r-packagedev-mcp

A standalone Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that exposes advanced R package development capabilities to AI assistants through natural language.

Overview

r-packagedev-mcp wraps the four most important R package development packages into a unified MCP tool surface:

| Package | Purpose | Tools provided | |---------|---------|----------------| | usethis | Automate package setup and configuration | create_package, use_r, use_test, use_readme_md, use_vignette, use_mit_license, use_gpl3_license, use_package, use_testthat, use_git, use_github, use_data, use_pipe | | devtools | Full package development cycle | load_all, document, test, check, install, build, build_readme, spell_check | | renv | Reproducible environments | renv_init, renv_snapshot, renv_restore, renv_status, renv_install, renv_update, renv_clean | | testthat | Unit testing | test_file, test_dir |

Why a standalone server instead of an add-on?

Existing R MCP servers (e.g. rmcp) focus on statistical analysis – running arbitrary R code, fitting models, generating plots. They are not designed for the package development workflow.

Building a standalone server allows:

• Purpose-built tool interfaces with clear parameter names and defaults that match package development conventions.
• No dependency on a third-party R MCP server that may have a different architecture, authentication model, or update cadence.
• Portability – the server is a single Node.js binary that proxies calls to Rscript; it works anywhere R is installed.
• Safety – tools are scoped to specific, well-defined package development operations rather than unrestricted R code execution.

Requirements

• Node.js ≥ 18

• R ≥ 4.1 with the following packages installed:

  install.packages(c("usethis", "devtools", "renv", "testthat"))

Installation

From source

git clone https://github.com/B0ydT/r-packagedev-mcp.git
cd r-packagedev-mcp
npm install
npm run build

Running the server

node dist/index.js

The server communicates over stdio (standard input/output), which is the default transport used by Claude Desktop, VS Code Copilot, Cursor, and most MCP clients.

Configuration

Claude Desktop (claude_desktop_config.json)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "r-packagedev": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/r-packagedev-mcp/dist/index.js"]
    }
  }
}

VS Code / Cursor (.mcp.json or settings)

{
  "servers": {
    "r-packagedev": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/r-packagedev-mcp/dist/index.js"]
    }
  }
}

Tool reference

usethis

| Tool | Description | |------|-------------| | create_package | Scaffold a new R package at a given path | | use_r | Create R/<name>.R in an existing package | | use_test | Create a matching test file under tests/testthat/ | | use_readme_md | Add README.md to the package root | | use_vignette | Create a vignette stub under vignettes/ | | use_mit_license | Add MIT LICENSE and update DESCRIPTION | | use_gpl3_license | Add GPL-3 LICENSE and update DESCRIPTION | | use_package | Add a dependency to DESCRIPTION | | use_testthat | Configure testthat testing infrastructure | | use_git | Initialise a Git repo and make an initial commit | | use_github | Create a GitHub remote and push | | use_data | Export R objects as package data under data/ | | use_pipe | Add the %>% pipe operator to the package |

devtools

| Tool | Description | |------|-------------| | load_all | Simulate library(pkg) for interactive testing | | document | Run roxygen2 and update NAMESPACE | | test | Run the test suite (optionally filtered) | | check | Run R CMD check | | install | Install the package into the local library | | build | Build a source tarball | | build_readme | Render README.Rmd → README.md | | spell_check | Spell-check documentation and vignettes |

renv

| Tool | Description | |------|-------------| | renv_init | Initialise an renv project library | | renv_snapshot | Record current dependencies to renv.lock | | renv_restore | Restore packages from renv.lock | | renv_status | Check library vs lockfile sync status | | renv_install | Install packages into the renv library | | renv_update | Update packages in the renv library | | renv_clean | Remove unused packages / temp files |

testthat

| Tool | Description | |------|-------------| | test_file | Run a single test file | | test_dir | Run all tests in a directory |

Development

# Type-check without emitting
npm run lint

# Build
npm run build

# Run in dev mode (ts-node, no build step)
npm run dev

Architecture

src/
├── index.ts          # Entry point – starts stdio MCP server
├── server.ts         # Registers all tools with the MCP SDK
├── r-executor.ts     # Spawns Rscript subprocesses & formats results
└── tools/
    ├── usethis.ts    # usethis tool schemas + handlers
    ├── devtools.ts   # devtools tool schemas + handlers
    ├── renv.ts       # renv tool schemas + handlers
    └── testthat.ts   # testthat tool schemas + handlers

Each tool module exports:

• A schema map (z.ZodObject per tool) that defines input validation.
• A handler map that translates validated inputs into an Rscript -e call and returns the formatted output as MCP text content.

License

CC BY 4.0