Initialize and load the project environment

Usage

scaffold(config_file = NULL)

Arguments

Argument	Description
`config_file`	Path to configuration file. If NULL (default), automatically discovers settings.yml or config.yml in the project.

Details

scaffold() performs the following steps in order:

Standardizes working directory - Finds and sets the project root, even when called from notebooks in subdirectories
Loads environment variables - Reads secrets from .env file
Loads configuration - Parses settings.yml for project settings
Sets random seed - For reproducibility (if seed is configured)
Installs packages - Any missing packages from the packages list
Loads packages - Attaches all configured packages
Sources functions - Loads all .R files from functions/ directory

After scaffold() completes, you have access to:

All packages listed in settings.yml
All functions from your functions/ directory
Database connections configured in your project

Returns

Invisibly returns NULL. The main effects are side effects: loading packages and sourcing functions.

Project Discovery

When called without arguments, scaffold() searches for a Framework project by:

Looking for settings.yml or config.yml in current and parent directories
Checking for .Rproj or .code-workspace files with nearby settings
Recognizing common Framework subdirectories (notebooks/, scripts/, etc.)

This means you can call scaffold() from any subdirectory within your project.

Configuration

The settings.yml file controls what scaffold() loads. Key settings include:

packages: List of R packages to install and load
seed: Random seed for reproducibility
directories: Custom directory paths
connections: Database connection configurations

Examples

# At the top of every notebook or script:
library(framework)
scaffold()

# Now you can use your configured packages and functions
# Access settings via the settings object:
settings("directories.notebooks")
settings("seed")