Suggestion: Document current R debugging workflow and limitations?

[Meghansaha]

While switching to Positron for R development, I struggled to understand how to enter a debugging session. The UI led me down an incorrect path that suggested I needed extensions.

First I tried clicking on "Start Debugging" in the "Run" menu:

Which resulted in this pop-up suggesting I needed an extension, which I felt was incorrect:

Which led me to getting this pop-up:

After trying this path, I only found the solution through external (To the Positron site and docs) resources:

• TheCoatlessProfessor's YouTube video: "Positron IDE Debugger for R Demo"
• Davis' comment in Debugger is missing 🥲 #5255 (comment)
• Julia's comment in No Debugger for R? #8651 (reply in thread)

Suggestion: Could the Positron website include a brief R debugging section covering:

• How to enter/exit R debugging sessions
• Current limitations (like no breakpoint support yet)
• Planned improvements

This might help users avoid the confusion I experienced and set proper expectations while the R debugger evolves. Once I understood how to initialize debugging, the interface was familiar enough to navigate.

Would this be appropriate as a documentation enhancement issue? Or is this already being addressed internally/deemed as not necessary at this time?

Session Info

─ Session info ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 setting  value
 version  R version 4.5.1 (2025-06-13 ucrt)
 os       Windows 11 x64 (build 22631)
 system   x86_64, mingw32
 ui       Rgui
 language (EN)
 collate  English_United States.utf8
 ctype    English_United States.utf8
 tz       America/New_York
 date     2025-09-25
 pandoc   NA
 quarto   NA @ C:\\Users\\harrism1\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\Quarto\\bin\\quarto.exe

Positron Version: 2025.09.0 (user setup) build 139
Code - OSS Version: 1.103.0
Commit: 30e3d0a
Date: 2025-08-29T18:50:28.998Z
Electron: 37.2.3
Chromium: 138.0.7204.100
Node.js: 22.17.0
V8: 13.8.500258-electron.0
OS: Windows_NT x64 10.0.22631

[juliasilge]

Thank you for this suggestion, which I definitely agree is important! 💯 We are still working on the debugger for R and have been waiting to document it until it is a bit more complete.

• We are tracking the main next step for debugging in ark: Debugger: Breakpoint support #1766, with more near term work here
• We've got the document logged in Documentation: Language guides section on the Positron website #7208 (comment)

[Meghansaha]

Makes perfect sense! Thank you!!