{"slug": "webr", "name": "WebR", "category": "browsers", "category_name": "Browsers and extensions", "description": "", "recommenders": 5, "commenters": 8, "warners": 0, "score": 4.692, "rising": -1.64, "first": "2025-11-29", "latest": "2025-12-12", "why": "Enter WebR: now we only need to serve static files.", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 5, "neutral": 2, "compare": 1, "warn": 0}, "spark": [5, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "Enter WebR: now we only need to serve static files.", "kind": "", "icon": true, "domain": null, "github_repo": "github.com/r-wasm/webr", "official_url": "https://github.com/r-wasm/webr", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["WebR", "webR"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 737457248, "item_id": 46091078, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46091078", "by": "electroly", "date": "2025-11-29", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Enter WebR: now we only need to serve static files.", "excerpt": "This project is brand new to me but I have a use case I'm immediately considering, when combined with the \"shiny\" dashboard library as seen here: https://shinylive.io/r/examples/ At work we have analysts who sometimes produce web-based dashboards for the business to consume. When we had Python folks, they used Plotly Dash and we had to host a server for them. It's a bit silly--the dashboard just accesses APIs and sta", "context": "Works at a company where analysts build dashboards", "use_case": "Static R dashboards in browser", "switched_from": "", "story": "WebR \u2013 R in the Browser"}, {"id": 737432672, "item_id": 46089542, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46089542", "by": "tkschmidtme", "date": "2025-11-29", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "WebR is awesome", "excerpt": "WebR is awesome and I\u2019m trying to use it more and more instead of in operating fixed figures (https://tkschmidt.me/posts/dagstuhl-problem/). I would really recommend to stay with a fixed webR version (and use a CI/CD) process to check if newer versions are still compatible with your scripts.", "context": "", "use_case": "running R in browser", "switched_from": "", "story": "WebR \u2013 R in the Browser"}, {"id": 737429153, "item_id": 46089322, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46089322", "by": "droelf", "date": "2025-11-29", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Cool!", "excerpt": "Cool! Emscripten-forge also recently got a R distribution that runs natively on the browser: https://blog.jupyter.org/r-in-the-browser-announcing-our-webassembly-distribution-9450e9539ed5?gi=81cf18b1ac6a", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "WebR \u2013 R in the Browser"}, {"id": 737416144, "item_id": 46088509, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46088509", "by": "maxi-k", "date": "2025-11-29", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "WebR was perfect for this use case", "excerpt": "Sure! https://cloudspecs.fyi/ (feedback welcome!) Since it's now accepted, I guess I can also share the accompanying paper [1] about cloud hardware evolution; the idea is that every plot in the paper is clickable and opens an interactive version of itself. WebR was perfect for this use case. https://www.cs.cit.tum.de/fileadmin/w00cfj/dis/papers/cloudspecs-final.pdf", "context": "", "use_case": "Interactive plots in browser", "switched_from": "", "story": "WebR \u2013 R in the Browser"}]}], "caveats": [], "who": [{"by": "electroly", "context": "Works at a company where analysts build dashboards", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46091078", "date": "2025-11-29"}], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["browser-based interactive figures", "r in the browser", "static r dashboards in browser", "running r in browser", "r in browser", "interactivity in browser"], "compared": [], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46035126", "title": "WebR \u2013 R in the Browser", "mentions": 7}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46235959", "title": "An SVG is all you need", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {"recommend": 5, "compare": 1, "neutral": 1}, "2025-12": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {}}, "versions": [], "version_unnamed": 0, "family_ref": null, "runs_on": null, "lines": [], "quotes": [{"id": 739898017, "item_id": 46243626, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46243626", "by": "gaha", "date": "2025-12-12", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "It's really cool, it is a static website that runs DuckDB, WebR, and ggplot.", "excerpt": "This really reminds me of a new paper [1] from my colleagues. All figures in the paper link to a website, where the figures can be