Notes on Using r-universe Packages with GitHub Actions and renv

When using GitHub Pages with GitHub Actions, renv, and r-universe packages, renv may not work correctly in the GitHub Actions environment. This article explains the cause and solution.

Note

Original Japanese version: GitHub Actionsとrenvを使ってr-universeのパッケージを利用する際の注意点

Symptom

This website is created with GitHub Pages through GitHub Actions. R packages are managed with renv. When using packages from r-universe, renv sometimes did not work correctly in the GitHub Actions environment.

Specifically, after writing an article that used the rnaturalearthhires package, the build produced the following error.

# Downloading packages -------------------------------------------------------
- Querying repositories for available source packages ... Done!
Error: code 22]

This error occurred because renv could not correctly recognize the r-universe package in the GitHub Actions environment.

Solution

When I checked the renv.lock file, the r-universe URL was not included in the “Repositories” section. Because of this, renv in the GitHub Actions environment could not recognize the r-universe package.

renv.lock

{
  "R": {
    "Version": "4.5.2",
    "Repositories": [
      {
        "Name": "CRAN",
        "URL": "https://cran.rstudio.com"
      }
    ]
  },
  "Packages": {

By running the following code locally and adding the r-universe URL to the “Repositories” section of renv.lock, renv in the GitHub Actions environment became able to recognize the r-universe package.

options(
  repos = c(
    CRAN = "https://cran.rstudio.com",
    "r-universe" = "https://ropensci.r-universe.dev"
  )
)
renv::snapshot(force = TRUE)

The following package(s) will be updated in the lockfile:

# https://packagemanager.posit.co/cran/__linux__/noble/latest ----------------
- Rcpp      [repo: CRAN -> https://packagemanager.posit.co/cran/__linux__/noble/latest; ver: 1.1.1 -> 1.1.1-1]
- S7        [repo: CRAN -> https://packagemanager.posit.co/cran/__linux__/noble/latest; ver: 0.2.1 -> 0.2.1-1]
- yyjsonr   [* -> 0.1.22]

The version of R recorded in the lockfile will be updated:
- R         [4.5.3 -> 4.5.2]

- Lockfile written to "~/work/maple60.github.io/maple60.github.io/renv.lock".

This code uses the options() function to specify the CRAN and r-universe repositories. Then it runs renv::snapshot(force = TRUE) to update the renv.lock file.

After running this code, the r-universe URL is added to the “Repositories” section of renv.lock.

renv.lock

{
  "R": {
    "Version": "4.5.2",
    "Repositories": [
      {
        "Name": "CRAN",
        "URL": "https://cran.rstudio.com"
      },
      {
        "Name": "r-universe",
        "URL": "https://ropensci.r-universe.dev"
      }
    ]
  },
  "Packages": {

After that, commit the change and build with GitHub Actions. The error should be resolved, and the r-universe package can be used.