Plot viewer

Plots from an attached R session can be displayed in a VS Code editor tab. Use r.plot.backend to select one of four modes:

• auto (default): use JGD if installed, otherwise httpgd if installed, otherwise the standard viewer
• jgd: use the JGD graphics device
• httpgd: use the httpgd graphics device
• standard: use the built-in responsive plot viewer

Backend changes take effect without reloading VS Code. vscode-R warns and falls back when the requested package is unavailable.

JGD is lightweight, has no external R-package dependencies, and is usually simpler to install. httpgd has a mature, feature-rich SVG viewer, but a larger compiled dependency footprint. If you are unsure which optional backend to install, start with JGD.

Standard viewer

The standard backend records the current R plot and re-renders it to fit the viewer whenever the panel is resized. It uses crisp SVG output when the svglite R package is installed and falls back to PNG otherwise.

Use r.plot.format to request "svglite" or "png". The r.plot.devArgs setting supplies additional graphics-device arguments, but the responsive viewer manages width and height itself.

To use R's native graphics window instead, disable the session watcher with r.sessionWatcher. This also disables the other features that require an attached R session.

JGD viewer

Install the jgd R package to use the lightweight JGD backend:

install.packages("jgd")

JGD supports plot history, navigation, zoom, and export. Configure the maximum history size with r.plot.jgd.historyLimit, and the default export dimensions and resolution with r.plot.jgd.exportWidth, r.plot.jgd.exportHeight, and r.plot.jgd.exportDpi.

httpgd viewer

Install httpgd to use its SVG-based interactive viewer:

install.packages("httpgd")

Select it explicitly with "r.plot.backend": "httpgd", or leave the backend as auto. The viewer supports resizing, themes, plot history, hiding, zooming, and export.