Tools for Working with R-universe and its APIs.
Installation and docs
You can install the development version of universe from r-universe:
install.packages("universe", repos = "https://ropensci.r-universe.dev")Or the development version of universe from GitHub with:
# install.packages("pak")
pak::pak("ropensci/universe")Documentation is available on https://docs.ropensci.org/universe.
Enable a repository
Use runiverse::add() to opt-in to a package repository
(this will modify your options('repos') list).
# Install a package from r-universe
universe::add("ropensci")
install.packages("magick")For more details see the documentation for runiverse::add().
Get data from the APIs
All packages in an universe
library(universe)
#>
#> Attaching package: 'universe'
#> The following object is masked from 'package:base':
#>
#> remove
universe_ls("jeroen")
#> [1] "RAppArmor" "V8" "badgen" "base64" "bcrypt" "brotli"
#> [7] "curl" "js" "jsonlite" "maketools" "mongolite" "openssl"
#> [13] "protolite" "rjade" "sys" "unix" "webp" "webutils"Info on all packages in an universe
universe_all_packages("jeroen", limit = 1) |>
str(max.level = 2)
#> List of 1
#> $ :List of 69
#> ..$ Package : chr "jsonlite"
#> ..$ Version : chr "2.0.1"
#> ..$ Title : chr "A Simple and Robust JSON Parser and Generator for R"
#> ..$ License : chr "MIT + file LICENSE"
#> ..$ Authors@R : chr "c(\nperson(\"Jeroen\", \"Ooms\", role = c(\"aut\", \"cre\"), email = \"jeroenooms@gmail.com\",\ncomment = c(ORC"| __truncated__
#> ..$ URL : chr "https://jeroen.r-universe.dev/jsonlite\nhttps://arxiv.org/abs/1403.2805"
#> ..$ BugReports : chr "https://github.com/jeroen/jsonlite/issues"
#> ..$ Maintainer : chr "Jeroen Ooms <jeroenooms@gmail.com>"
#> ..$ VignetteBuilder : chr "knitr"
#> ..$ Description : chr "A reasonably fast JSON parser and generator, optimized for\nstatistical data and the web. Offers simple, flexib"| __truncated__
#> ..$ RoxygenNote : chr "7.3.2"
#> ..$ Encoding : chr "UTF-8"
#> ..$ Roxygen : chr "list(markdown = TRUE)"
#> ..$ Repository : chr "https://jeroen.r-universe.dev"
#> ..$ Date/Publication: chr "2026-09-15 16:13:51 UTC"
#> ..$ RemoteUrl : chr "https://github.com/jeroen/jsonlite"
#> ..$ RemoteRef : chr "HEAD"
#> ..$ RemoteSha : chr "7baac6151439946d3b44a7f2aa5dbaada0b2224f"
#> ..$ NeedsCompilation: chr "yes"
#> ..$ Packaged :List of 2
#> ..$ Author : chr "Jeroen Ooms [aut, cre] (ORCID: <https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4035-0289>),\nDuncan Temple Lang [ctb],\nLloyd Hila"| __truncated__
#> ..$ _user : chr "jeroen"
#> ..$ _type : chr "src"
#> ..$ _file : chr "jsonlite_2.0.1.tar.gz"
#> ..$ _fileid : chr "https://r2.ropensci.org/a83cdff2d559523cd15a1abc6a97f72fbef16eb33141c55fbcc1f227931c4736"
#> ..$ _filesize : int 278444
#> ..$ _sha256 : chr "a83cdff2d559523cd15a1abc6a97f72fbef16eb33141c55fbcc1f227931c4736"
#> ..$ _expires : chr "2026-12-24T16:25:05.000Z"
#> ..$ _created : chr "2026-09-15T16:20:04.000Z"
#> ..$ _published : chr "2026-09-15T16:25:08.452Z"
#> ..$ _jobs :List of 15
#> ..$ _host : chr "GitHub-Actions"
#> ..$ _buildurl : chr "https://github.com/r-universe/jeroen/actions/runs/34993991860"
#> ..$ _status : chr "success"
#> ..$ _upstream : chr "https://github.com/jeroen/jsonlite"
#> ..$ _commit :List of 5
#> ..$ _maintainer :List of 8
#> ..$ _distro : chr "resolute"
#> ..$ _registered : logi TRUE
#> ..$ _dependencies :List of 6
#> ..$ _owner : chr "jeroen"
#> ..$ _selfowned : logi TRUE
#> ..$ _usedby : int 9476
#> ..$ _updates :List of 7
#> ..$ _tags : list()
#> ..$ _topics :List of 2
#> ..$ _stars : int 403
#> ..$ _contributors :List of 26
#> ..$ _userbio :List of 5
#> ..$ _downloads :List of 2
#> ..$ _mentions : int 36
#> ..$ _devurl : chr "https://github.com/jeroen/jsonlite"
#> ..$ _searchresults : int 67328
#> ..$ _rbuild : chr "4.6.1"
#> ..$ _assets :List of 12
#> ..$ _homeurl : chr "https://github.com/jeroen/jsonlite"
#> ..$ _realowner : chr "jeroen"
#> ..$ _cranurl : logi TRUE
#> ..$ _releases :List of 46
#> ..$ _exports :List of 23
#> ..$ _help :List of 11
#> ..$ _readme : chr "https://github.com/jeroen/jsonlite/raw/HEAD/README.md"
