NEWS

SCIproj 1.0.1 (2026-04-22)

Fixed working directory handling in non-RStudio IDEs such as Positron and VSCode. Previously, create_proj() used rstudioapi::isAvailable() to detect RStudio — but Positron also implements this API, which caused check_is_project() to fail when create_proj() was called from a working directory that was not inside an existing project. The function now switches the working directory consistently across all IDEs. Thanks to @eribul for the detailed bug report (#1).

New setwd_to_proj parameter (default TRUE) to set the working directory to the new project after creation, so you can continue working inside it immediately. Set to FALSE for script-driven workflows where you want to stay in your current working directory — for example, when creating multiple projects in sequence.
New use_rproj parameter (default TRUE) to optionally skip .Rproj file creation for users working exclusively in Positron, VSCode, or other non-RStudio IDEs.

create_proj() now displays a confirmation message at the end indicating whether the working directory was changed or a new IDE session was opened, so the current state is always transparent.
When open_proj = TRUE, the new IDE session gets the project and the current session keeps its original working directory. Previously, both sessions could end up in the new project.

Initial CRAN release.

use_pipe now defaults to FALSE. The native pipe operator |> (available since R 4.1.0) is recommended instead of the magrittr pipe %>%.
CI options "travis", "circle", and "appveyor" have been removed. Only "gh-actions" (GitHub Actions) is supported.
Minimum R version raised to >= 4.1.0 (from 3.5.0).
License functions now use copyright_holder parameter (matching usethis >= 2.0).
use_renv and use_targets now default to TRUE — projects are workflow-oriented by default.
open_proj now defaults to FALSE — open the .Rproj file manually after creation to avoid RStudio session conflicts.

CITATION.cff is now generated automatically with project name, author, and optional ORCID — making projects machine-readable and citable.
New orcid parameter for including the author's ORCID iD in CITATION.cff.
DATA_SOURCES.md template added to data-raw/ for documenting data provenance (source, license, download date, DOI).
CONTRIBUTING.md template added to every project.
GitHub Actions workflow template (R CMD check + optional targets pipeline) included when ci = "gh-actions".

New use_git parameter to initialize a local git repository without creating a GitHub repo.
use_renv = TRUE (default) initializes renv with lockfile and .Rprofile bootstrap for dependency management (using snapshot.type = "explicit").
use_targets = TRUE (default) adds a _targets.R pipeline template for reproducible workflow management.
New use_docker parameter to add a Dockerfile template for reproducible computational environments.
Input validation with match.arg() for add_license and ci parameters.
The function now returns the project path invisibly.
Project names with underscores or hyphens (e.g. "my_project") are now accepted — the R package name is auto-sanitized (e.g. my.project in DESCRIPTION). New helper sanitize_pkg_name().
Updated _targets.R template with tar_source(), numbered steps matching the official targets manual, and format = "file" example.

Suppressed create_package() from triggering RStudio's "switch project?" dialog by deferring .Rproj file creation.
Suppressed use_git() interactive prompts (commit confirmation, session restart) via rlang_interactive = FALSE.
Added restart = FALSE to renv::init() to prevent RStudio session restart during project creation.
Conditional setwd handling: setwd = FALSE in RStudio (avoids project switch dialog), setwd = TRUE outside RStudio (required for usethis functions under R CMD check).
Non-interactive fallback: create_package() failures in terminal/Rscript sessions are caught with tryCatch and fall back to manual package structure creation.
Library paths are saved and restored around renv::init() to prevent rstudioapi and other packages from becoming unavailable.

Updated usethis API calls: use_apl2_license() replaced with use_apache_license(), name parameter replaced with copyright_holder.
License selection now uses switch() instead of repeated if statements.
Options are now properly restored on exit via on.exit().
Package license changed from CC BY 4.0 to MIT.
Updated makefile template to reference Quarto and targets.
Updated README with FAIR principles, rOpenSci, TIER Protocol, and NASA TOPS references. Reorganized resources section.
Added comprehensive test suite (testthat): directory structure, data_raw, targets, docker, input validation, CITATION.cff, name cleaning.