Install Positron
Positron is a modern, extensible IDE for data science built on Code OSS. Before you install Positron, please review the prerequisites to ensure your system is ready.
Prerequisites
In most cases, Positron is ready to go as soon as it is installed. Check the section for your platform or language to see if you need anything more.
Windows setup
If you’re using Windows, make sure you have the latest Visual C++ Redistributable installed.
Optional language setup
Positron runs without any programming language installed. If you plan to use R or Python, follow these steps to get your environment working.
Positron works with actively supported versions of Python.
If you do not have a valid Python version available, Positron can install one for you. If you prefer to use an existing environment, Positron supports the following Python environment managers:
- venv: Standard library virtual environments created with
python -m venv - uv: Virtual environments and Python installations managed by
uv - pyenv: Python installations managed by
pyenv, including virtual environments - conda: Conda environments created with
conda createormamba create, as well as pixi environments created withpixi init
Other tools might also be compatible, even if Positron does not officially support them. For the full list of requirements, see Python environment qualifications.
Ensure you have R 4.2 or higher installed. To install R, follow the instructions for your operating system.
Alternatively, if you’d like to have multiple R installations, rig is a great tool to manage this which works well with Positron.
If you’re an R package developer, you will also want to make sure that you have the current versions of certain R packages, all of which had recent updates to make them work more smoothly in Positron. Run one of the code snippets below to ensure that you are up-to-date:
# if you're a pak person (we are!)
pak::pak(c("usethis", "cli", "crayon", "rlang", "roxygen2", "pkgload"))
# or using base R
install.packages(c("usethis", "cli", "crayon", "rlang", "roxygen2", "pkgload"))If you’re a Windows user, note that Positron doesn’t bundle Rtools. If you need Rtools for your package development or other work, you can either use the official guidance from CRAN on installing Rtools and putting it on the PATH, or alternatively, use rig to install and set up Rtools:
rig system rtools addInstall Positron
Download the installer for your operating system from the button below and follow the standard installation process for your platform. You only need to install Positron once, as it automatically updates to the latest version after installation.