Posit Assistant
Positron Assistant and Databot are being superseded by Posit Assistant and will be deprecated in a future release. Posit Assistant will move to general availability in Q3 2026.
Posit Assistant is the new AI coding experience available as a preview feature in Positron 2026.04.0 and later. Posit Assistant brings together the capabilities of Positron Assistant and Databot into a unified experience.
Beyond your active files, selected code, and project structure, Posit Assistant uses context from your interactive data science work, such as your loaded data, plots, and console history. This enables more relevant guidance for core data science workflows, including exploratory analysis, data cleaning, data app development, and modeling.
To learn how to enable it and get set up, visit the Posit Assistant documentation.
Features
Posit Assistant has a rich set of features with the highlights listed below.
| Feature | Summary |
|---|---|
| Commands | Slash commands typed at the start of a message that trigger special actions — for example, /plan, /new, and /savememory. |
| Skills | Specialized knowledge modules that load automatically when relevant to a request, with no manual activation needed. Built-ins include quarto-authoring, shiny-bslib, and predictive-modeling-r, plus user and project-level custom skills. |
| Memory | Persistent project context via an AGENTS.md file that captures conventions, architecture, and preferences. The file loads automatically at the start of every conversation in trusted workspaces. |
| Conversations | Full conversation history with switching, renaming, and deletion. Includes tree-based branching when you edit a previous message and import/export in Markdown, HTML, or JSON. |
| Plan Mode | A collaborative design phase where the assistant explores the codebase, asks questions, and writes a plan file before changing code. Best for multi-step features, refactors, and unfamiliar codebases. |
| Chat Features | File attachments via drag-and-drop, clipboard paste, or the paperclip, with @ mentions to reference workspace files. Also includes adjustable thinking effort (Off/Low/Medium/High) and optional web search. |
| Context Management | Automatic inclusion of session info (language, version, variable names and types) when connected to R or Python. Provides a token counter with detailed breakdown and auto/manual/micro-compaction to keep long conversations within the model’s context window. |
| Permissions & Trust | Three approval modes (Normal, YOLO, Restricted) and per-tool permissions configurable in settings. Includes workspace trust prompts when opening projects with AGENTS.md and an optional sandbox mode for bash execution. |
Learn more
Get Started
Set up Posit Assistant and learn the essentials for your first conversation.
Posit Assistant vs. Positron Assistant
Watch a walkthrough comparing Posit Assistant and Positron Assistant.
AI at Posit
Explore Posit's broader work on artificial intelligence for data science.
Support and terms of service
Posit does not provide support or assistance for any code written or generated in Positron, with or without Posit Assistant, Positron Assistant, or Databot via any model provider. Posit does not support the Anthropic or GitHub Copilot output, or test the logic used by either to generate code from prompts. Consult your AI model provider’s documentation for more information.
Positron AI agents
The Positron AI tools are “BYO-key,” meaning that the tools can interact with a number of different model providers (e.g., Anthropic, AWS Bedrock, GitHub Copilot, or OpenAI) and the user or organization has an agreement with, and pays the model provider directly for access to the model.
Data collection and privacy
Positron provides local software as a client to the user’s selected model provider. As a result, Posit does not track, collect, or store your prompts, code, or conversations when using AI features within Positron (i.e., Posit Assistant, Positron Assistant, Databot, etc.). These features operate by communicating directly from your client software to your chosen AI model provider. Posit does not receive any AI traffic from your client’s software and nor does Posit ever access or store your data.
If you voluntarily share diagnostic logs or information with Posit for troubleshooting purposes, that shared information will be handled in accordance with Posit’s privacy policy.
However, your AI model provider (such as Anthropic or GitHub Copilot) may store or collect data according to their own privacy policies and terms of service. Please review your AI model provider’s data practices for details on what information they collect and how it’s used.
By using an external model provider, you acknowledge that your use is subject to their Terms of Service. All external model providers are considered “Third Party Materials” as defined in the Posit End User License Agreement and Posit assumes no liability or other obligations with respect thereto and, without limiting the foregoing, is not liable for any loss or damage resulting from the use or access thereof.