aisdk: The AI SDK for R

aisdk infographic

aisdk is a production-grade framework for building AI-powered applications in R. It provides a unified interface for multiple model providers (OpenAI, Anthropic), a powerful agentic system, and seamless integration with the R ecosystem (Shiny, RMarkdown, Quarto).

Features

Unified API: Switch between OpenAI, Anthropic, AiHubMix, Gemini and others with a single line of code.
Agentic Framework: Built-in support for Agents, Tasks, and Flows.
- CoderAgent: Writes and edits code.
- PlannerAgent: Breaks down complex problems.
- Multi-Agent Teams: Coordinate multiple specialized agents
Tool System: Turn any R function into an AI-callable tool with automatic schema generation.
Structured Outputs: Generate type-safe JSON, data frames, and complex objects.
Chat Sessions: Stateful conversation management with history tracking.
Enterprise Ops: Telemetry, hooks, cost tracking, and MCP (Model Context Protocol) support.

Installation

You can install the development version of aisdk from GitHub with:

# install.packages("devtools")
devtools::install_github("YuLab-SMU/aisdk")

Quick Start

Basic Text Generation

library(aisdk)

file.edit(".env")
## set OPENAI_API_KEY and, if needed, OPENAI_BASE_URL / OPENAI_MODEL in .env.

library(dotenv)
load_dot_env()

# Create a model provider and model
provider <- create_openai()
model <- provider$language_model(Sys.getenv("OPENAI_MODEL"))

# Generate text
response <- stream_text(model, "Explain the concept of 'tidy evaluation' in R.")
render_text(response)

Set a Global Default Model

If you use the same model across a project, set it once and let high-level helpers reuse it automatically.

library(aisdk)

# Use a provider:model identifier
set_model("openai:gpt-4o-mini")

# Or store a concrete LanguageModelV1 object
# set_model(create_openai()$language_model("gpt-4o-mini"))

# High-level helpers now work without an explicit model argument
response <- generate_text(prompt = "Summarize the purpose of testthat in R.")
cat(response$text)

chat <- ChatSession$new()
chat$send("Continue with two practical testing tips.")

# Inspect or update the current default
model()
model("anthropic:claude-3-5-sonnet-latest")

The package-wide default model is used by generate_text(), stream_text(), ChatSession, create_chat_session(), auto_fix(), and the {ai} knitr engine when model is omitted.

Advanced Options (AIHubMix Native Interfaces)

AIHubMix provides compatibility layers that let you use Anthropic and Gemini models with their native API structures, unlocking features like Claude Prompt Caching or Gemini structured outputs. aisdk makes this easy with dedicated factory wrappers:

library(aisdk)

# Use Claude models with the Anthropic REST format (unlocks caching)
aihubmix_claude <- create_aihubmix_anthropic(extended_caching = TRUE)
claude_model <- aihubmix_claude$language_model("claude-3-5-sonnet-20241022")

# Use Gemini models with the Gemini REST format
aihubmix_gemini <- create_aihubmix_gemini()
gemini_model <- aihubmix_gemini$language_model("gemini-2.5-flash")

Custom Providers

If you need to connect to a provider not natively supported by aisdk, but which offers an API compatible with OpenAI or Anthropic formats, you can use create_custom_provider() to dynamically generate a provider at runtime:

library(aisdk)

# Create a custom provider compatible with OpenAI's chat completions
custom_provider <- create_custom_provider(
  provider_name = "my_custom_proxy",
  base_url = "https://my-custom-proxy.com/v1",
  api_key = Sys.getenv("CUSTOM_API_KEY"),
  api_format = "chat_completions" # Also supports "anthropic_messages" or "responses"
)

# Use it just like any other provider
custom_model <- custom_provider$language_model("my-custom-model-id")

Building an Agent

Create an agent with tools to solve tasks:

# Define a calculator tool (schema inferred from the function signature)
calc_tool <- tool(
  name = "add_numbers",
  description = "Adds two numbers together",
  execute = function(a, b) a + b
)

# Create an agent
agent <- create_agent(
  name = "Mathematician",
  description = "Solve math problems accurately",
  system_prompt = "You are a helpful mathematician.",
  tools = list(calc_tool)
)

# Run the agent
result <- agent$run("What is 1234 + 5678?", model = model)

# Or stream the response
result <- agent$stream("What is 1234 + 5678?", model = model)

render_text(result)

Stateful Conversations

Agents are stateless by default. To have a multi-turn conversation where the agent remembers previous interactions, create a Chat Session from the agent:

# Create a session from the agent
session <- agent$create_session(model = model)

# First interaction
session$send("What is 1234 + 5678?")

# Follow-up (context is preserved)
session$send("Divide that by 2")

Interactive Console Chat

If you want a terminal-first workflow, console_chat() provides an interactive REPL on top of ChatSession with built-in agent tooling:

# Start with the default terminal agent
# console_chat("openai:gpt-4o")

# Start in compact chat mode without tools
# console_chat("openai:gpt-4o", agent = NULL)

Current console features include:

streaming replies with slash-command session control
three output modes: clean, inspect, and debug
a persistent status bar showing model, sandbox, stream, and tool state
per-turn tool timeline summaries in inspect mode
an overlay-backed inspector for the latest turn or an individual tool
session persistence via /save and /load

Useful commands:

/inspect on, /inspect turn, /inspect tool <index>
/inspect next, /inspect prev, /inspect close
/debug [on|off], /stream [on|off]
/model <id>, /history, /stats, /clear

Skills System

The Skills system allows you to package specialized knowledge and tools that can be dynamically loaded by agents. This saves context window space and keeps your agents focused.

