# Using renv with RStudio Connect

RStudio Connect is a publication platform for deploying content built in R and Python to share with a broad audience. R users may want to develop content (like Shiny applications or RMarkdown documents) using `renv` and then publish that content to RStudio Connect. This is a supported pattern where `renv` is used to manage the local project environment and then RStudio Connect recreates and manages the deployment environment.

## Publishing from the RStudio IDE

The RStudio IDE includes a button for push-button deployment to RStudio Connect:

When this option is used to deploy content to RStudio Connect, a manifest file is automatically generated and sent to RStudio Connect describing the project environment. This manifest file will reflect the project environment create and managed by `renv`. The `renv` generated `.Rprofile` file should not be included in deployments to RStudio Connect.

## Publishing programatically

When publishing content to RStudio Connect programatically, it is necessary to generate a manifest file describing the project environment. This can be done with the `writeManifest()` function from the `rsconnect` package. When using `renv`, the only thing that needs to be considered is that `rsconnect` should be installed and executed from within the `renv` environment so that it recognizes the local project library when generating the manifest file. As long as `rsconnect` is run from within the `renv` created environment, it will capture project dependencies from the local `renv` library. This can be accomplished by opening the project in RStudio or by starting the R session from the project root directory. The `renv` generated `.Rprofile` file should not be included in deployments to RStudio Connect.

## A word about packrat

RStudio Connect uses `packrat` to restore project environments on the RStudio Connect server. This should have no impact on how the user develops content for RStudio Connect. It is not necessary for the user to use `packrat` instead of `renv` when developing content, as the environment management tool used locally has no impact on the tools RStudio Connect uses for environment management. Therefore, there should be no concerns with using `renv` to develop content that will be deployed to RStudio Connect.