replication-package

name	replication-package
description	Create reproducible replication packages using rix/nix for R projects. Use when setting up project environments, preparing code for journal submission, or ensuring computational reproducibility. Covers rix, nix-shell, Makefile pipelines, and DCAS-compliant documentation.

Replication Package with rix/nix

Initial Setup

Install nix

# Linux/macOS
sh <(curl -L https://nixos.org/nix/install) --daemon

# Configure trusted users (add to /etc/nix/nix.custom.conf)
# trusted-users = root YOUR_USERNAME

# Restart daemon
sudo systemctl restart nix-daemon

Install cachix for faster builds

nix-env -iA cachix -f https://cachix.org/api/v1/install
cachix use rstats-on-nix

Project Environment Setup

generate_env.R

library(rix)

# Define environment
rix(
  r_ver = "4.3.2",
  r_pkgs = c(
    # Data manipulation
    "data.table",
    "tidyverse",
    "here",
    
    # Econometrics
    "fixest",
    "did",
    "grf",
    "rdrobust",
    
    # Spatial
    "sf",
    "spdep",
    "spatialreg",
    
    # Tables and figures
    "modelsummary",
    "kableExtra",
    "ggplot2",
    "patchwork",
    
    # Utilities
    "furrr",
    "tictoc"
  ),
  git_pkgs = list(
    list(
      package_name = "concordance",
      repo_url = "https://github.com/insongkim/concordance",
      commit = "HEAD"
    )
  ),
  system_pkgs = c("quarto"),
  ide = "none",
  project_path = ".",
  overwrite = TRUE
)

Build and enter environment

# Build the environment (first time takes a while)
nix-build

# Enter the shell
nix-shell

# Or combine
nix-shell --run "R"

Makefile for Pipeline

# Makefile for replication

.PHONY: all clean data analysis paper

all: paper

# Data construction
data/build/01_clean_data/analysis.rds: code/build/01_clean_data/01_clean.R data/raw/*.csv
	nix-shell --run "Rscript code/build/01_clean_data/01_clean.R"

# Analysis
output/01_main_reg/tables/main_results.tex: code/analysis/01_main_reg/01_baseline.R data/build/01_clean_data/analysis.rds
	nix-shell --run "Rscript code/analysis/01_main_reg/01_baseline.R"

# Convenience targets
data: data/build/01_clean_data/analysis.rds

analysis: output/01_main_reg/tables/main_results.tex

paper: output/paper/paper.pdf

output/paper/paper.pdf: output/paper/paper.qmd analysis
	nix-shell --run "quarto render output/paper/paper.qmd"

clean:
	rm -f data/build/*/*.rds
	rm -f output/*/tables/*.tex
	rm -f output/*/figures/*.pdf

README Template (DCAS-compliant)

See references/readme-template.md for the full template. Key sections:

1. Data Availability Statement: Source, access, licenses
2. Computational Requirements: Hardware, software, runtime
3. Description of Programs: What each script does
4. Instructions: Step-by-step replication guide
5. Output List: Map outputs to paper tables/figures

Folder Structure

Note: Only code/ lives in GitHub. data/ and output/ live on Dropbox (symlinked into the project). For replication packages, all files are assembled into a self-contained directory.

project/
├── .here                    # Project root marker
├── .gitignore
├── Makefile
├── README.md
├── generate_env.R
├── default.nix              # Generated by rix (gitignored)
│
├── code/                    # In GitHub
│   ├── build/
│   │   └── 01_clean_data/
│   │       └── 01_clean.R
│   └── analysis/
│       └── 01_main_reg/
│           └── 01_baseline.R
│
├── data/                    # On Dropbox (symlinked)
│   ├── raw/                 # Original data
│   └── build/               # Intermediate data (numbered by issue)
│       └── 01_clean_data/
│
└── output/                  # On Dropbox (symlinked)
    ├── 01_main_reg/         # Numbered by issue
    │   ├── tables/
    │   └── figures/
    ├── paper/               # NOT numbered
    └── slides/              # NOT numbered

Symlinks for Data and Output

# Link Dropbox data and output to project
ln -s ~/Dropbox/Projects/MyProject/data data
ln -s ~/Dropbox/Projects/MyProject/output output

.gitignore

# Data and output live on Dropbox, not in git
data/
output/

# Nix
result
default.nix

# R
.Rhistory
.RData
.Rproj.user/

# OS
.DS_Store

Verification Checklist

Before submission:

• nix-build completes without errors
• make clean && make reproduces all outputs
• README documents all data sources
• All code files have headers with descriptions
• Random seeds are set in all stochastic code
• Runtime estimate is documented
• Output matches paper tables/figures exactly