Personal reference — setting up a new project repo with only selected scripts, and adding scripts to an existing repo later
Assumes: GitHub token already stored (done once via
gitcreds::gitcreds_set()), and the usethis
package installed. All code runs in the RStudio Console with the project
open.
Placeholders look like <this> — replace with your
actual file or folder names, no angle brackets.
The Git tab (top-right pane, next to Environment/History) is per-project, not a permanent part of RStudio. It only appears when the currently open project is a Git repository. So:
use_git() step plus
the restart). Don’t go looking for it before then.Confirm you’re actually in the project. Look at
the very top-right corner of RStudio — it should show the project name.
If it says “Project: (None)”, you opened the script file directly
instead of the project. Close it and enter through the
.Rproj file. This is the most common cause.
Confirm the folder is really a repo. In the Console, run:
cat(system("git status", intern = TRUE), sep = "\n")If this prints branch info, the repo is fine and the problem is only RStudio’s display — go to step 3. If it says “fatal: not a git repository”, this project was never set up (or you’re in the wrong folder) — run Part 1 from the top.
Restart RStudio (Session → Restart R sometimes
isn’t enough — fully close and reopen via the .Rproj file).
The Git tab is only drawn when the project loads, so changes made
mid-session often need a full reopen to show up.
Check RStudio can find Git at all. Tools →
Global Options → Git/SVN. The “Git executable” box should show a path
like C:/Program Files/Git/bin/git.exe — not “(Not Found)”.
If it’s empty or wrong, click Browse and point it to git.exe, then OK
and restart RStudio. To confirm Git is installed at all, run:
system("git --version")If that errors, Git itself isn’t installed on the machine — install it from git-scm.com (defaults are fine), restart RStudio, and set the path as above. This matters on a new or reimaged work computer; on your current machine Git is already installed and configured.
Remember: no Git tab doesn’t mean Git is broken or your work is lost. The repo lives in the project folder on disk; the tab is just RStudio’s window onto it. The Console commands work either way.
Use this when a project has never been on Git. The order matters: the ignore rules go in first, so data files are fenced off before the first commit ever happens.
Open the project in RStudio by double-clicking its
.Rproj file. Confirm the project name shows in the
top-right corner of RStudio.
In the Console, run:
usethis::use_git()It may ask “Is it ok to commit them?” about existing files — answer with the negative option (“Negative” / “No way” / “Absolutely not” — the wording is randomized). You want to choose files yourself, not commit everything. It will then ask to restart RStudio — say yes. After the restart, the Git tab appears.
If the restart prompt never appears, or the restart
fails: the prompt is a convenience, not a requirement. Close
RStudio completely (fully exit, not Session → Restart R) and reopen the
project via the .Rproj file — the Git tab is drawn at
project load. Note that rerunning use_git() on a repo that
already exists will not offer a restart again (there’s nothing
left for it to create); no restart prompt on a rerun usually means the
first run already worked. Confirm with git status as in the
Git tab section above.
In the Console, run (edit the list to match the project):
usethis::use_git_ignore(c("*.csv", "*.xlsx", "*.zip",
"<folder_to_exclude>/", "<another_file.txt>"))Anything matching these patterns disappears from the Git pane permanently — the files stay on your computer, Git just stops offering them. This is the guardrail that prevents client data from ever being staged by accident. When in doubt, ignore more; you can always un-ignore later.
<script_one>.R and <script_two>.R.
Also check .gitignore. Leave everything else
unchecked.