box is an R package providing a modular system / module loader for organizing reusable R code outside of full packages. It allows users to treat R scripts (files/folders) as modules — possibly nested — with explicit exports, imports, and scoping. The idea is to let users structure code in a more modular, composable way, without needing every reusable component to be a full CRAN-style package. It also provides a cleaner syntax for importing functions or modules (via box::use) that allows scoping control and avoids global pollution. Such modules can be stored in a central module search path (configured via options('box.path')) analogous to the R package library, or locally in individual projects. Let’s assume the module we just defined is stored in a file hello_world.r inside a directory mod, which is inside the module search path.
Features
- Modules are regular R files/folders (not full packages) that can export selected functions via #' @export or implicitly export everything
- box::use() syntax supports explicit import of specific names, aliasing, and limiting attached names to local scope rather than global environment pollution
- Nested modules / hierarchical module path support (modules inside directories, relative paths, fully qualified names)
- Support for unloading / reloading modules, module caching etc., useful during development or interactive use
- Provides help/documentation via box::help(), supports roxygen2 style documentation in modules etc.
- Works with compiled code, supports dependencies, suggestions of using modules instead of packages for smaller reusable pieces
Project Samples
