Minimal R documentation generator - base R only, no magic.

What it does

tinyrox is a lightweight alternative to roxygen2 that generates valid .Rd files and NAMESPACE from #' comments using only base R.

Installation

install.packages("tinyrox")

Usage

library(tinyrox)
# Generate man/*.Rd and NAMESPACE from R/*.R
document()
# Clean generated files (man/, NAMESPACE)
clean()
# Check for common CRAN policy issues
check_cran()

Supported Tags

Documentation

Tag	Purpose
`@title`	One-line title
`@description`	Short description
`@details`	Longer description
`@param name`	Parameter documentation
`@return`	Return value
`@value`	Alias for `@return`
`@examples`	Code examples (verbatim)
`@seealso`	Cross-references
`@references`	Citations
`@section Title:`	Custom section (package-level docs only)
`@author`	Accepted for roxygen2 compatibility; ignored (authors come from `DESCRIPTION`)
`@aliases`	Additional topic aliases
`@keywords`	Rd keywords (e.g., `internal`)
`@name`	Explicit topic name
`@rdname`	Group multiple blocks into one Rd file
`@inheritParams fn`	Copy params from another function
`@noRd`	Skip Rd generation

Namespace

Tag	Effect
`@export`	`export()`
`@exportS3Method generic class`	`S3method()`
`@import pkg`	`import()`
`@importFrom pkg sym1 sym2`	`importFrom()`
`@useDynLib pkg`	`useDynLib()`

Example

#' Add Two Numbers
#'
#' @param x First number
#' @param y Second number
#' @return The sum
#' @export
#'
#' @examples
#' add(1, 2)
add <- function(x, y) {
  x + y
}

Package-Level Documentation

Attach a block to the "_PACKAGE" sentinel (same convention as roxygen2) to generate a ?pkgname landing topic:

#' mypkg: One-Line Title
#'
#' This paragraph is ignored; the help page pulls the description from
#' DESCRIPTION instead (see below).
#'
#' Paragraphs three and beyond (or @details) become the details
#' section: design notes, limitations, getting-started prose.
#' @keywords internal
"_PACKAGE"

This writes man/mypkg-package.Rd with package docType and aliases for mypkg and mypkg-package, so ?mypkg resolves. Title, description, author, and maintainer come from DESCRIPTION at render time via the base-R Rd macros (\packageTitle{}, \packageDescription{}, \packageAuthor{}, \packageMaintainer{}). DESCRIPTION stays the single source of truth, and the block's title and description paragraphs are not copied into the Rd. A function index is generated with \packageIndices{}. The sentinel is not exported and adds nothing to NAMESPACE.

CRAN Compliance Checking

tinyrox includes automated CRAN compliance checks:

# Check R code for CRAN policy violations
check_code_cran()
# Warns about: T/F, print()/cat(), .GlobalEnv, installed.packages(), etc.
# Check exported functions for missing examples and \dontrun overuse
check_examples_cran()
# Run all checks (code + examples)
check_cran()

Issues detected:

T/F instead of TRUE/FALSE
print()/cat() instead of message()
installed.packages() usage
.GlobalEnv modifications
setwd() without on.exit() restoration
Hardcoded set.seed() without parameter
Exported functions without examples; \dontrun{} overuse

Philosophy

tinyrox follows the tinyverse philosophy:

Dependencies have real costs. Each dependency is an invitation to break your project.

Design principles:

Minimize dependencies (tinyrox has none)
Explicit over implicit - no inference magic
Strict subset of tags - not everything roxygen2 does
Deterministic output - same input = same output
Warn and skip unknown tags (roxygen2 behavior), never abort the run

What tinyrox does NOT do:

Markdown parsing
Automatic dependency inference
@family (use @seealso)
pkgdown integration

Development Workflow

tinyrox is part of the tinyverse toolchain for R package development:

Package	Purpose
tinyrox	Documentation & NAMESPACE
tinypkgr	install, load_all, check, build
tinytest	Unit testing
rformat	Token-based code formatter

# Edit R/*.R files with #' comments
# Regenerate docs
tinyrox::document()
# Load for interactive development (no install)
tinypkgr::load_all()
# Install and reload in current session
tinypkgr::reload()
tinytest::test_package("mypkg")
# Full R CMD check
tinypkgr::check()

Or from the command line with littler:

r -e 'tinyrox::document(); tinypkgr::install(); tinytest::test_package("mypkg")'

License

GPL-3