#> ..$ _rundeps : list()
#> ..$ _vignettes :List of 3
#> ..$ _score : num 21.5
#> ..$ _indexed : logi TRUE
#> ..$ _nocasepkg : chr "jsonlite"
#> ..$ _universes :List of 1
#> ..$ _binaries :List of 14Info on a single package in an universe
universe_one_package("jeroen", package = "curl") |>
str(max.level = 1)
#> List of 75
#> $ _id : chr "6aa96a4fea78b3e62eac7df9"
#> $ Package : chr "curl"
#> $ Type : chr "Package"
#> $ Title : chr "A Modern and Flexible Web Client for R"
#> $ Version : chr "8.0.0"
#> $ Authors@R : chr "c(\nperson(\"Jeroen\", \"Ooms\", role = c(\"aut\", \"cre\"), email = \"jeroenooms@gmail.com\",\ncomment = c(ORC"| __truncated__
#> $ Description : chr "Bindings to 'libcurl' <https://curl.se/libcurl/> for\nperforming fully configurable HTTP/FTP requests where res"| __truncated__
#> $ License : chr "MIT + file LICENSE"
#> $ SystemRequirements : chr "libcurl (>= 7.73): libcurl-devel (rpm) or\nlibcurl4-openssl-dev (deb)"
#> $ URL : chr "https://jeroen.r-universe.dev/curl"
#> $ BugReports : chr "https://github.com/jeroen/curl/issues"
#> $ VignetteBuilder : chr "knitr"
#> $ Encoding : chr "UTF-8"
#> $ Language : chr "en-US"
#> $ Roxygen : chr "list(load = \"installed\", markdown = TRUE)"
#> $ Config/roxygen2/version: chr "8.0.0"
#> $ Config/pak/sysreqs : chr "libssl-dev"
#> $ Repository : chr "https://jeroen.r-universe.dev"
#> $ Date/Publication : chr "2026-08-25 12:45:33 UTC"
#> $ RemoteUrl : chr "https://github.com/jeroen/curl"
#> $ RemoteRef : chr "HEAD"
#> $ RemoteSha : chr "1c34917a4e4aa0ddeed786cceab3c41affc16414"
#> $ NeedsCompilation : chr "yes"
#> $ Packaged :List of 2
#> $ Author : chr "Jeroen Ooms [aut, cre] (ORCID: <https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4035-0289>),\nHadley Wickham [ctb],\nPosit Software, PBC [cph]"
#> $ Maintainer : chr "Jeroen Ooms <jeroenooms@gmail.com>"
#> $ _user : chr "jeroen"
#> $ _type : chr "src"
#> $ _file : chr "curl_8.0.0.tar.gz"
#> $ _fileid : chr "https://r2.ropensci.org/e967c69dd55d39d6810c36a20104f1379fd5bb33fc69e3049b68a942a019694a"
#> $ _filesize : int 374233
#> $ _sha256 : chr "e967c69dd55d39d6810c36a20104f1379fd5bb33fc69e3049b68a942a019694a"
#> $ _expires : chr "2026-12-24T15:54:53.000Z"
#> $ _created : chr "2026-09-15T15:47:33.000Z"
#> $ _published : chr "2026-09-15T15:54:55.607Z"
#> $ _jobs :List of 15
#> $ _host : chr "GitHub-Actions"
#> $ _buildurl : chr "https://github.com/r-universe/jeroen/actions/runs/34990450235"
#> $ _status : chr "success"
#> $ _upstream : chr "https://github.com/jeroen/curl"
#> $ _commit :List of 5
#> $ _maintainer :List of 8
#> $ _distro : chr "resolute"
#> $ _registered : logi TRUE
#> $ _dependencies :List of 9
#> $ _owner : chr "jeroen"
#> $ _selfowned : logi TRUE
#> $ _usedby : int 6218
#> $ _updates :List of 9
#> $ _tags : list()
#> $ _stars : int 233
#> $ _contributors :List of 23
#> $ _userbio :List of 5
#> $ _downloads :List of 2
#> $ _mentions : int 21
#> $ _devurl : chr "https://github.com/jeroen/curl"
#> $ _searchresults : int 6160
#> $ _topics :List of 1
#> $ _rbuild : chr "4.6.1"
#> $ _assets :List of 12
#> $ _homeurl : chr "https://github.com/jeroen/curl"
#> $ _realowner : chr "jeroen"
#> $ _cranurl : logi TRUE
#> $ _releases :List of 58
#> $ _exports :List of 149
#> $ _help :List of 19
#> $ _readme : chr "https://github.com/jeroen/curl/raw/HEAD/README.md"
#> $ _rundeps : list()
#> $ _sysdeps :List of 1
#> $ _vignettes :List of 2
#> $ _score : num 19.9
#> $ _indexed : logi TRUE
#> $ _nocasepkg : chr "curl"
#> $ _universes :List of 1
#> $ _binaries :List of 14Search within a single universe
universe_search("ropensci", query = 'needs:httr2', limit = 1) |>
str(max.level = 2)
#> List of 5
#> $ results:List of 1
#> ..$ :List of 14
#> $ query :List of 2
#> ..$ _universes: chr "ropensci"
#> ..$ _rundeps : chr "httr2"
#> $ skip : int 0
#> $ limit : int 1
#> $ total : int 50Search among all universes
global_search(query = '"weather data"', limit = 1) |>
str(max.level = 2)
#> List of 5
#> $ results:List of 1
#> ..$ :List of 15
#> $ query :List of 1
#> ..$ $text:List of 2
#> $ skip : int 0
#> $ limit : int 1
#> $ total : int 97