Installation

Choose the environment for the work you want to do. Evaluating CEDAR or making a contribution should not require access to institutional data.

Contributors: Docker with synthetic data

Install Git and Docker with Compose, start Docker, and open a terminal:

git clone https://github.com/cedar-collective/cedar.git
cd cedar
bash scripts/dev.sh up

Open localhost:3839. The yellow synthetic-data notice identifies the development instance. No local R, Node, .env, mrgather, or production credentials are needed. Any editor works; R runs inside Docker.

Follow Your First Change for the complete edit → restart → browser check → test → PR workflow, expected demo results, and troubleshooting.

bash scripts/dev.sh restart  # reload saved source, then refresh the browser
bash scripts/dev.sh test     # selector checks and complete R suite in Docker
bash scripts/dev.sh logs     # follow startup/app diagnostics
bash scripts/dev.sh down     # stop; preserve synthetic data and caches

The first build downloads packages and can take several minutes. Subsequent builds reuse Docker layers. Development source is mounted from the checkout; restart the R worker after changes. The demo is fixed to Fall 2026, not the computer’s current date. Small-cell guards still apply, and saved projections are not supplied.

Institutional instance: restricted data and production-style Docker

This is a separate operational path, not the contributor quickstart. It requires an approved data location containing normalized cedar_* files and the corresponding program_map.qs. See Data Integration for source mapping and validation, and the Release Runbook for deployment. Access controls, retention, and backups are institution-owned.

The production docker-compose.yml reads CEDAR_DATA_DIR from .env, expects the external shiny-net network, and bakes application source into its image. It also needs a machine-local config/shiny_config.R, created from config/shiny_config_template.R. For full institutional data, set cedar_use_small_data <- FALSE and review term/scope settings.

These local configuration files are not committed. .env and .Renviron are excluded from Docker build contexts. Never copy real data or secrets into a PR. Unlike the synthetic demo, production-style containers must be rebuilt to pick up source changes.

Do not combine compose.dev.yml with the production Compose file or point the demo volumes at institutional data. The contributor launcher intentionally ignores .env and uses its own network and volumes.

Advanced: native R analysis

CEDAR is a Shiny application, not an installable R package. There is no library(cedar) or devtools::test() entry point. Developers with an already configured R environment can work directly with the analytical functions and approved local normalized tables; see Testing for computational prototyping and the scripts/cedar-repl.R bootstrap.

Use Rscript --vanilla for local scripts and the standard ./run-tests.sh gate when its R and Node dependencies are installed. The Docker wrapper is the supported alternative when they are not. renv.lock records known package versions, but restoring the local renv cache is not a prerequisite or the supported repair path for the test gate. Do not use renv::deactivate() as a setup fix; it rewrites the project’s .Rprofile.