codecheck: Render the register

Daniel Nüst

2026-08-13

Installing the package

The latest version of the package can be installed using:

remotes::install_github("codecheckers/codecheck")

Configure the OpenAlex API key

Rendering looks up an OpenAlex ID and an abstract for every paper in the register. Without an API key these requests share a small anonymous daily quota, which a single render of the full register uses up. Once the quota is gone OpenAlex answers with HTTP 429 and the affected certificates are rendered without their OpenAlex ID, and possibly without their abstract. A free key raises the quota tenfold, see the OpenAlex documentation for how to get one.

The key is read from the OPENALEX_API_KEY environment variable, most conveniently set in your ~/.Renviron:

OPENALEX_API_KEY=your-key-here

Restart R afterwards, then check that the key is picked up:

nchar(Sys.getenv("OPENALEX_API_KEY")) > 0

Rendering works without a key, it is only slower to recover: lookups that did not succeed are not cached, so each render retries them until they work.

In the register repository the key can also be put into a git-ignored .env file, which the Makefile passes on to R, see .env.example there. Do not put it into a .Renviron next to the register, R reads only the first .Renviron it finds and a local one hides the settings in your ~/.Renviron, such as your GITHUB_PAT.

Render the register

codecheck::register_render(); warnings()

Check the register

codecheck::register_check(); warnings()

Clear the cache

Renders cache the codecheck.yml files and the metadata looked up for them, namely OpenAlex IDs and abstracts, so that repeated renders neither wait for nor exhaust the quotas of these APIs. Only conclusive answers are cached: a request that failed is retried by the next render instead of leaving a permanent gap in the register.

Clear the cache to pick up metadata that changed at the source, such as a corrected codecheck.yml or an abstract added after publication:

codecheck::register_clear_cache();