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 75
#> ..$ Package : chr "V8"
#> ..$ Type : chr "Package"
#> ..$ Title : chr "Embedded JavaScript and WebAssembly Engine for R"
#> ..$ Version : chr "6.9000"
#> ..$ Authors@R : chr "c(\nperson(\"Jeroen\", \"Ooms\", role = c(\"aut\", \"cre\"), email = \"jeroenooms@gmail.com\",\ncomment = c(ORC"| __truncated__
#> ..$ Description : chr "An R interface to V8 <https://v8.dev>: Google's open\nsource JavaScript and WebAssembly engine. This package ca"| __truncated__
#> ..$ License : chr "MIT + file LICENSE"
#> ..$ URL : chr "https://jeroen.r-universe.dev/V8"
#> ..$ BugReports : chr "https://github.com/jeroen/v8/issues"
#> ..$ SystemRequirements: chr "On Linux you can build against libv8-dev (Debian)\nor v8-devel (Fedora). We also provide static libv8 binaries "| __truncated__
#> ..$ NeedsCompilation : chr "yes"
#> ..$ VignetteBuilder : chr "knitr"
#> ..$ RoxygenNote : chr "7.3.1"
#> ..$ Roxygen : chr "list(load = \"installed\", markdown = TRUE)"
#> ..$ Language : chr "en-US"
#> ..$ Encoding : chr "UTF-8"
#> ..$ Biarch : chr "true"
#> ..$ Config/pak/sysreqs: chr "libssl-dev libnode-dev"
#> ..$ Repository : chr "https://jeroen.r-universe.dev"
#> ..$ Date/Publication : chr "2025-08-24 11:01:54 UTC"
#> ..$ RemoteUrl : chr "https://github.com/jeroen/v8"
#> ..$ RemoteRef : chr "HEAD"
#> ..$ RemoteSha : chr "1740c9c33f9639658f625afab8e0b69175d36171"
#> ..$ Packaged :List of 2
#> ..$ Author : chr "Jeroen Ooms [aut, cre] (ORCID: <https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4035-0289>),\nJan Marvin Garbuszus [ctb]"
#> ..$ Maintainer : chr "Jeroen Ooms <jeroenooms@gmail.com>"
#> ..$ MD5sum : chr "65cee9b93c3deb84c333c3f2e0b2a30c"
#> ..$ _user : chr "jeroen"
#> ..$ _type : chr "src"
#> ..$ _file : chr "V8_6.9000.tar.gz"
#> ..$ _fileid : chr "cc0f01e36cf59e431b7700a9eb8b3cea202f41c8d9b790fde7ccd52580c20bd5"
#> ..$ _filesize : int 197166
#> ..$ _sha256 : chr "cc0f01e36cf59e431b7700a9eb8b3cea202f41c8d9b790fde7ccd52580c20bd5"
#> ..$ _created : chr "2025-08-24T11:18:20.000Z"
#> ..$ _published : chr "2025-08-24T11:22:56.948Z"
#> ..$ _distro : chr "noble"
#> ..$ _jobs :List of 13
#> ..$ _buildurl : chr "https://github.com/r-universe/jeroen/actions/runs/17187993424"
#> ..$ _status : chr "success"
#> ..$ _host : chr "GitHub-Actions"
#> ..$ _upstream : chr "https://github.com/jeroen/v8"
#> ..$ _commit :List of 5
#> ..$ _maintainer :List of 7
#> ..$ _registered : logi TRUE
#> ..$ _dependencies :List of 8
#> ..$ _owner : chr "jeroen"
#> ..$ _selfowned : logi TRUE
#> ..$ _usedby : int 362
#> ..$ _updates :List of 16
#> ..$ _tags :List of 1
#> ..$ _topics :List of 4
#> ..$ _stars : int 202
#> ..$ _contributors :List of 10
#> ..$ _userbio :List of 4
#> ..$ _downloads :List of 2
#> ..$ _mentions : int 2
#> ..$ _devurl : chr "https://github.com/jeroen/v8"
#> ..$ _searchresults : int 554
#> ..$ _rbuild : chr "4.5.1"
#> ..$ _assets :List of 11
