I find the golem package confusing. As a way to deal with the scope of the package I wanted to create a simple working app and come up with a development cycle for myself to follow. I will document these steps here.

• Create the new app with golem::create_golem(<APP_NAME>)
• Go to the dev folder and run through the 01_start.R file.
  • This file sets metadata about the app.
  • I set all of these options which include creating this rmd file.

• Step through 02_dev.R
  • Copy attachment::att_amend_desc() into run_dev.R so all imports are added to DESCRIPTION
  • Create modules with golem::add_module(name = <MOD_NAME>, with_test = F)
  • Create helpers functions with golem::add_utils("helpers", module = <MOD_NAME>)
  • Associate helper functions with the module they are used in OR
  • Create generic helper functions similiar to golem::use_utils_ui()

• Add custom JS with:

golem::add_js_file("script")
golem::add_js_handler("handlers")

• The js handler function links events in Shiny with custom javascript.
• inst/app/www/handlers.js shows an example

• Golem uses .sass not .scss
• Create sass file with golem::add_sass_file(<STYLES>)
• sass is compiled in run_dev.R

• Run dev/run_dev.R
• Add code to R/app_ui.R and R/app_server.R
  • These remain the UI and Server components of the app and are called from run_app
  • Modules are not required, but are helpful in creating cleaner scripts

• Run dev/03_deploy.R
  • Check for completeness with devtools::check()
  • Then build the app
  • Deploy to specific service if needed

• Do a full install of App

You’ll still need to render README.Rmd regularly, to keep README.md up-to-date. devtools::build_readme() is handy for this. You could also use GitHub Actions to re-render README.Rmd every time you push. An example workflow can be found here: https://github.com/r-lib/actions/tree/v1/examples.