deploy-shiny-app

Deploy Shiny App

Deploy a Shiny application to shinyapps.io, Posit Connect, or a Docker container.

When to Use

• Publishing a Shiny app for external or internal users
• Moving from local development to a hosted environment
• Containerizing a Shiny app for Kubernetes or Docker deployment
• Setting up automated deployment pipelines

Inputs

• Required: Path to the Shiny application
• Required: Deployment target (shinyapps.io, Posit Connect, or Docker)
• Optional: Account name and token (for shinyapps.io/Connect)
• Optional: Instance size preference
• Optional: Custom domain or URL path

Procedure

Step 1: Prepare the Application

Ensure the app is self-contained and deployable:

# Check for missing dependencies
rsconnect::appDependencies("path/to/app")

# For golem apps, ensure DESCRIPTION lists all Imports
devtools::check()

# Verify the app runs cleanly
shiny::runApp("path/to/app")

Verify these files exist:

• app.R (or ui.R + server.R)
• renv.lock (recommended for reproducible deployments)
• .Rprofile does NOT call mcptools::mcp_session() in production

Got: App runs locally without errors and all dependencies are captured.

If fail: If appDependencies() reports missing packages, install them and update renv.lock. If the app uses system libraries (e.g., gdal, curl), note them for the Docker path.

Step 2a: Deploy to shinyapps.io

# One-time account setup
rsconnect::setAccountInfo(
  name = "your-account",
  token = Sys.getenv("SHINYAPPS_TOKEN"),
  secret = Sys.getenv("SHINYAPPS_SECRET")
)

# Deploy
rsconnect::deployApp(
  appDir = "path/to/app",
  appName = "my-app",
  appTitle = "My Application",
  account = "your-account",
  forceUpdate = TRUE
)

Store credentials in .Renviron (never in code):

# .Renviron
SHINYAPPS_TOKEN=your_token_here
SHINYAPPS_SECRET=your_secret_here

Got: App deployed and accessible at https://your-account.shinyapps.io/my-app/.

If fail: If authentication fails, regenerate tokens at shinyapps.io dashboard > Account > Tokens. If package installation fails on the server, check that all packages are available on CRAN — shinyapps.io cannot install from GitHub by default.