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If you’re like me, you might be feeling a little overwhelmed by all the new AI tools for coding. So this post may add something to your plate, but I promise to keep it as overwhelming as possible. 😄
This is a (very) short collection of skills created by community members that are especially useful for R users. Please note that I will not be showing Claude’s output, but rather directing you to resources on where to find skills. I’m still a real newbie in this field. If I am misrepresenting something, or if you know of another skill that should be included, please get in touch Blue sky.
SKILL.md format, with the AI tools designed to search for a folder (often .skills/) with these Markdown-based instructions.Quick definitions
If you don’t have Claude Code installed yet, Anthropic does great documentation to help you get started. Here are a few broad definitions to set the tone:
- Anthropic: An AI company that builds AI systems.
- Claude: An AI assistant created by Anthropic that can help with a wide range of tasks, including coding.
- Claude Models: Different versions of Claude, such as Close work 4.5, Claude Sonnet 4.5And Claude Haiku 4.5. Each model offers different trade-offs between performance, speed and cost.
- Claude Code: A command line interface (CLI) that brings Claude to your terminal.
- CLAUDE.md: A configuration file where you can give Claude Code project-specific context, preferences, and instructions.
- Claude skills: Reusable, specialized commands that allow Claude to perform common development tasks more consistently.
Claude Skills for R users: an overview
1. Claude R Tidyverse Expert by Sarah Johnson
Have you ever asked an LLM for R code and they kindly give you an answer that uses spread() (outdated 2010)?
Sarah Johnson created the Modern R development guide to help Claude Code behave like a modern R user. Among other things, it makes Claude prefer ridicverse-style solutions, use recent versions of packages such as dplyr 1.1.0+, and avoid outdated patterns. Never see cast() again!
I loved Claude Code… until I tried it with #rstats. Constant errors, I didn’t want to use the neat version even when asked, “optimized” functions were slower.
Frustrated, I started a session just to teach R to Claude and summarize what it taught in a CLAUDE.md file gist.github.com/sj-io/3828d6…[image or embed]– Sara (@sarahjohnson.io) August 21, 2025 at 5:18 am
A nice follow-up suggestion comes from there Jeremy Allenwhich recommends breaking this skill into smaller ones if you don’t need all the guidance at once. He has also created a skill that can help him recent updates from Positive!
2. Claude Code R Skills by Alistair Bailey
Alistair Bailey uses and builds on Sarah’s (and others’) above skills to create Claude Code R skills. Especially the part about recommended workflowwhich gives a specific command for Claude to follow when writing code.
Based on other work, I created Claude Code configurations for R: modular skills (tidyverse, rlang, performance, OOP, testing), enforcement rules (security, testing, git workflow), workflow commands (scheduling, code review, TDD), and context management hooks. #claudecode #rstats
[image or embed]
– Alistair Bailey (@ab604.uk) February 2, 2026 at 12:12 pm
3. Identify Claude skills
Several people at Posit have experimented with Claude Skills and shared them here GitHub repository. A few that may be of particular interest to R users are:
4. _brand.yml Skills
brand.yml you can use a single YAML file to create reports, apps, dashboards, plots, and more that align with your company’s brand guidelines. It is currently supported in Quarto and Shiny (for R and Python).
Here are a few skills that will help you create your own _brand.yml file:
I created a Claude Skill to create _brand.yml files for your organization, and with the upcoming Quarto 1.9 release you can share brand.yml files via GitHub and
quarto use brand. More details and how to use it: blog.stephenturner.us/p/brand-yml-… #Rstats 1/ 🧵[image or embed]
–Stephen Turner (@stephenturner.us) February 26, 2026 at 2:14 PM
5. Learning Opportunities: A Claude Code Skill for Intentional Skill Development by Cat Hicks
If you’re worried about all these skills worsening your R coding skills, check it out Learning Opportunities: A Claude Code skill for intentional skill development by Kat Hicks. It uses a ‘dynamic textbook’ approach to help you purposefully train your coding muscles while you use LLM tools.
Can you learn AND discharge? Yes. We do it all day long. You simply cannot do everything at once and have to think about the structural support of different (sometimes competing) goals.
Self-regulation isn’t new, but it’s an essential skill for developers today. — Cat Hicks (@grimalkina.bsky.social) February 15, 2026 at 3:51 PM
How to add a Claude skill
1. Install from a GitHub repository
As shown in the Set Claude Skills READMEyou can install Skills directly from a GitHub repository using a Claude Code command. For example, this will install all Quarto-related skills from the Posit Claude Skills repository:
/plugin install quarto@posit-dev-skills
This is a good option if you want to get a maintained set of skills in one go.
2. Install from a local folder
If you downloaded a skill locally, you can install it directly from the folder:
/plugin add /path/to/skill-directory
3. Manual installation
You can also install a skill by placing it directly in the appropriate folder:
- For personal skills:
~/.claude/skills/skill-name/(in your home folder) - For project skills:
.claude/skills/skill-name/(in your project root)
Once the files are in place, Claude Code will automatically discover the skill and use it when it is relevant.
Create your own skill
Anthropic has documentation about creating your own Claude skill. I enjoy browsing through other people’s skills to see how they organize and develop them. By trying them out and tweaking them further, you can create your own custom skill.
Like both Stephen and Note Sarayou can provide Claude with Code examples, documentation, and guidance, and then ask him to help generate the skill for you. Maybe there is a good skill creation skill. It’s Skills all the way down!
More about using Claude Code for R development
If you want examples of Claude Code in action with R, Simon Couch has a few great blog posts on this topic: Message 1, Message 2. They are a great addition to this collection and show what this can look like in real workflows.
New features and techniques are appearing all the time. If you’re experimenting with Claude Code for R and come across something useful, feel free to contact us!
Related
#Claude #skills #users #bloggers