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side::kick(): A coding agent for RStudio

side::kick() is a coding agent for data science in RStudio, implemented entirely in R. It can interact with your files, talk to your active R session, and run code.

A screencast of an RStudio session. A script tool-fetch_skill.R is open in the editor. A call to `side::kick()` in the console launches a non-blocking shiny chat app in a full-height viewer pane. The user then pastes a snippet of code into the chat dialog and says 'refactor this into a helper'. After calling multiple tools to locate the code, the chat app proposes two file edits in a git diff-based UI that refactor the code as desired.

[!Caution]

This project is highly experimental.

I put this app together to give myself a first pass at implementing several bits of functionality I’d like to see in ellmer/shinychat/btw. This package will not go to CRAN. Ideally, from here, more and more of the functionality prototyped in this app can make its way into ellmer/shinychat/btw, done “the right way,” and ported back into this app.

Installation

To get started, install with:

pak::pak("simonpcouch/side")

Then, run side::kick(). You might place side::kick() in your .Rprofile (perhaps with usethis::edit_r_profile()) to launch side::kick() every time you start R.

side::kick() is intended for use with RStudio’s Sidebar, a full-height pane that’s currently only available in RStudio Dailies. Install RStudio, then search for “Sidebar” in the command palette.

Features

side::kick() can:

  • Use any LLM supported by ellmer–Anthropic, OpenAI, Google Gemini, OpenRouter, and even local models are fair game.
  • See your active R session to explore your computational environment.
  • Use tools to read and write files, run shell commands, and read R documentation.
  • Create and execute plans, allowing it to take on longer-horizon tasks.
  • Persist state across R sessions so that you can close RStudio and come back to a chat later.
  • Respond to interrupts so that you can stop execution and reroute the agent.
  • Read skills, markdown files that describe how to carry out a given task in the way you need it to.

side::kick() is implemented with btw, ellmer, and shinychat.