Certify analytical outputs as a reproducibility baseline

Hashes a named list of R objects (model coefficients, summary statistics, key scalars, data frames) and saves them alongside full environment metadata to a local certification file (.reproducr.rds by default). Later runs can call check_drift() to verify that results have not changed.

Think of certify() as a "signed receipt" for a completed analysis run.

Usage

certify(outputs, tag, script = NULL, file = ".reproducr")

Arguments

outputs

A fully named list of R objects to certify. Each element is hashed using SHA-256 (or a base-R fallback if digest is not available). Common choices: coef(model), summary(model)$r.squared, a results data.frame, or any key scalar.

tag

character(1). A human-readable label for this certification, e.g. "submission-v1" or "pre-review". Tags must be unique within a certification file; passing a duplicate tag overwrites the existing record with a warning.

script

character(1) or NULL. Path to the script that produced these outputs. Used for documentation in the certification record only; not validated. Default NULL.

file

character(1). Base path for the certification store. The actual file written is paste0(file, ".rds"). Default ".reproducr", which writes .reproducr.rds in the current working directory. Commit this file to version control.

Value

Invisibly returns the certification record (a list). Prints a one-line summary to the console.

Certification store

All certifications for a project are accumulated in a single .reproducr.rds file. You can have multiple tags representing different stages (e.g. before and after peer review). Use list_certs() to inspect stored tags.

Version control

Commit .reproducr.rds to your project's version control repository. This makes the certification auditable and shareable with collaborators.

See also

check_drift() to compare current outputs against a baseline; list_certs() to inspect stored certifications.

Examples

model <- lm(mpg ~ wt, data = mtcars)

cert_file <- tempfile()

certify(
  outputs = list(
    coefs     = coef(model),
    r_squared = summary(model)$r.squared,
    n_obs     = nrow(mtcars)
  ),
  tag = "baseline-v1",
  script = "analysis.R",
  file = cert_file
)
#> reproducr: certified 3 output(s) [2026-06-10] under tag 'baseline-v1'

# See what is stored
list_certs(file = cert_file)
#>           tag                timestamp r_version                      os
#> 1 baseline-v1 2026-06-10T21:14:54+0000     4.6.0 Linux 6.17.0-1015-azure
#>   n_outputs     script
#> 1         3 analysis.R