Create an R Package Release Checklist

Generate a release checklist for an R package and create the corresponding GitHub issue.

Overview

This skill guides you through creating a R package release checklist issue on GitHub by:

• Determining the current version and prompting for release type.
• Generating an initial checklist.
• Prompting the user for additional customization.
• Creating a GitHub issue from the final checklist.

Prerequisites

• The working directory must be an R package with a DESCRIPTION file at the root.
• The usethis R package must be available.

And to enable automatic issue creation:

• The gh CLI must be installed and authenticated.
• The R package must be associated with a GitHub repository.

Workflow

Step 1: Validation

First, check that the prerequisites are available (in this order for efficiency):

1. Check that the working directory contains a file called DESCRIPTION. If not, inform the user that this must be run from an R package root directory and stop.
2. Use Rscript -e 'utils::packageVersion("usethis")' to check if the usethis package is installed. If not, instruct the user to install it with install.packages("usethis"), then stop.
3. Determine the GitHub URL for the repository, if one exists. First try gh repo view --json url. If that fails, diagnose the error:
   • If gh is not installed, try running git remote -v to find a GitHub URL.
   • If the local repo does not have a GitHub remote, suggest the user connect the package to GitHub using usethis::use_github(). Offer to run this command for the user; if they decline, continue without a GitHub URL.
   • If gh is installed but not authenticated and the repo has a GitHub remote, suggest that the user run gh auth login.

If any check fails, inform the user of the specific issue with clear instructions on how to fix it, then stop the workflow. Do not proceed to the next step until all prerequisites are met.