#> ..$ _homeurl : chr "https://github.com/jeroen/v8"
#> ..$ _realowner : chr "jeroen"
#> ..$ _cranurl : logi TRUE
#> ..$ _releases :List of 56
#> ..$ _exports :List of 6
#> ..$ _help :List of 3
#> ..$ _readme : chr "https://github.com/jeroen/v8/raw/HEAD/README.md"
#> ..$ _rundeps :List of 3
#> ..$ _sysdeps :List of 1
#> ..$ _vignettes :List of 2
#> ..$ _score : num 15.8
#> ..$ _indexed : logi TRUE
#> ..$ _nocasepkg : chr "v8"
#> ..$ _universes :List of 1
#> ..$ _binaries :List of 11Info on a single package in an universe
universe_one_package("jeroen", package = "curl") |>
str(max.level = 1)
#> List of 73
#> $ Package : chr "curl"
#> $ Type : chr "Package"
#> $ Title : chr "A Modern and Flexible Web Client for R"
#> $ Version : chr "7.0.0"
#> $ 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"
#> $ RoxygenNote : chr "7.3.2"
#> $ Encoding : chr "UTF-8"
#> $ Language : chr "en-US"
#> $ Roxygen : chr "list(load = \"installed\", markdown = TRUE)"
#> $ Config/pak/sysreqs: chr "libssl-dev"
#> $ Repository : chr "https://jeroen.r-universe.dev"
#> $ RemoteUrl : chr "https://github.com/jeroen/curl"
#> $ RemoteRef : chr "HEAD"
#> $ RemoteSha : chr "4db219b4e42c9a38088204746ac2a97fa5d9dac2"
#> $ 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>"
#> $ MD5sum : chr "be528411fca84d1086c4db55e02919c9"
#> $ _user : chr "jeroen"
#> $ _type : chr "src"
#> $ _file : chr "curl_7.0.0.tar.gz"
#> $ _fileid : chr "8dc91fa6ec3511ec3fdfc7f179847fd13c66a80246c1630089d14cbd440e9270"
#> $ _filesize : int 336718
#> $ _sha256 : chr "8dc91fa6ec3511ec3fdfc7f179847fd13c66a80246c1630089d14cbd440e9270"
#> $ _created : chr "2025-08-19T09:59:34.000Z"
#> $ _published : chr "2025-08-19T10:12:02.396Z"
#> $ _distro : chr "noble"
#> $ _jobs :List of 14
#> $ _buildurl : chr "https://github.com/r-universe/jeroen/actions/runs/17065997307"
#> $ _status : chr "success"
#> $ _host : chr "GitHub-Actions"
#> $ _upstream : chr "https://github.com/jeroen/curl"
#> $ _commit :List of 5
#> $ _maintainer :List of 7
#> $ _registered : logi TRUE
#> $ _dependencies :List of 9
#> $ _owner : chr "jeroen"
#> $ _selfowned : logi TRUE
#> $ _usedby : int 5513
#> $ _updates :List of 35
#> $ _tags :List of 6
#> $ _stars : int 228
#> $ _contributors :List of 23
#> $ _userbio :List of 4
#> $ _downloads :List of 2
#> $ _mentions : int 21
#> $ _devurl : chr "https://github.com/jeroen/curl"
#> $ _searchresults : int 4016
#> $ _topics :List of 1
#> $ _rbuild : chr "4.5.1"
#> $ _assets :List of 11
#> $ _homeurl : chr "https://github.com/jeroen/curl"
#> $ _realowner : chr "jeroen"
#> $ _cranurl : logi TRUE
#> $ _releases :List of 55
#> $ _exports :List of 44
#> $ _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 20.1
#> $ _indexed : logi TRUE
#> $ _nocasepkg : chr "curl"
#> $ _universes :List of 1
#> $ _binaries :List of 12Search 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 38Search 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 81