animation & Unified Collapse
New Features:
- Zero-Bounce Animation: Replaced the bouncy transition with a smooth
ease-in-out for a more professional and stable feel.
- Unified Collapse: Synchronized child elements (buttons, separators, etc.) with the parent's closing duration for a clean, non-staged closing experience.
- Smooth Buffer: Maintained the 2-second collapse delay while ensuring the transition itself is seamless and fast when it triggers.
0.0.58 - Stable Delay & Smooth Transitions
New Features:
- Rock-Solid Collapse Delay: Transitioned to
max-width/max-height logic to ensure the 2-second closing delay is perfectly respected by the browser.
- Zero-Lag Dragging: Position updates (
left/top) now have no delay, ensuring the toolbar follows your mouse instantly while maintaining the collapse buffer.
- UI Refinement: Further improved the symmetry of the collapsed "pill" state for a cleaner first impression.
0.0.57 - Equilateral Arrows & Smooth Dragging
New Features:
- Equilateral Arrow Heads: Redesigned the arrow geometry to form a perfect 60-degree equilateral triangle for a balanced, professional look.
- Selective Transition Delays: Position updates (dragging) are now instantaneous, while the size collapse maintains the 2-second buffer delay.
- Refined Horizontal Handle: The horizontal drag handle now features a clearer 6-dot icon (
⠿).
0.0.56 - Stable Handling & Collapse Delay
New Features:
- Transition Delay: The annotation bar now waits for 2 seconds before collapsing, preventing accidental closures.
- Stable Dragging: The toolbar remains fully expanded and stable while being moved, eliminating flickering.
- Pixel-Perfect Centering: Refined the collapsed state to ensure the active tool is perfectly centered in a clean circular frame.
0.0.55 - Symmetrical UI & Ultra-Sharp Arrows
New Features:
- Perfect Symmetry: The annotation palette is now a perfect circle when collapsed, with the active icon precisely centered.
- Ultra-Sharp Arrows: Redesigned arrow geometry and line-end calculations for perfectly pointy and professional tips.
- Enhanced Visibility: Drag handle "dots" are now bolder and clearer when the palette is expanded.
0.0.54 - Smart Palette & Sharp Arrows
New Features:
- Auto-Expanding Palette: The annotation bar now stays collapsed, showing only the active tool, and unfolds elegantly when hovered.
- Improved Arrow Geometry: Significantly sharper and more professional arrow heads for clearer annotations.
- Enhanced Positioning: Horizontal layout and top-left alignment by default for new users.
0.0.53 - Enhanced Annotation Bar
New Features:
- Dynamic Annotation Palette:
- Draggable: Move the toolbar anywhere in the plot area via the new drag handle.
- Orientation Toggle: Switch between horizontal and vertical layouts.
- Auto-Scaling: The palette automatically shrinks on smaller screens to maximize plot visibility.
- Persistent State: Saves your preferred position and orientation.
0.0.52 - Split View & UI Refinements
New Features:
- Enhanced Split View:
- Side-by-Side Export: Saving or copying in split mode now captures both plots combined.
- Real-time Resizing: Draggable splitter with smooth plot resizing.
- Improved Labels: Plot indicators remain visible during interaction.
- Annotations: Draw and highlight directly on plots before exporting.
- UI Refinements:
- Dark Mode: Now uses pure black (
#000000) for seamless integration with inverted plots.
- Sidebar: Thumbnails panel opens by default for instant access.
- Startup: Extension defaults to Light Mode for better initial visibility.
- Performance:
- Optimized resize events and memory usage.
- Fixed "No Plot" screen transitions.
0.0.1 - Initial Release
Features:
- Real-time plot visualization
- Advanced plot gallery with thumbnails
- Favorites and notes system
- Drag-and-drop export
- Multiple zoom and aspect ratio options
- Dark mode support
Bug Fixes:
- Fixed WebSocket timing issues
- Improved error handling
- Optimized resize events
🙏 Support
If you find R Plot Pro useful, consider supporting its development!
📝 License
MIT License - feel free to use in your projects!
🤝 Contributing
Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.
Enjoy plotting! 📊✨