reproduced and dynamically changed in the browser from the source data. It's really cool, it is a static website that runs DuckDB, WebR, and ggplot. Here [2] is an example for the first figure. [1] Paper: https://www.cs.cit.tum.de/fileadmin/w00cfj/dis/papers/cloudspecs-final.pdf [2] Figur", "context": "", "use_case": "Browser-based interactive figures", "switched_from": "", "story": "An SVG is all you need"}, {"id": 737530480, "item_id": 46095655, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46095655", "by": "laex", "date": "2025-11-30", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "github: https://github.com/r-wasm/webr", "excerpt": "github: https://github.com/r-wasm/webr", "context": "", "use_case": "R in the browser", "switched_from": "", "story": "WebR \u2013 R in the Browser"}, {"id": 737457248, "item_id": 46091078, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46091078", "by": "electroly", "date": "2025-11-29", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Enter WebR: now we only need to serve static files.", "excerpt": "This project is brand new to me but I have a use case I'm immediately considering, when combined with the \"shiny\" dashboard library as seen here: https://shinylive.io/r/examples/ At work we have analysts who sometimes produce web-based dashboards for the business to consume. When we had Python folks, they used Plotly Dash and we had to host a server for them. It's a bit silly--the dashboard just accesses APIs and sta", "context": "Works at a company where analysts build dashboards", "use_case": "Static R dashboards in browser", "switched_from": "", "story": "WebR \u2013 R in the Browser"}, {"id": 737432672, "item_id": 46089542, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46089542", "by": "tkschmidtme", "date": "2025-11-29", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "WebR is awesome", "excerpt": "WebR is awesome and I\u2019m trying to use it more and more instead of in operating fixed figures (https://tkschmidt.me/posts/dagstuhl-problem/). I would really recommend to stay with a fixed webR version (and use a CI/CD) process to check if newer versions are still compatible with your scripts.", "context": "", "use_case": "running R in browser", "switched_from": "", "story": "WebR \u2013 R in the Browser"}, {"id": 737429153, "item_id": 46089322, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46089322", "by": "droelf", "date": "2025-11-29", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Cool!", "excerpt": "Cool! Emscripten-forge also recently got a R distribution that runs natively on the browser: https://blog.jupyter.org/r-in-the-browser-announcing-our-webassembly-distribution-9450e9539ed5?gi=81cf18b1ac6a", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "WebR \u2013 R in the Browser"}, {"id": 737427104, "item_id": 46089194, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46089194", "by": "cscheid", "date": "2025-11-29", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "", "excerpt": "(Disclosure: I work on https://quarto.org, for the same company that the author of WebR works on) Thanks for sharing that PDF link. It's so good! Would you be willing to write a bit about how you produced that PDF? It's a great example of what places like CIDR should be encouraging in terms of academic publications.", "context": "", "use_case": "R in browser", "switched_from": "", "story": "WebR \u2013 R in the Browser"}, {"id": 737421312, "item_id": 46088832, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46088832", "by": "kasperset", "date": "2025-11-29", "version": null, "stance": "compare", "quote": "Javascript libraries feels lot more smoother than something like webR.", "excerpt": "I use R a lot but I still prefer Javascript libraries for interactivity. Javascript libraries feels lot more smoother than something like webR. Having said that, it is impressive that R is able to transcend in the interactivity with just internet browser.", "context": "heavy R user", "use_case": "interactivity in browser", "switched_from": "", "story": "WebR \u2013 R in the Browser"}, {"id": 737416144, "item_id": 46088509, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46088509", "by": "maxi-k", "date": "2025-11-29", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "WebR was perfect for this use case", "excerpt": "Sure! https://cloudspecs.fyi/ (feedback welcome!) Since it's now accepted, I guess I can also share the accompanying paper [1] about cloud hardware evolution; the idea is that every plot in the paper is clickable and opens an interactive version of itself. WebR was perfect for this use case. https://www.cs.cit.tum.de/fileadmin/w00cfj/dis/papers/cloudspecs-final.pdf", "context": "", "use_case": "Interactive plots in browser", "switched_from": "", "story": "WebR \u2013 R in the Browser"}]}