posit-dev/lifecycle
Guidance for managing R package lifecycle according to tidyverse principles using the lifecycle package. Use when: (1) Setting up lifecycle infrastructure in a package, (2) Deprecating functions or arguments, (3) Renaming functions or arguments, (4) Superseding functions, (5) Marking functions as experimental, (6) Understanding lifecycle stages (stable, experimental, deprecated, superseded), or (7) Writing deprecation helpers for complex scenarios.
npx skills add https://github.com/posit-dev/skills --skill lifecycleManage function and argument lifecycle using tidyverse conventions and the lifecycle package.
Check if lifecycle is configured by looking for lifecycle-*.svg files in man/figures/.
If not configured, run:
usethis::use_lifecycle()
This:
Imports in DESCRIPTION@importFrom lifecycle deprecated to the package documentation fileman/figures/Insert badges in roxygen2 documentation:
#' @description
#' `r lifecycle::badge("experimental")`
#' `r lifecycle::badge("deprecated")`
#' `r lifecycle::badge("superseded")`
For arguments:
#' @param old_arg `r lifecycle::badge("deprecated")` Use `new_arg` instead.
Only badge functions/arguments whose stage differs from the package's overall stage.
@description:#' Do something
#'
#' @description
#' `r lifecycle::badge("deprecated")`
#'
#' `old_fun()` was deprecated in mypkg 1.0.0. Use [new_fun()] instead.
#' @keywords internal
deprecate_warn() as first line of function body:old_fun <- function(x) {
lifecycle::deprecate_warn("1.0.0", "old_fun()", "new_fun()")
new_fun(x)
}
#' @examples
#' old_fun(x)
#' # ->
#' new_fun(x)
| Function | When to Use |
| ------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------- |
| deprecate_soft() | First stage; warns only direct users and during tests |
| deprecate_warn() | Standard deprecation; warns once per 8 hours |
| deprecate_stop() | Final stage before removal; errors with helpful message |
Deprecation workflow for major releases:
deprecate_stop() - consider removing function entirelydeprecate_warn() with deprecate_stop()deprecate_soft() with deprecate_warn()Move implementation to new name, call from old name with deprecation:
#' @description
#' `r lifecycle::badge("deprecated")`
#'
#' `add_two()` was renamed to `number_add()` for API consistency.
#' @keywords internal
#' @export
add_two <- function(x, y) {
lifecycle::deprecate_warn("1.0.0", "add_two()", "number_add()")
number_add(x, y)
}
#' Add two numbers
#' @export
number_add <- function(x, y) {
x + y
}
Use deprecated() as default value with is_present() check:
#' @param path `r lifecycle::badge("deprecated")` Use `file` instead.
write_file <- function(x, file, path = deprecated()) {
if (lifecycle::is_present(path)) {
lifecycle::deprecate_warn("1.4.0", "write_file(path)", "write_file(file)")
file <- path
}
# ... rest of function
}
add_two <- function(x, y, na_rm = TRUE, na.rm = deprecated()) {
if (lifecycle::is_present(na.rm)) {
lifecycle::deprecate_warn("1.0.0", "add_two(na.rm)", "add_two(na_rm)")
na_rm <- na.rm
}
sum(x, y, na.rm = na_rm)
}
For functions with better alternatives that shouldn't be removed:
#' Gather columns into key-value pairs
#'
#' @description
#' `r lifecycle::badge("superseded")`
#'
#' Development on `gather()` is complete. For new code, use [pivot_longer()].
#'
#' `df %>% gather("key", "value", x, y, z)` is equivalent to
#' `df %>% pivot_longer(c(x, y, z), names_to = "key", values_to = "value")`.
No warning needed - just document the preferred alternative.
#' @description
#' `r lifecycle::badge("experimental")`
cool_function <- function() {
lifecycle::signal_stage("experimental", "cool_function()")
# ...
}
Test that deprecated functions work and warn appropriately:
test_that("old_fun is deprecated", {
expect_snapshot({
x <- old_fun(1)
expect_equal(x, expected_value)
})
})
Suppress warnings in existing tests:
test_that("old_fun returns correct value", {
withr::local_options(lifecycle_verbosity = "quiet")
expect_equal(old_fun(1), expected_value)
})
For deprecations affecting many functions (e.g., removing a common argument), create an internal helper:
warn_for_verbose <- function(
verbose = TRUE,
env = rlang::caller_env(),
user_env = rlang::caller_env(2)
) {
if (!lifecycle::is_present(verbose) || isTRUE(verbose)) {
return(invisible())
}
lifecycle::deprecate_warn(
when = "2.0.0",
what = I("The `verbose` argument"),
details = c(
"Set `options(mypkg_quiet = TRUE)` to suppress messages.",
"The `verbose` argument will be removed in a future release."
),
user_env = user_env
)
invisible()
}
Then use in affected functions:
my_function <- function(..., verbose = deprecated()) {
warn_for_verbose(verbose)
# ...
}
For non-standard deprecations, use I() to wrap custom text:
lifecycle::deprecate_warn(
when = "1.0.0",
what = I('Setting option "pkg.opt" to "foo"'),
with = I('"pkg.new_opt"')
)
The what fragment must work with "was deprecated in..." appended.
See references/lifecycle-stages.md for detailed stage definitions and transitions.
Take posit-dev/lifecycle from the repository into ~/.claude/skills for personal
use, or into .claude/skills inside a project.
The agent identifies a skill by the name field in its header. Two skills with the
same name cannot sit side by side — one of them will be ignored.