Use the Demo Skill:

# Initialize the registry and tools
registry <- create_skill_registry(system.file("skills", package = "aisdk"))
skill_tools <- create_skill_tools(registry)

# Create an agent
analyst <- create_agent(
  name = "DataAnalyst",
  description = "A data analysis agent",
  system_prompt = "You are an expert data analyst. Use the available skills to help the user.",
  tools = skill_tools # <--- Pass the list of tools, NOT the registry
)

# Run the agent
analyst$stream("Load the data_analysis skill and summarize the mtcars dataset.", model = model)

Example Output:

── ❯ Thinking...    
─ 
─  The user wants me to: 
─  1. Load the data_analysis skill 
─  2. Summarize the mtcars dataset 
─   
─  Let me start by loading the skill to see what scripts are available. 
─ 
── ✔ Done thinking (5 lines) 

  (ℹ Hide with options(aisdk.show_thinking = FALSE)) 


I'll help you load the data_analysis skill and summarize the mtcars dataset. Let me start by loading the skill.
ℹ Calling tool load_skill {"skill_name":"data_analysis"}
✔ Tool load_skill returned: "# Instructions Use the `analyze.R` script to analyze datasets.  ## Available Datasets - iris: Fisher's Iris dataset (150 observations, 5
variables) - mtcars: Motor Trend Car Road Tests (32 observat..."── ❯ Thinking...    
─ 
─  Now I can see that the data_analysis skill has an analyze.R script that can analyze datasets. The mtcars dataset is available, and I should use the analyze.R script with the dataset parameter set to "mtcars". I'll use the default top_n value of 5 as shown in the example. 
─ 
── ✔ Done thinking (1 lines) 

  (ℹ Hide with options(aisdk.show_thinking = FALSE)) 


▶ Calling tool execute_skill_script {"skill_name":"data_analysis","script_name":"analyze.R","args":{"dataset":"mtcars","top_n":5}}
✔ Tool execute_skill_script returned: "Dataset: mtcars Dimensions: 32 rows x 11 cols Columns: mpg, cyl, disp, hp, drat, wt, qsec, vs, am, gear, carb Numeric Summary:
mpg: min=10.40, max=33.90, mean=20.09 cyl: min=4.00, max=8.00, mean=..."── ❯ Thinking...    
─ 
─  Great! I've successfully loaded the data_analysis skill and analyzed the mtcars dataset. The output provides a comprehensive summary of the dataset including: 
─   
─  1. Dataset dimensions (32 rows x 11 columns) 
─  2. Column names 
─  3. Numeric summary statistics (min, max, mean) for all variables 
─  4. First 5 rows of the dataset 
─   
─  This gives a good overview of the mtcars dataset, which contains data about Motor Trend car road tests with various performance and design characteristics for 32 different car models. 
─ 
── ✔ Done thinking (8 lines) 

  (ℹ Hide with options(aisdk.show_thinking = FALSE)) 


I've successfully loaded the data_analysis skill and analyzed the mtcars dataset. Here's a summary:


── Dataset Overview ──- Name: mtcars (Motor Trend Car Road Tests)
- Dimensions: 32 observations × 11 variables
- Variables: mpg, cyl, disp, hp, drat, wt, qsec, vs, am, gear, carb

── Key Statistics Summary ──
| Variable | Min   | Max    | Mean   | Description                     |
| -------- | ----- | ------ | ------ | ------------------------------- |
| mpg      | 10.40 | 33.90  | 20.09  | Miles per gallon                |
| cyl      | 4.00  | 8.00   | 6.19   | Number of cylinders             |
| disp     | 71.10 | 472.00 | 230.72 | Displacement (cu.in.)           |
| hp       | 52.00 | 335.00 | 146.69 | Gross horsepower                |
| drat     | 2.76  | 4.93   | 3.60   | Rear axle ratio                 |
| wt       | 1.51  | 5.42   | 3.22   | Weight (1000 lbs)               |
| qsec     | 14.50 | 22.90  | 17.85  | 1/4 mile time                   |
| vs       | 0.00  | 1.00   | 0.44   | Engine type (0=V, 1=Straight)   |
| am       | 0.00  | 1.00   | 0.41   | Transmission (0=Auto, 1=Manual) |
| gear     | 3.00  | 5.00   | 3.69   | Number of forward gears         |
| carb     | 1.00  | 8.00   | 2.81   | Number of carburetors           |

── Sample Data (First 5 Rows) ──The dataset includes classic cars like the Mazda RX4 (21.0 mpg), Datsun 710 (22.8 mpg), and Hornet models, showing a range of performance characteristics from fuel economy to horsepower and weight.

This dataset is commonly used for regression analysis and exploring relationships between car design parameters and fuel efficiency.

Documentation

Full documentation is available at https://yulab-smu.top/aisdk/.