R Plot Pro
Professional R plot visualization for VS Code
The ultimate R visualization experience for VS Code. High-performance, real-time, and designed for professionals who demand the best of RStudio and Positron.
🎯 Why R Plot Pro?
Tired of switching between VS Code and RStudio just to see your plots? R Plot Pro brings the familiar RStudio Plots pane and Positron's modern plotting experience directly into VS Code.
Just Like RStudio & Positron:
- ✅ Side panel plot viewer - opens in the right sidebar, just like RStudio
- ✅ Automatic plot capture - every plot you create appears instantly
- ✅ Plot history navigation - browse through all your plots with arrows
- ✅ Familiar workflow - works exactly like you're used to in RStudio
- ✅ 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 plots instantly as they're generated in the terminal. No manual refresh needed.
📊 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
🚀 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-0.0.1.vsix
First Use
- Open an R file in VS Code
- Run R 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
plot(mtcars$mpg, mtcars$hp,
main = "MPG vs HP",
xlab = "Miles Per Gallon",
ylab = "Horsepower")
# ggplot2 also supported
library(ggplot2)
ggplot(mtcars, aes(x = mpg, y = hp)) +
geom_point(color = "steelblue", size = 3) +
theme_minimal()
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
📋 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
0.0.1 - 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! 📊✨
