{golem} 1.0.0 is here

Author

colin

Published

July 10, 2026

We’re thrilled to announce that after years of powering Shiny applications in production, {golem} has finally reached a symbolic milestone: version 1.0.0. This is more than a version bump. This release brings a brand-new tooling story for coding agents, a fully reworked Docker/{renv} deployment workflow, modernized console output powered by {cli} — all of it alongside a set of breaking changes you should read before upgrading an existing project.

Side note — install 1.0.1, not 1.0.0. Shortly after the 1.0.0 release, we caught a bug in the favicon() function that made it fail when {fs} wasn’t installed. This is fixed in 1.0.1 (the href is now built with base R, so the deployed app carries no {fs} dependency). Just run install.packages("golem") to get it.

Here’s a quick tour.

Why 1.0.0?

{golem} is an opinionated framework for building production-grade Shiny applications, as R packages. Since its very first release, the goal hasn’t changed: give your applications a robust, testable, deployable structure. Moving to 1.0.0 acknowledges that the API is mature and stable — and it’s also the right moment to clean up a few legacy behaviors that deserved to be clarified.

The headline feature: agent skills

This is the flagship addition in this version. {golem} now ships tooling to install agent skills (in the Claude Code / AGENTS.md layout) directly into your project.

Concretely, a new family of functions makes its appearance:

# Install skills into an existing golem project
golem::use_skills()
golem::use_agent_skills()
golem::use_claude_skills()
golem::use_skill()

These helpers install skills — either the ones bundled inside the package, or those from the upstream ThinkR-open/golem-agent-skills repository. The idea: give your coding assistant native knowledge of golem conventions (adding a module, a function, running a check, fixing missing ns() calls…).

And to start on the right foot, create_golem() gains two arguments, with_agents and with_agents_options, to install these skills right at project creation. The RStudio “New Project” wizard exposes a matching set of options too.

A detail that matters for R CMD check purists: installing skills automatically appends the corresponding entries (^\.claude$, ^CLAUDE\.md$, ^\.agents$, ^AGENTS\.md$) to .Rbuildignore, so the check doesn’t flag them as non-standard top-level files.

A reworked Docker/{renv} deployment story

Dockerfile generation has been seriously modernized. The add_dockerfile_with_renv*() functions now produce:

  • a multi-stage Dockerfile by default (pass single_file = FALSE to keep the previous two-file behavior);
  • a Dockerfile that sets golem.app.prod = TRUE by default (disable it with set_golem.app.prod = FALSE).

In parallel, two new helpers generate minimal deployment CI for freshly created apps:

golem::add_github_action()
golem::add_gitlab_ci()

These CI helpers restore renv.lock when it’s present, fall back to DESCRIPTION when it isn’t, and declare {pkgload} for the generated Posit Connect entrypoint.

The logical consequence: the older add_dockerfile(), add_dockerfile_shinyproxy() and add_dockerfile_heroku() functions are now explicitly soft-deprecated. Use their add_dockerfile_with_renv_*() counterparts.

Console output powered by {cli}

Every function that prints to the console has been reworked and standardized using the {cli} package. Messages, progress bars, unzip feedback… the whole thing is more consistent and easier on the eyes. Worth noting along the way: run_dev() now prints a single message.

JavaScript bindings rework

If you’ve ever used add_js_input_binding() or add_js_output_binding(), you know the skeleton needed quite a bit of manual completion. Not anymore: these functions now generate a functional binding out of the box.

The JS file contains working implementations of find, getValue/renderValue, setValue, receiveMessage and subscribe. An R companion file (fct_<name>_input_binding.R / fct_<name>_output_binding.R) is created alongside it, with a ready-to-use UI constructor, update, and render functions.

Two things to be aware of (these are breaking changes, see below): the file naming scheme changes (<name>-input.js), and the default events argument was adjusted to produce a binding that works right away.

Other useful additions

  • add_fct() gains a template argument to customize the content of the generated file; the default template is now exposed via the fct_template() function, mirroring the module_template() / add_module() pattern.
  • The use_external_*() family and use_bundled_html() gain a replace argument: with TRUE, an existing file (or bundle directory) is overwritten instead of aborting.
  • use_bundled_html() downloads HTML templates as zip archives, can extract them into inst/app/www, and remove the raw zip afterwards.
  • Scaffolding helpers (use_*, add_*, set_golem_*) now emit a warning when called while {golem} is in production mode (options('golem.app.prod' = TRUE)) — handy for catching an accidental call from a deployed app.

⚠️ Breaking changes to read before upgrading

This is a major release, and it intentionally breaks a few behaviors. The main ones:

  • Unified path arguments. The wd, path and pkg arguments are standardized into a single golem_wd. The legacy names remain as deprecated aliases (with a warning), but any value passed to an alias is silently ignored: the function reads golem_wd instead. If you relied on a non-default path, switch to golem_wd.
  • get_current_config() reworked. It now reads either the GOLEM_CONFIG_PATH environment variable or the default path (inst/golem-config.yml) — no more guessing exotic paths — and hard-fails if the file doesn’t exist. It no longer copies missing config files from the skeleton.
  • Removed functions. get_sysreqs() (use dockerfiler::get_sysreqs()), use_recommended_deps(), and add_rstudioconnect_file() (use add_positconnect_file()).
  • Stricter add_*/use_*. These functions now fail if the target directory doesn’t exist (creating the directory isn’t their job) or if the file already exists.
  • create_golem(overwrite = TRUE) now deletes the old folder and replaces it with the golem skeleton.
  • Lighter creation. Creating a golem no longer calls set_here() nor usethis::create_project(). The package finds its way via DESCRIPTION, which avoids interfering with how here() resolves.
  • JS bindings: new naming scheme (<name>-input.js / <name>-output.js instead of input-<name>.js), and a new default events. Remember to rename or delete your old binding files.

Under the hood

A few internal changes that pay off over time:

  • The package now uses the air formatter (with a pre-commit hook), replacing grkstyle.
  • Full refactoring of the add_*_files and use_*_files functions, which now all share the same behavior.
  • {golem} now ships a CLAUDE.md file and a series of skills.

How to upgrade?

install.packages("golem")

For an existing project, read the breaking changes section above (and the NEWS.md) first, then update your code. If you’re starting a new app, consider enabling agent skills right from creation:

golem::create_golem("myapp", with_agents = TRUE)

Thanks

This release is the result of many contributors’ work — a special thank you to Ilya Zarubin (@ilyaZar) for his massive involvement, and to everyone who opened issues, submitted PRs, and tested the development versions.

Happy coding 🚀

Report any issue on the issue tracker. Full documentation is available at thinkr-open.github.io/golem.