rig – the R Installation Manager

Run and manage multiple versions of R side by side on macOS, Windows and Linux.

Rig is a standalone tool, with no system requirements, for system admins and users.

or view install instructions for macOS, Windows or Linux.

Quick start

Once rig is installed:

rig add release      # install the latest R release
rig list             # list installed R versions
rig default 4.5.1    # set the default R version

Multiple R versions, side by side

Install as many R versions as you like, and switch the default for the terminal, RStudio and Positron.
Select versions by symbolic name: release, devel, next, oldrel, or by exact version.
Run several versions at the same time via quick links: R-4.5 or R-4.5.1 starts the matching R. Quick links are added to your path automatically.
List the versions you have installed, and the versions available to install.
On arm64 macs, choose between x86_64 and arm64 builds of R, or install both.
On arm64 Windows, install x86_64 and aarch64 builds of R.

Cross-platform and self-contained

Works on macOS, Windows and Linux — with native builds for many Linux distributions, and portable builds that run on any glibc- or musl-based Linux.
A single standalone tool with no system requirements — easy to install and update on every platform.
Two installation modes: the default admin mode installs R system-wide (elevating to root/administrator only when needed), while user mode installs everything into your home directory with no sudo or administrator rights. See admin vs. user mode.
On Linux, installs distro-specific builds where available, and otherwise falls back to portable glibc/musl builds automatically — so rig works even on distributions without a dedicated build.

Package management, set up for you

Run R, scripts and apps

rig run starts R, runs a script or expression, or launches an app — Shiny apps, Plumber APIs, Quarto and R Markdown documents, and static sites — with the R version you choose.
rig proj (experimental) resolves and installs R project dependencies with a built-in solver, and can write an renv.lock, without needing R to be running.

Platform niceties

A macOS menu bar app shows the default R version and lets you switch it interactively. See more.
Installs and configures the right Rtools versions on Windows, and cleans up stale R entries from the Windows registry.
Shell auto-completion for zsh and bash on macOS and Linux, and for PowerShell on Windows.
On macOS, sets up R for debugging with lldb and enables core dumps.
JSON output for scripting, and a rig config command to manage rig’s own configuration.