From Zero to Project in Seconds • froggeR

The case for convention

Most programming languages agree on where files belong. Python has its package layout. Node has src/, public/, package.json. Others give you a directory tree on day one.

R has strong conventions for packages (R/, man/, inst/), but analytical projects have not always had the same structure. Marwick, Boettiger, and Mullen (2018) proposed the research compendium as a standard way to organize the digital materials of a project so that others can inspect, reproduce, and extend the work. Their layout uses familiar R package conventions and adds an analysis/ directory for the project’s computational work.

froggeR builds on this idea, adapting it for Quarto-based projects:

R/ for scripts
analysis/ for Quarto (and .Rmd) documents
www/ for stylesheets and assets
data/ for data files
logos/ for brand images

The same convention maps to R package structure, to Shiny frameworks like rhino, and to web frameworks in other languages.

`init()`

One command builds the full scaffold:

froggeR::init(path = "my_project")

my_project/
├── R/
│   ├── _data_dictionary.R    # Variable labels and metadata
│   ├── _libraries.R          # Centralized package loading
│   └── _load.R               # Sources everything. Your entry point.
├── analysis/
│   ├── index.qmd             # Main Quarto document
│   └── references.bib        # Bibliography
├── www/
│   ├── custom.scss           # Custom styling
│   └── tables.js             # Table enhancements
├── logos/                    # Brand logos
├── data/                     # Data files (gitignored)
├── _brand.yml                # Quarto brand configuration
├── _quarto.yml               # Quarto project configuration
├── _variables.yml            # Author metadata
├── .gitignore                # Opinionated git protection
├── .pre-commit-config.yaml   # Pre-commit hook configuration
└── README.md

init() creates the target directory if it does not exist, downloads the latest template from frogger-templates, and copies only files that are not already present. Existing files are never overwritten. If you have previously saved global config with save_variables() or save_brand(), your metadata and branding are applied automatically.

What each directory is for

R/ contains R scripts. _load.R is the entry point: it sources _libraries.R (package loading) and _data_dictionary.R (variable labels and metadata). Add your own scripts here.

analysis/ contains Quarto documents. index.qmd is the default landing page. references.bib holds your bibliography. Add new analysis files with write_quarto().

www/ contains web assets. custom.scss controls document styling. tables.js provides table enhancements. Keep stylesheets, images, and scripts here.

data/ is for data files. It is gitignored by default, so you can keep raw and processed data here without worrying about accidentally committing it.

logos/ holds brand images referenced by _brand.yml.

Root-level configuration

The files in the project root are configuration:

_quarto.yml defines project-level rendering options. See Quarto Project Basics.
_brand.yml defines your visual identity: colors, logos, typography. See Quarto Brand.
_variables.yml stores author metadata: name, email, etc.
.gitignore keeps R artifacts, rendered output, and data files out of version control.
.pre-commit-config.yaml runs code quality checks before every commit. See below.

Pre-commit hooks

The template includes a .pre-commit-config.yaml that integrates with pre-commit to run automated checks before every git commit. This catches problems early: unstyled code, lint violations, debug statements left in, large files accidentally staged.

What is included

From {precommit}:

style-files: Formats R code with {styler} using tidyverse conventions
lintr: Runs {lintr} static analysis
parsable-R: Confirms all R files parse without errors
no-browser-statement: Catches leftover browser() calls
no-debug-statement: Catches leftover debug() and debugonce() calls

From pre-commit-hooks:

check-added-large-files: Blocks files over 200 KB
end-of-file-fixer: Ensures files end with a newline

Local:

forbid-to-commit: Blocks .Rhistory, .RData, .Rds, and .rds files

Setup

Install the R packages and initialize:

install.packages(c("precommit", "styler", "lintr"))
precommit::use_precommit()

{precommit} handles installing the pre-commit framework itself. See pre-commit.com for manual installation options.

Adapting or removing

The hooks are a starting point. Edit .pre-commit-config.yaml to add, remove, or reconfigure hooks for your workflow. If you do not want pre-commit at all, delete the file. No other part of froggeR depends on it.

Your settings follow you

froggeR stores configuration in two places:

Project-level: _variables.yml and _brand.yml in your project directory. These are committed to version control and used by the current project.
Global: Your system’s configuration directory, managed by the rappdirs package.
- Linux/macOS: ~/.config/froggeR/
- Windows: C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\froggeR\

Global config is set once and applied to every future project created with init(). Edit the project copy directly when you need something specific.

If you have configured global settings before running init(), your new project inherits them automatically:

_variables.yml: Global config overwrites the template version
_brand.yml: Global config overwrites the template version
logos/: Global logos supplement the template (adds missing logos without removing existing ones)

Use write_variables() and write_brand() to create and edit your configuration files, then save_variables() and save_brand() to persist them globally. Every future init() call starts with your configuration in place.

References

Marwick, B., Boettiger, C., & Mullen, L. (2018). Packaging data analytical work reproducibly using R (and friends). The American Statistician, 72(1), 80-88. doi:10.1080/00031305.2017.1375986