For detailed requirements and install instructions see irkernel.github.io

• Jupyter.
• A current R installation.

We are currently in the process of submitting our packages to CRAN. Until then, you can install via the devtools package:

install.packages(c('pbdZMQ', 'repr', 'devtools'))  # repr is already on CRAN
# devtools::install_github('IRkernel/repr')        # or get the latest repr from master
devtools::install_github('IRkernel/IRkernel')
IRkernel::installspec()  # to register the kernel in the current R installation

Per default IRkernel::installspec() will install a kernel with the name “ir” and a display name of “R”. Multiple calls will overwrite the kernel with a kernel spec pointing to the last R interpreter you called that commands from. You can install kernels for multiple versions of R by supplying a name and displayname argument to the installspec() call (You still need to install these packages in all interpreters you want to run as a jupyter kernel!):

# in R 3.3
IRkernel::installspec(name = 'ir33', displayname = 'R 3.3')
# in R 3.2
IRkernel::installspec(name = 'ir32', displayname = 'R 3.2')

Now both R versions are available as an R kernel in the notebook.

1. Have a look at the full installation instructions!
2. Search the existing open and closed issues.
3. If you are sure that this is a new problem, file an issue.

If you have Jupyter installed, you can create a notebook using IRkernel from the dropdown menu.

You can also start other interfaces with an R kernel:

# “ir” is the kernel name installed by the above `IRkernel::installspec()`
# change if you used a different name!
jupyter qtconsole --kernel=ir
jupyter console --kernel=ir

If you have a Docker daemon running, e.g. reachable on localhost, start a container with:

git clone https://github.com/IRkernel/IRkernel.git
cd IRkernel
docker build -t irkernel .
cd <path to your notebooks>
docker run -itp 8888:8888 -v $(pwd):/notebooks/ irkernel

In your browser open the URL http://localhost:8888/. All notebooks from your session will be saved in the current directory.

On other platforms without docker, this can be started using docker-machine by replacing “localhost” with an IP from docker-machine ip <MACHINE>. With the deprecated boot2docker, this IP will be boot2docker ip.